Mindful Continuing Education

Measuring Sexual Orientation, Attraction, and Gender Identity Among Youth to Improve Outcomes

1. Research shows that LGBT youth may be at higher risk for bullying victimization, drug and alcohol use, and sexual risk behaviors, so understanding their experiences is critical to promoting their healthy development and creating safe and supportive environments.

A. True B. False

Key Findings

2. Validly assessing sexual orientation among adolescents often requires measurement of multiple dimensions such as identity, attraction, and/or:

A. Temperament B. Personality C. Behavior D. Compatibility

Recommended Items

3. Experts recommend excluding response options such as, “I am not sure yet” and “something else” when assessing sexual identity, as these may lead to misinterpretation of data.

A. True B. False

Introduction-Defining Sexual Orientation and Gender

4. Gender functions as a combination of biological sex at birth as well as each of the following EXCEPT:

A. Gender development B. Gender identity C. Gender expression D. Gender label

Previous Strategies for Asking Adolescents About Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

5. One study that explored adolescents’ understanding of sexual orientation determined that many adolescents find it difficult to label themselves with concrete terms such as “gay” or “bisexual” since they are still exploring their sexual orientations.

A. True B. False

Expert Panel Recommendations-Sexual Orientation Measures

6. Panel recommendations to assess sexual attraction include:

A. Items should be asked as straightforwardly as possible, as previous findings noted confusion with wordings such as “romantic attraction” B. Younger adolescents may require slightly different items related to sexual attraction since sexual attraction may not be developmentally appropriate C. While the term “sexual attraction” may be used with older adolescents, “crush” may be used with younger youth to measure attraction D. All of the above

Cognitive Interview Findings

7. Sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) items may not represent actual sexual orientation or gender identity, because the question may be unclear, respondents may not understand certain terms, or respondents are not comfortable with answering the question truthfully.

A. True B. False

Sexual Attraction for High-School-Aged Students-Responses

8. During cognitive interviews, several high school students stated that they felt uncomfortable answering sexual attraction questions, because the questions were not straightforward enough.

A. True B. False

Cognitive Interview Summary

9. One area of concern for interviewees was whether or not LGBT students would feel comfortable answering questions because of privacy concerns.

A. True B. False

Prevalence of Students Identifying as LGBT

10. Compared to high school students, the sexual identity that middle school students endorse often does not align with their sexual attraction and:

A. Individualism B. Societal expectations C. Genetic influences D. Innate tendencies

Gender Identity

11. In order to more accurately assess gender identity, the ED-SCLS field test asked questions about gender at birth and current gender identify.

A. True B. False

SOGI Item Nonresponse Rates-SOGI Item Placement

12. The two most likely possibilities for students not responding to particular survey items is that the context was not explained so the students weren’t willing to answer, or because the survey took too much effort.

A. True B. False

Analysis of Item Bias-Sexual Identity

13. Which of the following is an accurate statement about responses to sexual identity items?

A. Moderate differences were found in students from schools with low proportions of at-risk students compared to those with high proportions of at-risk students B. Student responses to the sexual identity item varied significantly by race or ethnicity for groups that met reporting standards C. There was no variation for students at high-risk schools in likelihood of reporting being gay or lesbian compared to students at moderately low- or moderately high-risk schools D. Responses to the sexual identity item did not vary significantly by gender identity

Analysis of Data Patterns

14. Results indicate that LGBQ students were _________________ straight students to strongly agree that students at school are teased or picked on about their real or perceived sexual orientation.

A. Slightly more likely than B. Equally likely as C. Significantly more likely than D. Slightly less likely than

Final Recommendation Items

15. Although it is strongly recommended, measuring multiple dimensions of sexual orientation may not always be feasible for surveys which must restrict the number of items to reduce respondent burden.

A. True B. False

16. For issues related to school climate, the most relevant factor is likely:

A. Sexual orientation B. Gender at birth C. Current gender identity D. Perceived sexual orientation

Recommendations for Fielding SOGI Items with Adolescents

17. Although including SOGI items at the beginning of a survey may prevent survey drop, the expert panel cautions that such placement may make LGBT students feel uncomfortable if they immediately sense their identity is being questioned.

A. True B. False

18. Data suggests that a survey question asking adolescents to identify themselves as “male” or “female” is not adequate to validly capture gender for transgender students.

A. True B. False


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