Title:
The experience of friendship for young sexual minority males: a grounded theory analysis of lived experience
Author:
Matthew E. FitzGerald
Thesis Advisor:
Rachel Grover
Committee Member:
Heather Lyons
Committee Member:
Charles LoPresto
Degree Granting Institution:
Loyola University Maryland--College of Arts and Sciences
Place:
Baltimore (Md.)
Publisher:
Loyola University Maryland
Date Created:
2013
Type of Resource:
text
Genre:
thesis
Language:
eng
Format:
application/pdf
Physical Form:
electronic
Digital Source:
born digital
Abstract:
Adolescence is a pivotal and challenging period of development, and even more so for sexual minority youth who are more often the target of ostracism and victimization. Friendship is a critical mitigating factor for the turbulence of adolescence and same-sex friends become a greater source of support than parents during the high school years. Despite the importance of the same-sex peer group, there is evidence to suggest that young sexual minority males might have unique challenges and experiences establishing and maintaining same-sex friendships. Such challenges could have a significant impact on the teen's level of support, social acceptance, and future wellbeing. This study employs qualitative and grounded theory methodology to investigate the experience and function of same-sex friendships for adolescent sexual minority males. Undergraduate participants (N = 9) engaged in 60-minute semi-structured interviews exploring their experiences of male friendships in high school. The interviews were transcribed and thematically coded using an iterative development process with a four person research team. The resulting codebook consisted of 38 themes across 5 inter-related domains which was generated from 370 Meaning Units transcribed from the interviews. The themes provide a rich description of some of the key experiences of male-male friendships for these teens. A theoretical model was derived from the experiences of these participants and posits several trends related to the central theme of acceptance. These trends include an increase in openness, happiness, and transparency with others when the youth feels accepted, and employment of purposive relational management, hiding of identity, and feeling of disconnection when the youth does not feel accepted as a sexual minority. This model would also expect same-sex friendships to be more difficult to navigate for the adolescent sexual minority male due to feelings of attraction and perceived rejection from the peer. Implications of these findings are discussed including further theoretical, methodological, and practical applications.
Subject:
Electronic dissertations
Degree:
Doctor of Psychology
Level:
Doctoral
Discipline:
Psychology
Restrictions on Access:
Author has given permission to make this work available online.
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Identifier:
FitzGeraldME-13
