Using an intersectional life course perspective to understand familial environment and its impact on sexuality development among Asian American sexual minority college students

Abstract

There is a dearth of research understanding the sexual health of Asian American adolescents, and even more so for those who identify as sexual minorities (lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, asexual, and other sexual orientations). This study is a secondary qualitative analysis focused on young adults’ recollections of their formal and informal sex education experiences in childhood and adolescence using a sub-sample of in-depth interviews from students who self-identified as both Asian and sexual minorities living in the USA (n = 9). Results were organised into three sections: (1) latent cultural factors (e.g. stigma surrounding sex, self-sufficiency, filial piety); (2) the downstream effects of latent cultural factors (e.g. sex-related discussions, rules disallowing dating, role of lateral family members); and (3) the impact of deficient familial sex-related discussions (e.g. Internet, resentment). Study findings underscore the links between identity concealment and relationship concealment that are unique to Asian sexual minority individuals. We suggest that interventions involving Asian American US youth and their families should be culturally informed and promote cross-generational sex-related discussion. Future research should further explore the role of chosen family and non-parental family members as a point of intervention as they can be helpful sources of informal sex education.

Keywords:

• Life course theory
• parent-child communication
• intersectionality
• Asian American
• sexual minority

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Christine Wenzel, Atreyi Mitra, Vidhisha Mahesh and Annjelika Slate for their support with data collection. We would also like to thank the undergraduate students at University of California, Santa Barbara, University of California, San Diego and University of California, Los Angeles who participated in this work, especially the community of AAPI and sexual minority identified students who made this work possible.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported in part by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [NUF2CE002403] and the California Department of Public Health (16-10844). The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the official policies of US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the California Department of Public Health. Additional support was provided by a Phi Kappa Phi Love of Learning Award, a Phi Kappa Phi Dissertation Award and the Western Regional Public Health Training Center Award awarded to Brittnie Bloom. This research also received support from the Biosocial Training Program (T32 HD091058), awarded to Talia Kieu in the Carolina Population Center at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).