Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, New York.
JAMA Pediatr. 2022 Jan 1;176(1):52-58. doi: 10.1001/jamapediatrics.2021.3660.
Homophobic bullying-which is motivated by actual or perceived sexual orientation-is a common experience among youth and is more strongly associated with adverse outcomes than bullying unrelated to bias. Yet current approaches to reducing homophobic bullying either lack empirical evidence or encounter significant obstacles. Thus, the field requires the identification of strategies that hold promise for reducing homophobic bullying.
To examine whether litigation is associated with reductions in homophobic bullying.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In this quasi-experimental study, difference-in-difference analysis was used to estimate the association between litigation and homophobic bullying, comparing students in schools that experienced litigation with students in schools that did not experience litigation, controlling for individual and school characteristics, study year, and county. Survey responses came from high school students from 499 schools participating in the California Healthy Kids Survey, the largest statewide survey of youth risk behaviors and protective factors, between 2001 and 2016. Legal data were collected from September 2018 to September 2019, and data were analyzed from February 2020 to April 2021.
Outcomes of litigation related to sexual orientation-based harassment and discrimination in California schools occurring after 2000.
Student reports of homophobic bullying.
Of 1 448 778 included participants, 706 258 (48.7%) were male, 563 973 (38.9%) were White, and the mean (SD) age was 14.6 (1.7) years. For cases where the plaintiff (student) secured monetary and/or injunctive relief through settlement or court decision, there was a 23% reduction in the ratio of odds ratios (ROR) of homophobic bullying in schools directly involved in the litigation relative to schools that did not experience litigation (ROR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.68-0.86). These benefits of litigation spilled over into schools in the same district as the schools experiencing litigation (ROR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.70-0.81). However, homophobic bullying slightly increased in the school and district where the defendant (school) avoided adverse legal consequences, suggesting potential backlash.
Litigation seeking to address alleged violations of the rights of students who are (or are perceived to be) lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender under laws prohibiting harassment or discrimination may lead to reductions in rates of homophobic bullying, with effect sizes comparable with that of resource-intensive school-based bullying interventions. These findings set the stage for future studies to evaluate the consequences of different litigation efforts aimed at redressing stigma-based harms among youth.
基于实际或感知到的性取向的恐同欺凌是青少年中常见的经历，与与偏见无关的欺凌相比，它与更不利的结果密切相关。然而，目前减少恐同欺凌的方法要么缺乏经验证据，要么遇到重大障碍。因此，该领域需要确定有希望减少恐同欺凌的策略。
研究诉讼是否与减少恐同欺凌有关。
设计、地点和参与者：在这项准实验研究中，使用差异中的差异分析来估计诉讼与恐同欺凌之间的关联，将经历诉讼的学校的学生与未经历诉讼的学校的学生进行比较，同时控制个体和学校特征、研究年份和县。调查回复来自参加加利福尼亚健康儿童调查的 499 所学校的高中生，这是对青少年风险行为和保护因素的最大全州性调查，时间为 2001 年至 2016 年。法律数据于 2018 年 9 月至 2019 年 9 月收集，数据分析于 2020 年 2 月至 2021 年 4 月进行。
加利福尼亚学校中与性取向相关的骚扰和歧视有关的诉讼结果发生在 2000 年后。
学生报告的恐同欺凌。
在纳入的 1448778 名参与者中，706258 名（48.7%）为男性，563973 名（38.9%）为白人，平均（SD）年龄为 14.6（1.7）岁。对于原告（学生）通过和解或法院判决获得金钱和/或禁令救济的案件，直接参与诉讼的学校中恐同欺凌的比值比（ROR）降低了 23%，而未经历诉讼的学校的 ROR 为 0.77（95%CI，0.68-0.86）。这些诉讼的好处也扩展到了与经历诉讼的学校相同的地区的学校（ROR，0.76；95%CI，0.70-0.81）。然而，在被告（学校）避免不利法律后果的学校和地区，恐同欺凌略有增加，表明可能存在反弹。
寻求解决骚扰或歧视法律下被视为（或被认为是）女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋或跨性别学生权利被侵犯的诉讼，可能会导致恐同欺凌率降低，其效果大小与资源密集型基于学校的欺凌干预相当。这些发现为未来评估旨在纠正青年基于污名的伤害的不同诉讼努力的后果奠定了基础。
