Research Project
Looking into the Decline of Acceptance of the LGBTQ Population
Faculty Mentor
Dr. Rachel Jackson
What is your research?
I originally was trying to find if being more aware of different aspects of LGBTQ culture and issues could lead to greater national acceptance of LGBTQ people, though early research led me to find that the general national acceptance of LGBTQ people went down in 2018, and continued in 2019 for 18-34-year-olds. Now I am trying to find possible reasons why acceptance has gone down and to find gaps where more research is needed. I am also looking at IUP's LGBTQ campus climate to see if there is more that our school can be doing to prevent the decline in acceptance.
Why is it important?
This project is important because LGBTQ members are more likely to be discriminated against and experience violence than their heterosexual and cisgender counterparts. This can lead to many different kinds of negative effects on mental health (anxiety, depression, lower self-esteem) and behavior (getting lower grades in school and attempting suicide). Understanding why people are less comfortable around LGBTQ people will give insight on how to reverse the trend on a national scale, and more specifically, on IUP's campus.
