Running head: WEEK 11 APPLICATION1

Week 11 Application

Jamie Wilkinson

Walden University

PSY-8247

February 4, 2016

Anila Bhagavatula

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Week 11 Application

A social problem of interest to me involves where homeless glbt teens are in the coming out process when they first became homeless. Through understanding the circumstances surrounding their homelessness and looking for correlations between where they are at in the coming out process and their social experiences. I have selected this problem because as a former Child Welfare Social Worker, and as a current Foster Care Case Manager/Therapist, I see a noticeable lack of educational materials available to government and private agencies on meeting the mental health needs of glbt youth that are currently in care.

There is a significant difference between the behavioral outbursts of a heterosexual child who was physically abused and neglected and the emotional outbursts of a dependent glbt youth who was placed in the custody of the State becausethey did not want to go home and the parents made the conscious decision to not provide care for that child. Both of these cases result in the child being placed in foster care, however the overall foster care experiences will be radically different, even more so if the glbt child is placed in a strongly heteronormative household. Therefore, the desired outcome of this research interest is to improve upon the understanding of the coming out process within glbt youth, how such interacts with the home environment between biological and potential foster parents. Practical applications of this research question involve developing glbt-affirmative cultural trainings for private/government-subsidized foster parents.

The current research puts forth that as children begin the coming out process, the support that they seek is most importantly obtained from their immediate social relationships such as family, friends, and immediate community (Armesto & Weisman, 2001; Gray, 2009; Mohr & Fassinger, 2000; Vaughan & Waehler, 2010). The initial coming out stages focuses on children obtaining emotional support and acceptance within the immediate social relationships (Crespi, 2001; Beaty, 1999). Individuals who are coming out in overtly glbt hostile homes are at greater risk for experiencing emotional/psychological abuse (Armesto & Weisman, 2001; Gray, 2009; Beaty, 1999). Many teens leave their homes to escape experienced abuse, thus a significant portion of homeless teens tend to be part of the glbt culture (Armesto & Weisman, 2001; Gray, 2009; Mohr & Fassinger, 2000; Vaughan & Waehler, 2010; Crespi, 2001; Beaty, 1999). There are two gaps within the current literature, as evidenced by this writers inability to find articles that directly related to coming out and homelessness. Statistically, the

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research supports the understanding that many individuals within the homeless teenagepopulation are of a non-heterosexual orientation (Armesto & Weisman, 2001; Gray, 2009; Mohr & Fassinger, 2000; Vaughan & Waehler, 2010; Crespi, 2001; Beaty, 1999).

What is not so apparent is the relationship between the homeless glbt teens initial circumstances and their progress within the coming out process. Thus, a direct gap in the literature involving glbt teens and homelessness is this writers research question developed through the filter of a social psychological perspective, specifically is there a correlation between homelessness and a glbt teenagers progress within the coming out process? Another gap in the literature builds upon the first question; however such focuses more on reducing the mental health needs of individual glbt teenagers who have become part of the child-welfare system due to their homeless/dependent status. There is significant amounts of literature on addressing the relationship developmental needs for heterosexual children, however very little literature exists to help parents, whether foster or biological, provide the information necessary to sculpt a home environment that is glbt-supportive/affirmative. This lack of information results in clinical concerns within the child-welfare system being misdiagnosed. Inappropriate diagnoses can lead to inappropriate treatments being usedthat fail to get to the heart of the glbt clients mental health.

To answer these questions, a number of methodological approaches could be taken. A literature review would enable researchers to quantify the often nebulous coming out process into concrete stages that could then be applied in a survey form toglbt teen participants. Random population samples could be achieved through utilizing afood kitchen program to solicit the participation of homeless teens. This provides a concentrated source of homeless teens from a variety of diverse backgrounds, howeverthe one thing that they all have in common is that they are not part of a biological family unit. Quick surveys could be used to filter heterosexual and non-heterosexual participants. From there, clinical interviews could be performed to document each participants coming out experiences, including the circumstances that led up to them being homeless.

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ReferencesArmesto, J. C., & Weisman, A. G. (2001). Attribution and emotional reactions to the

identity disclosure ('coming-out') of a homosexual child. Family Process, 40(2),

145-161. doi:10.1111/j.1545-5300.2001.4020100145.x

Crespi, L. (2001). The bomb in the chrysalis: Analytic neutrality, negative transference,

and coming out: A discussion of Madeleine Price's 'Early trauma, societal

oppression and coming out'. Journal Of Gay & Lesbian Psychotherapy, 5(1), 77-

83. doi:10.1300/J236v05n01_05

Gray, M. L. (2009). Negotiating identities/queering desires: Coming out online and the

remediation of the coming-out story. Journal Of Computer-Mediated

Communication, 14(4), 1162-1189. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01485.x

Beaty, L. A. (1999). Identity development of homosexual youth and parental and familial

influences on the coming out process. Adolescence, 34(135), 597-601.

Mohr, J., & Fassinger, R. (2000). Measuring dimensions of lesbian and gay male

experience. Measurement And Evaluation In Counseling And Development,

33(2), 66-90.

Vaughan, M. D., & Waehler, C. A. (2010). Coming out growth: Conceptualizing and

measuring stress-related growth associated with coming out to others as a

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sexual minority. Journal Of Adult Development, 17(2), 94-109.

doi:10.1007/s10804-009-9084-9