Data from a New Zealand study suggests that ‘coming out to yourself' happens later for more educated people. Senior social work lecturer Mark Henrickson of Massey University is still analysing findings from the ‘Lavender Island Study', New Zealand's largest look at gay, lesbian and bisexual people, with 2269 surveyed in 2004 on a wide variety of topics. When asked “at what age did you first come out to yourself?” respondents with only High School education reported a mean age of 18, but those with undergraduate or postgraduate degrees responded with an average of 21 years. The age survey respondents report they ‘first felt different' was an average 11.6 years for those with only secondary school education or less, but 12.8 years for those with a degree. Henrickson says the finding came as a surprise. “It seems intuitive that people with higher educational attainment would be more open to new ideas than people with lower levels of education, and that therefore the coming out process would be earlier and easier for higher-educated individuals,” he explains. The researcher offers a few theories for the results: People who come out earlier in life might experience discrimination and are discouraged from continuing formal education. Or perhaps young LBG people are studying harder in order to be better accepted – a kind of ‘compensatory acheivement'. There's also ‘label rejection' – “respondents with higher educational attainment were significantly more likely to identify themselves specifically as lesbian or gay,” explains Henrickson. This latest Lavender Islands finding has implications for social work, thinks Henrickson. Social workers must be made aware “LGB students have probably experienced the university environment as hostile, to some extent, and are in all likelihood arriving in the classroom with a history of experiences of harassment, discrimination and even assault. Such students may have chosen to suppress important aspects of their identities in order to be successful in their educational aspirations and careers. “Even though these students may perform extremely well academically, it is quite possible that they are living with experiences of discrimination and alienation as current realities.” Find out more about the Lavender Islands study by visiting the study's website - link below. Ref: GayNZ.com (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 22nd November 2006 - 12:00pm