Introduction
	A Sense of Belonging
	Conclusion

Introduction

Adolescents intuitively gravitate to cliques. Cliques are developmentally in sync with the tasks of adolescence. When these groups of tightly connected kids and young adults are founded on positive principles, they can do a lot to promote the positive emotional growth and healthy psychological development that is necessary for adequate coping in adulthood. Positively oriented cliques, based on values of caring, empathy and respect for others provide learning experiences that augment those opportunities available in the family unit during adolescence. By recognizing their own unique developmental and psychosocial needs teens can understand the reasons cliques exist, and learn to make positive decisions about the clique with which they want to click.

Earlier stages of life have to do with identifying with family of origin. In adolescence it is normative for kids to begin to individuate from the original family, identifying more closely with peers, especially those with like interests. While seeking like-minded others happens throughout the life cycle, the clique phenomenon appears to have special meaning and purpose in adolescence. Either a positive clique experience or a negative one will influence teens’ adaptation to the demands of adult life. Teens may want to be aware of the potentials for either pro-social or adverse outcomes to occur. 

A Sense of Belonging

Whether a clique is oriented around positive or negative social values and experiences, teens gain a sense of belonging, from being part of a group that is important to them. Positive self-respect and self-confidence that can empower an individual throughout his/her life can be derived from being part of a group with pro-social values. Being accepted in a clique of school intellectuals, for example, might inspire a student to reach for greater academic success. However, someone who is rejected from a pro-social clique may gravitate to a clique of outsiders. Such a clique might click around anti-social behaviors as way of expressing negative emotions. In such a case, a dysfunctional type of self-esteem can emerge. Even more problematic, this type of clique may re-form into a gang with more significant negative social implications, such as scape-goating, and verbal and emotional abuse of insiders and/or outsiders.

Often a clique serves an auxiliary function to the family for social and emotional development. Experiencing peer group social dynamics can play a role in the adolescents’ success in later adult settings, such as nuclear family units and work environments. In their cliques teens can learn to understand current culture, gain experience in peer interactions (including resolving conflict). In addition adolescents may derive a type of understanding and emotional support that may not be available from parents, who are overly stressed or (in the teenager’s perception) out of touch with what is important to them, (i.e. what is “cool”). When pro-social norms underlie the value system of the clique, the tight knit nature of the groups may help guide moral development.

There exists risk when teens connect in groups of socially maladapted or emotionally disturbed individuals who may have been rejected from more positively oriented cliques. Such “outsider” networks may overly control members, or form rigid connections around socially unacceptable behaviors, including violence.

Conclusion

Whether positive or negative, cliques provide certain functions for their members that are developmentally in phase. They aid in creation of self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-respect that comes from feeling accepted, valued and recognized as a worthwhile part of a group. The acceptance by peers has the potential to facilitate moral and pro-social development that is necessary for success in adult life.

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Matching funds are being provided by local funding partners including the Tides Foundation/ Out-of-Home Youth Fund, an anonymous fund of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund, Johnson Family Foundation, Lewy Gay Values Fund at Horizons Foundation, Morris Family Foundation, Mount Zion Health Fund (a supporting fund of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund), Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund and other donors.

Groundbreaking research conducted by Caitlin Ryan, PhD, Director of the Family Acceptance Project, and her team at the César E. Chávez Institute at SF State shows that families have a dramatic impact on their LGBT children’s health and mental health. Parents’ rejecting behavior—such as excluding their child from family events or ridiculing their sexual orientation or gender identity—increases their child’s risk for serious health and mental health concerns and family acceptance helps protect against risk. LGBT youth are known to be at high risk of suicide, substance abuse and HIV infection and for victimization in home, school and community settings. They are also at high risk for homelessness and for placement in foster care and juvenile probation as a result of family conflict and rejection.

However, Dr. Ryan’s new data indicate that families can change rejecting behavior when they understand how their words and actions affect their LGBT children’s health and well-being. Working in collaboration with Child and Adolescent Services at San Francisco General Hospital and with many community groups including the Adolescent Health Working Group, Chinese for Affirmative Action, GSA Network, and the Mission Neighborhood Health Center, the Family Acceptance Project will develop new evidence-based family interventions and a new model of family-related care for LGBT youth.

This new initiative will work with multi-ethnic families and community groups to develop critical interventions to help ethnically diverse families decrease rejection and increase family support, to strengthen family relationships and to help maintain LGBT youth in their homes. The new interventions are being developed in English, Spanish and Chinese. The Family Acceptance Project will work with pediatricians, nurses, social workers, school counselors, family and peer advocates, child welfare workers and community providers in a wide range of settings to develop a behavioral approach to educate families, decrease rejecting behavior and increase family acceptance of their LGBT children.

“In our work with LGBT youth and families, we’ve seen too many times when providers could have made a critical difference if they only had the tools to help families support their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender children,” Dr Ryan noted. “We’ve found that ethnically diverse families are eager for information and advice when they learn that their children are lesbian, gay bisexual or transgender. These funds will help us provide critical services that will make a difference in the lives of LGBT young people and their families in our community and across the country. We’re very grateful to RWJF, the Tides Foundation’s Out-of-Home Youth Fund and our other funding partners for supporting our work.”

The Family Acceptance Project is recruiting native-level Spanish-speaking and Cantonese-speaking social workers and community providers to help develop these urgently needed new interventions. For more information on these positions, contact: fap@sfsu.edu.

About the Family Acceptance Project

The Family Acceptance Project is a community research, intervention and education initiative that studies the impact of family acceptance and rejection on the health, mental health and well-being of lesbian, gay and bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth. Results are being used to help families provide support for LGBT youth; to improve their health and mental health outcomes; to strengthen families and help maintain LGBT youth in their homes; to develop appropriate interventions, programs and policies; and to train providers to improve the quality of services and care these youth receive. For more information, please visit http://familyproject.sfsu.edu/.

• Contact: Cathy Renna, Renna Communications, 917-757-6123, cathy@rennacommunications.com
• Simon Aronoff, Renna Communications, 202-510-6705, simon@rennacommunications.com  

	Introduction
	Risky Behaviors
	GLB Youth and Suicide
	How Social Workers Can Help GLB Youth
	Selected Readings

This article identifies and examines risk factors for suicide, self-harm and substance abuse in gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered (GLBT) adolescents. According to research conducted over the last 20 years, these particular risk factors have not decreased over time, not even in the most liberal parts of the nation. The social worker’s interventions when working with this particular client population can make a crucial difference in reducing suicidal thoughts/attempts, self-harming behaviors, and substance abuse while providing support for those navigating one of the most difficult developmental stages of life.

Introduction

Over the past 15 years, research has suggested that adolescence can continue into the third decade of life. As those of us who work with adolescents and their families can attest, getting there is half the battle. And while adolescence is a period of increased stress and excitement for a majority of youth, some definitely have more of a struggle on their hands than others. Eighty percent of all gay, lesbian, bisexual youth reported feeling severely isolated in a study by Hetrick and Martin in 1987, and of this 80 percent, half reported additional difficulties caused by their parents’ rejection due to their sexual orientation.

As a result of their families’ rejection, as many as 26 percent of gay, lesbian and bisexual (GLB) youth feel forced to leave home.  Up to 50 percent of gay males who leave home early engage in prostitution to support themselves, placing them at much higher risk for rape, assault and infection with HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Those who remain at home are not necessarily in a safer situation: 41percent of GLB youth in a 1990 study reported suffering violence from family, peers, or strangers, and 46 percent of these youth reported that the perpetrators of the violence toward them were members of their own families.

Schools often unwittingly or complicitly reinforce that it is not healthy or safe to be gay, lesbian, or bisexual. As recently as 1991, a study at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School in Boston revealed that 97 percent of the student body reported hearing anti-gay comments on campus.  Such disparaging and often prejudicial remarks are often ignored or, even worse, tacitly encouraged by faculty and administration.

Risky Behaviors

Not unlike their peers, GLBT adolescents often cope with the problems they encounter at home, school, or on the streets by using and often abusing alcohol and other drugs. In a study that tracked youth substance use over a three month span, 68 percent of the gay male adolescents reported alcohol use with 26 percent using one or more times weekly. 44 percent reported drug use in addition to alcohol, and 8 percent considered themselves drug dependent. 83 percent of lesbian adolescents reported alcohol use, 56 percent reported drug use, and 11 percent specifically reported crack/cocaine use.

More recent surveys (MA Department of Education, 2003) have not indicated the problem has improved. The anonymous survey conducted statewide in Massachusetts public schools found the following:

Students who described themselves as gay, lesbian, or bisexual were significantly more likely than their peers to report attacks, suicide attempts, and drug and alcohol use. When compared to their heterosexual peers, this group was:

• over five times more likely to have attempted suicide in the past year
• over three times more likely to miss school in the past month because of feeling unsafe
• over three times more likely to have been injured or threatened with a weapon at school

In 2005, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey  reported:

Sexual minority adolescents – those who self-identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual or who reported any same-sex sexual contact – had suicidality rates nearly double those of their peers. For example, they were more likely to have hurt themselves on purpose (44 percent vs. 17 percent), to have seriously considered suicide (34 percent vs. 11 percent), and to have made a suicide attempt in the past year (21 percent vs. 5 percent).

GLB Youth and Suicide

Perhaps the most dismaying statistics come from a federal study on youth suicide that was conducted 20 years ago during the Reagan administration. Published in 1987, the study reported that gay youth are two to three times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers. Further, it estimated that 30 percent of all completed suicides are GLB youth.  Given Kinsey’s statistic that approximately 10 percent of the population is homosexual, this would suggest that 30 percent of all youth suicides come from only this 10 percent of the population! None of these statistics specifically refer to transgendered youth. This reflects the need for more research with this group.

For some adolescents the above composite picture is a fairly accurate rendition of life. Others have the good fortune to defy all or most of the statistics with the help of supportive families and communities. Still others find their sexual orientation and the stigma it brings them the least of their other problems, such as extreme poverty, witnessing and experiencing traumatic incidents, and persecution due to race. Regardless, to survive and thrive in the face of such isolation, violence, fear and shame deserves singular credit and recognition of personal courage.

How Social Workers Can Help GLB Youth

When addressing issues of sexual orientation, the clinician is in an often uncomfortable and always political situation. As Judith Herman points out, when trauma originates in nature or acts of God, we have no problem in sympathizing with the victim. But, she writes, “When the traumatic events are of human design, those who bear witness are caught between victim and perpetrator. . . forced to take sides. . . [It] is very tempting for us to take the side of the perpetrator. All the perpetrator asks [is that we] do nothing.” The perpetrator does not have to be a person, it can be a school, a community, a society, the nation. The perpetrator can be a peer, a parent, and/or a professional. Gibson remarks in his report to the Secretary’s Task Force on Youth Suicide, “It is a sobering fact to realize that we [those who choose to do nothing] are the greatest risk factors in youth suicide.” 

Social workers, no strangers to the fact that the personal is political, must continue to urge and work with the fields of social welfare, mental health and substance abuse to move forward in their efforts to help adolescents. Situated in schools, emergency rooms and outpatient clinics, social workers are uniquely positioned to intervene and make a positive difference. The major stumbling block to successful intervention is, ironically, not specific to GLBT adolescents, but a more broadly defined developmental one. Youngsters, understandably, tend to draw very general conclusions from extremely limited life experiences. GLBT youth may have encountered verbal or physical abuse, diagnoses of psychological pathology, and accusations of moral deficiency from those they have met previously in their lifetimes. They have no reason, and perhaps little hope, that we as social workers and professionals will be any different than those who have come before.

Sensitivity at first contact is crucial. Nothing less is required than the conveyance of empathy, provision of information regarding supportive community resources along with the instillation of hope. All of this occurs within the context of standing alongside the adolescent in a world which at best denies his or her existence and at worst seeks to eradicate it. Clinicians in these situations may feel overhwhelmed, and reexperience feelings common in adolescence themselves! Regardless of the social worker’s own sexual orientation, it is often hard to step back and reflect upon the values and biases that we all live and work in. Continued education can help decrease the worker’s own sense of frustration and confusion, as well as provide a sounding board and basis for practice.

Selected Readings

Gibson, P., LCSW, “Gay Male and Lesbian Youth Suicide,” Report of the Secretary’s Task Force on Youth Suicide, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1989.

Governor’s Commission On Gay and Lesbian Youth, “Making Schools Safe for Gay and Lesbian Youth.” Boston, MA., 1993

Healy, J., Ph.D., Your Child’s Growing Mind., New York: Doubleday Books, 1994.

Herman, Judith, M.D., Trauma and Recovery., New York: Basic Books, 1997

Hetrick, E.S., and Martin, A.D., “Developmental Issues and Their Resolution for Gay and Lesbian Adolescents,” Journal of Homosexuality, 14(1/2): 24-43, 1987.

Kinsey, A.C., Pomeroy, W.B., and Martin, C.E., Sexual Behavior in the Human Male, 1948, and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female, 1953, Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders.

Massachusetts Department of Education Youth Risk Behavior Surveys, 2003, 2005. http://www.doe.mass.edu/cnp/hprograms/yrbs/

Rosario, M., Hunter, J., and Rotheram-Borus, M. J., Unpublished data on lesbian adolescents, HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1992.

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	Introduction
	Creating a Climate of Safety and Respect
	Teaching Social Skills
	Predictable Expectations and Consistent Behavior Management
	Driving the Message Home by Including Parents
	Conclusion

The social development of pre-teens and adolescents has become increasingly complicated with a social world defined by bullying, social aggression, and cyber-bullying. Many people minimize bullying, as having been around for generations, but the saying that boys will be boys, and girls will be girls is no longer relevant. Bullying today is more potent and the effects have more costly consequences. Adolescents live in a social culture where the norms and expectations are overwhelmingly present, yet are not always clearly defined. The struggle for power and status is a strong motivator, often guiding the flow of friendships. Kids know it, they feel it, and often times, simply do not have words to describe their social experiences. They need an open and understanding forum to make sense of things. Kids need a context where they feel empowered to interact respectfully and develop healthy relationships.

Social workers who work in various settings with youth are in a unique position to address these social development needs. In schools, school-based programs, and other community youth organizations, there is a captive audience of young people in need of guidance. They will never admit this, but seem enlightened when they learn a common language to describe their social culture. Some kids are certainly better than others at intuiting social expectations and behaving accordingly. Others are much less equipped for this journey. Yet they all inhabit the same social environment. Understanding adolescents’ social culture and teaching them how to navigate within it is critical if kids are to survive the social jungle of adolescents with their sense of self and self-respect intact.

In schools, as well as other settings, the approach must be comprehensive and ongoing to effectively address adolescent social needs. Such an approach involves: 1) Creating a Climate of Safety and Respect; 2) Teaching Social Skills; and 3) Defining Predictable Expectations and Implementing Consistent Behavior Management. The final component of such a comprehensive effort is to include parents and other supportive adults involved in the child’s world.

Creating a Climate of Safety and Respect

Imagine the following scenario. You walk into one of those enormous superstores that sell everything from groceries to home goods. Only this store has no greeters. No employees will make eye contact with you, let alone answer your stupid questions. None of the aisles are marked and none of the merchandise is labeled with a price. There is only one cashier open. A person, totally unaware that there is a long line, walks right up to the front to pay. The cashier sternly tells that person to go to the end of the line. The person retreats apologetically. Five minutes later, another person marches up to the cashier and demands to be checked out. The cashier looks intimidated, so rings up that customer. The people in line are now really annoyed and angry, but do not say anything until the demanding customer leaves. Then they confront the cashier and multiple arguments break out.

Ask yourself: Would you shop at this store? How safe and respected would you feel in this situation? Why are the rules different for different people? Where is the leadership to define the store policies? When schools and other organizations that service kids stay out of the social world of their students (youth), those students are essentially left to fend for themselves. For many, this can feel like a climate of disrespect, fear, and uncertainty. Under these circumstances, the adolescent social hierarchy prevails. Some kids get to feel safe and respected and some do not.

Schools and other youth organizations have a responsibility to define their climate and promote behaviors that are safe and respectful for all. Climate refers to the look, the feel, and the general “temperature” of the environment. Climate consists of the attitudes, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors of those individuals within the (school) community and contributes to shaping interactions. Climate defines the boundaries for acceptable behavior. Engaging all community members and stakeholders to shape the climate, fosters collective investment and an ownership in the system. One way to accomplish this is by developing “climate committees”. Student, staff/faculty, and parent climate committees can meet on a regular basis to make sure all voices take part in shaping the climate. These committees offer a forum for concerns to be discussed and for problem solving to take place with all perspectives in mind. In any climate plan, opportunities for connection and collaboration generate empathy and thus reduce the propensity for violence. Social workers are often in positions to be coordinators of such efforts and can act as a catalyst for energizing constituents to keep those efforts progressing in a productive manner.

Teaching Social Skills

Some kids take a calculated approach in traveling through their social world. Others wander aimlessly happening upon unpleasant and even dangerous situations and interactions. Social skills education helps to more clearly define how the social culture of youth operates. There are many social skills resources and educational curriculums out there. Key components are programs that help students (and the adults): define a common definition of bullying behaviors; address the dynamic of power in social interactions; discuss ways to empower bystanders to intervene positively; and describe how gender differences and pressures affect social behaviors and relationships. In addition, important issues such as safe and appropriate technology use, sexual harassment, and the affects of media in our culture need to be discussed. Effective teaching tools utilize interactive exercises to engage participants in understanding the material. Conflict resolution curriculums are also quite useful in helping kids to deal effectively with day-to-day confrontations and to learn productive decision-making strategies.

There are a few resources that in my work have been useful in addressing the above components. The “Owning Up” curriculum developed by Rosalind Wiseman is targeted to Middle and High School ages. This curriculum can be found on Ms. Wiseman’s website at www.rosalindwiseman.com . Bully Proofing Your School by Marla Bonds, Psy.D. And Sally Stoker, M.S.W. (Sopris West, 2000), have both Elementary and Middle School editions. There is also a version for parents titled, Bully Proofing Your Child. Bully Busters: A Teacher’s Manual by Dawn A. Newman, Arthur M. Horne, and Christi L. Bartolomucci (Research Press, 2000) is a teacher-based intervention program that can be implemented in the context of larger climate efforts. These are only a few among many valuable resources.

In many settings, social workers provide the trainings mentioned above. A shared knowledge of social culture and pressures creates a remarkable foundation for ownership of behaviors and for future problem solving. When kids feel settled in their social worlds, they are freed up to devote their resources to other important growth efforts, such as learning, self-exploration, and developing talents and interests.

Predictable Expectations and Consistent Behavior Management

Using core values to define clear expectations for behavior and making those expectations known and visible in a school or community are critical components of a positive climate. A great way to focus on positive behaviors is to collectively implement a creative positive reinforcement system. The PRIDE program was developed during my work as a middle school counselor, coordinating school climate committees. PRIDE is an acronym that stands for Positive Interactions, Respect and Responsibility, Individual Safety, Dependability, and Effort. PRIDE banners are issued to students who demonstrate behaviors consistent with PRIDE. The banners are small triangles (shaped like banners) that display the school mascot on the front and the student’s name, date, and behavior on the back with the teacher’s initials. PRIDE banners are posted on a bulletin board for all to see. In addition, PRIDE posters with the acronym hang in every classroom and in other prominent places throughout the school as a visual reminder of community expectations. Other rewards can also be issued for earning PRIDE banners.

By both rewarding behaviors consistent with the expectations of the school/community and by providing consequences for unacceptable behaviors, the social playing field becomes equalized. When negative behaviors are tolerated and not addressed appropriately, kids may feel scared or socially isolated. Social isolation may increase the likelihood for some to engage in inappropriate or even unsafe behaviors to feel protected. Fostering a sense of pride in ones actions and intentions elevates kids to behave responsibly and with others in mind.

Social workers have valuable input regarding social dynamics and the needs of those individuals who may be involved. This input is extremely useful in assisting administrators and program directors to define effective disciplinary responses. Utilizing a continuum of consequences with a problem-solving model for addressing behavior helps students (youth) learn from their mistakes and helps parents to be more supportive of the outcomes.

Driving the Message Home by Including Parents

Social Workers have often been described as bridges between various systems. Ongoing communication and collaboration with parents has many collective benefits. Research shows evidence that parent involvement contributes to student success. It is important for parents to have opportunities to share their voice and hear from others. This can be done through parent climate committees, parent education efforts, or participation in other parent-school/community partnerships. Parents have a lot of valuable information to share, not only about their children, but also about their perceptions of social dynamics and interactions. We all have pieces of the puzzle and when we communicate to put them together, it is amazing how all parties can feel empowered to act.

Conclusion

Bullying, social aggression, and cyber-bullying can be addressed effectively when all community members are actively engaged. Establishing a climate of safety and respect, teaching social skills, and defining clear expectations and consequences, contribute to a predictable environment. Social Workers have the knowledge to understand the many facets of bullying and adolescents’ social culture. Those of us who work with youth have a responsibility to empower them to live respectfully in their social world. A comprehensive approach to address bullying will give our youth a chance to grow and mature toward a strong sense of self and to offer confident contributions to the larger world.

Related Articles:

• About Youth Development
• Youth Development Current Trends
• Youth Development – Your Options
• Youth Development – How Social Workers Help
• Youth Development Tip Sheets
• Youth Development Resources
• Youth Development Real Life Stories