There's no place like home: Exploring sexual and gender diverse youth's outcomes related to urban/nonurban settings, opted consent procedure, and social support

This study uses the minority stress model to examine the relationship between sexual and gender diverse youth's (SGDY's) emotional and peer problem outcomes with their school setting (i.e., attending school in an urban or nonurban setting) and consent type (i.e., parental/guardian or waived consent). The study also explores how social support can alter these relationships as a protective factor. The instruments used to collect data were self-report and included the Child and Adolescent Social Support Scale and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. Results indicated that more youth in nonurban settings experienced emotional and peer problems compared to those in urban settings, and youth who opted for waived consent endorsed fewer emotional and peer problems compared to youth who opted for parental/guardian consent. When controlling for social support, the consent procedure and school setting variables lost significance. Implications for school psychologists are reviewed.