HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

“PROJECT ON INFLUENCE OF CAMPUS EXPERIENCE AND OUTNESS ON

MENTAL HEALTH OF LGBTQ+ STUDENTS”

SUBMITTED TO

Dr. JAYASHREE MAHESH

Department of
Management Studies BITS
Pilani, Pilani Campus

SUBMITTED BY:

Name BITS ID No.

YASHWANTH CHINTA 2019H1490849P
SREELAKSHMI MOHAN 2019H1490862P
GARVIT JAIN 2019H1490814P
SHIVAM MISHRA 2019H1490841P
PRACHI 2019H1490825P
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
SR. NO CONTENT PAGE NO.
1. INTRODUCTION 4
2. LITERATURE REVIEW 5
3. OBJECTIVE 9
4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 10
5. DATA ANALYSIS 11
6. RECOMMENDATIONS 16
7. LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE SCOPE 17
8. CONCLUSION 18
9. APPENDIX 1 19
10. REFERENCES 20
 LIST OF FIGURES
SR. NO NAME PAGE NO.
1. T-TEST 11
2. PATH ANALYSIS 12
3. ANOVA 13
4. ANSWERS 14
 INTRODUCTION
Studies have shown that people from the LGBTQ+ community are discriminated against in all
wakes of life, especially if they acknowledge being part of the community. Such disparity no
only exists in public places or workplaces but is prevalent in educational campuses. Students
who go to college to build their futures are often marginalised due to their identity. This leads
to people remaining in the proverbial closet for a long time. When one is forced to hide their
identity due to fear of reaction from their loved ones and peers, it has adverse effects on mental
health which often leads to depression, substance abuse, and self-harm resulting, occasionally
in death.

In continuation to our project last semester, where we explored the awareness among students
in the campus towards gender identity and sexual orientation, we are looking at how the mental
health of students from the community is affected by the experiences that they have in the
campus due to them being, openly, a part of the LGBTQ+ community. We hope to understand
the factors that affect them, their perception of the campus climate, their mental health status,
their degree of outness, and what we can do to reduce the gap between the students and the
campus policies and activities that can increase awareness about the community so that future
batches of students face less discrimination based on their sexual orientation and gender
identity.
 LITERATURE REVIEW

MENTAL HEALTH
Mental health, as defined by World Health Organisation (WHO), is a state of well-being in
which an individual realises his/her capabilities, can cope with everyday stress’ and work
productively and can contribute to the community. In recent years, mental health has become
a point of importance so much so that it is included now in the Sustainable Development Goals.
As the awareness for mental health increases, the number of people facing mental health issues
has also increased. In the last decade alone, there have been a 13% increase in mental health
issues and substance abuse cases and suicide is the second common reason for suicide among
15 to 29-year olds. Even with the rise of cases across the globe, only 2% of global medical
health funds go into battling mental health.

Mental health plays a vital role in an individual’s personal and social life. When it comes to
students, it dictates how the student performs in academics and extra-curricular activities on
the campus. In a campus environment, discrimination and isolation are some of the biggest
reasons for increasing mental health problems. Discrimination happens through
microaggression, i.e. peer conversations or rude remarks or environmentally, i.e. through
campus climate or institute policies. Areas like sports complexes or hostels are the most
common areas where such discrimination takes roots.

According to studies, students from the LGBTQ+ community are often victims of
discrimination in college campuses in the form of derogatory comments or physical violence,
which makes them more prone to mental health disorders. Heterosexism and cisgenderism are
major factors along with the notion that it’s a sin to be a part of the community and it can be
changed. According to minority stress theory, social discrimination may not be the root cause
for severe mental health issues but they act as stress points for individuals belonging to minority
groups, which when clubbed over time causes major psychological issues. Studies suggest that
one of the factors for such the low morale of LGBTQ+ students is a lack of role models from
the community.
OUTNESS
In the LGBTQ+ community, to be out refers to you being openly part of the community. Before
coming out to society, individuals need to understand it first. Studies show that the formation
of one’s identity starts as adolescents. In a study by Marcia, he shows that adolescents go
through four stages to come to terms with their identity. This starts with not considering his or
her options and not taking it seriously, moves on to express a commitment to their chosen
identity, followed by going through a crisis in juggling all the options to finally accepting and
coming to terms with the choice that they have made. For an individual from the community,
different models give an outline of how an individual forms their identity.

A study by Cass gave her six-stage model which is most widely used due to its empirical
validity. According to Cass, every individual from the community goes through each step in a
linear fashion and if anyone drops out in the middle, she termed it as identity foreclosure, which
means that they drop their LGBTQ+ identity and adopt what the society expects from them.
The first step in her model was confusion where people are confused by their traits and
instincts. In the second step called identity comparison, they understand the possibility of them
being a part of the community and try to be around people from the community to understand
it better. In the next step of identity tolerance, they start getting comfortable in their identity
and look for role models that they relate to. In identity acceptance, the fourth step, people accept
their identity. This is where outness begins to one’s close friends and family. In the fifth step
of identity pride, they have fully accepted their identity and now focus on the discrimination
that society does to people from society. In the last step of identity synthesis, the divide between
LGBTQ+ and heterosexuals starts to lessen. Here they become stable and identity formation is
said to be complete.

The problem with these studies is that assuming that this process of identification and coming
out is linear. There is also a lack of studies that use empirical methods to conduct the said
studies. However, when practically seen, there are a lot of factors that affect the coming out
process which makes it hard to form a standard model for the same. Each individual goes
through different situations based upon their age, gender, race, class, etc., which dictate how
they come out to, when they do so and to whom they do so. E.g., in the case of people belonging
to trans-spectrum, they do not have a choice after a certain point as their identity will be
disclosed by changes in their physical appearance and this is common to cases of gender
disclosure. Among students, campus climate and campus experience play a pivotal role in this
journey. Coming out in one’s campus has an immense effect on one’s character building. A
hostile environment as one come’s out about their sexual and gender identity can harm their
personality, academics, and mental health.

Coming out is a very important decision for an individual. It solidifies their identity within
themselves and since coming out is not a one-time situation, each experience influences the
next time they come out to someone. A decision of coming out has multiple risks that have to
be weighed every time. The outcomes are negative reactions, bullying, violence, aggression,
discrimination, boycotting or alienation, etc. However, there are certain positive aspects to
coming out like empowerment, improved self-esteem, increased resilience, etc. Supportive
climate and having role models from the community are important factors in decisions
regarding coming out to society. In terms of campus climate, the more liberal campuses with
vocal support towards the community increase the chance of students feeling safe in disclosing
their identity helping them achieve their academic goals and personality development.

CAMPUS EXPERIENCE AND CLIMATE

As a student, especially from the LGBTQ+ community, the social interactions one has with
their peers play an important part in their character development, academic performance,
mental health, and their perception of the campus climate. When an individual comes out to
their classmates, their reaction, and further behaviour towards the individual contribute towards
the experiences of the individual. The integration and involvement of LGBTQ+ students into
the campus activities also play an important role in their experience. Studies show that 79% of
students from the community have been harassed by their peers which leads to 60% of the
students hide their identity from their peers.

Similarly, how faculty behaves with students from the LGBTQ+ community and with students
who marginalise the community also affects the students. Studies show that in institutes where
faculties are more understanding and open-minded, students feel safer. Having faculty from
the community itself also is an important step towards making campus experience positive for
students from the community.

Campus experience adds on to the mental health of the students. Along with the stress that
comes along with being a student, alienation, and discrimination due to one’s identity by their
peers and faculty are often triggers for students to slip into depression and subsequently into
suicides. Positive campus experiences make an individual rise to their full potential and be a
key part of the society by contributing to its betterment. A negative experience makes an
individual vary of coming out to the society, influencing their future risk analysis of coming
out to society in the future.

Campus experience of students gives a comprehensive view of the campus climate. Campus
climate, as defined by Rankin, is the cumulative attitudes, behaviour, and standards of
employees and students concerning access for the inclusion of, and level of respect for
individuals and group needs abilities and potential. Campus climate majorly affects an
individual’s participation in activities, especially extra-curricular. It is a measure of how safe
one feels on the campus and thinks they are a valuable member of society. Over the decade,
studies have shown the challenges a student faces as a member of the LGBTQ+ community
and what institutes should do to become more inclusive. One of the major steps is to create a
support service on the campus where students from the community can look for help and
understand the campus climate. Even when the campus is somewhat cold towards the
community, the presence of opportunities and support services make the campus climate a
positive environment for the students.
 OBJECTIVE

The objective of the project was to understand how the outness of an individual and their
experiences on the campus due to them being out as a part of the community affects their mental
health. To keep the study relevant, we included ally as a part of the community as they too
often face backlash for supporting the LGBTQ+ community. We have also kept the students
surveyed, limited to those from BITS Pilani, Pilani campus.

The research questions which were examined in this study are:

1. Are there any differences in the mental health or the attitude of the various university
students of the LGBTQA+ community?
2. Are there any relationships between the level of outness of a student from LGBTQA+
community to the kind of experience the student is subjecting on campus and the level
support the organization is providing towards the community with the mental health of
the student because of the abovementioned variables?
3. Are there any differences in the level support from the organization and the kind of
campus experience of a student from the LGBTQA+ community to the level of mental
health the student is in when subjected to the disclosure of self-identity?
 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION AND SAMPLING

We have conducted an online survey using Google Forms, where the questionnaire is derived
from a famous survey “State of Higher Education for LGBT people 2010”, and tailored in
relevance to our study.
POPULATION SIZE: 5000 students
CONFIDENCE INTERVAL: 15%
CONFIDENCE LEVEL: 95%
SAMPLE SIZE: 60
Of the respondents, 32 responses (54.23%) were considered fit for analysis as they belong to
the LGBTQA+ community and the rest does not satisfy the study terms.

CONSTRUCTS FOR THE STUDY

We have tried to measure the mental health, the dependent variable, of respondents by a series
of questions and their responses by the students under different parameters. The parameters
include their regular mental state, and the coping mechanisms adopted.

After reviewing available literature, we have decided on campus experience and campus
support as the independent variables and outness level being the moderating variable after
assessing the reliability of these variables using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient.
 DATA ANALYSIS

The survey was conducted online and the data extracted into MS Excel was analysed using
SPSS statistical software and SmartPLS. We have used a Two-sample t-test assuming unequal
variances to determine the significant difference between the level of independent variables for
both groups, focused group (BITS students) and other universities. We have also used PLS
Analysis to establish a relation between the independent, moderating, and dependent variables
using SmartPLS software. For a better understanding of the influence of the outness level and
campus variables on the Mental health, we have used multivariate regression analysis, which
gives the measure of the extent of the influence of the multiple factors of the independent
variable on the dependent variable.

RESULTS

Fig 1. T-test

Our first analysis was to determine the significant difference for the factors of study in two
groups, i.e., students from BITS and other universities using a Two-sample t-test (Fig 1).
Regarding the campus support, we observed no significant difference between BITS (M=4.27
and S.D = 1.03) and other universities (M=4.50 and S.D = 0.850). There was no significant
difference found regarding campus experience in BITS (M=4.23 and S.D = 0.752) and other
universities (M=4.60 and S.D = 0.516). Similarly, we couldn’t find any significant difference
regarding the outness level between the two groups.
 Fig 2. Path analysis

The next step of the analysis is to establish a relation between the study variables (Fig 2).
Though our proposed framework suggested there exists unidirectional relation between the
variables, we found out that the relation between campus experience and outness level is
bidirectional. While the multivariate regression analysis model includes the five factors and 3
independent variables, it explain 42.3% of the variances in the level of mental health of the
student. While campus experience factors 27.4%, campus support factors 31.7% and outness
levels moderates 29.2% to the contribution of the total mental health of the student. But from
the PLS analysis, we also conclude that there exists bidirectional relation between campus
experience and outness level. This implies that they face different levels of campus experience
when they are out at different levels. Fig 3 describes the findings.

M.H = 0.123 + 0.274(Campus Experience) + 0.317(Campus Support) + 0.292(Outness)

 Fig 3. Regression Analysis

In a series of questions that talked about the outness of the survey participants, we found that
almost 22 % of people were not out to their peers as a part of the community, even as an ally.
This is particularly interesting when almost 58% of people who are out, have come out to their
friends. Furthermore, 12.5% of them said that they were embarrassed about their sexuality and
66% said that they would have come out sooner if the society was more welcoming. (Fig.4)

37.5% of the participants accepted that life would have been easier if they were straight. When
asked if they would be straight, if given a chance, the majority of them responded no. However,
the major reason people wanted to be straight was that life as a straight person would be easier
in society with less stigma and access to basic rights like adoption and marriage, etc.

22% of people said that they have been suicidal at some point in their life due to their sexuality.
Almost 69% of the participants had felt anger or sadness and 50% had felt insomnia or excess
sleep and bouts of depression. Only 4 people from all the respondents had never felt any kind
of mental health problem. When asked about how people tackle the mental health issues, 50%
said talking to their closed ones is the first thing they do, with drugs being their last resort. 53%
of people thought that having an LGBT role model was important.
We further found that 9% of the respondents have been threatened by peers about outing them
to society and that 47% of them have faced some kind of abuse because of their sexuality. And
50% of them admitted to not coming out due to the fear of reaction. 38% also stated that they
felt they were treated with less courtesy because they belonged to the community. Even though
50% of people thought their college was inclusive, 34% thought it wasn’t and the rest weren’t
sure about the college status regarding inclusiveness.

Fig 4. Answers

IMPLICATIONS
Our study implicates that there was no difference between the attitude of students in different
universities against the students belonging to the LGBTQA+ community. This study
established various levels of mental health of the students depending on the outness levels and
the ways students find coping mechanisms to negate the effects of their mental health. Our
results also suggest that many individuals from the community find comfort in being out to a
friend rather than to their parents and siblings. More surprisingly so, more the close relationship
with the friend, people are in good mental health. But for most of the respondents, the number
of friends and the quality of their relationship both are in lower margins, resulting in the lower
score in mental health. Without any source of comfort, students find different methods to cope
with mental stress like alcohol, drugs, etc.
We also found that even though people thought being straight was easier in the society, if given
a choice, people would not change their sexuality as they were proud of who they were. We
also found that role models are important which is per past studies. It also shows that abuse is,
verbal or physical, prevalent against students from the community, and that even if the colleges
are inclusive of the community, students either don’t know about it or don’t feel that they work
enough to make a difference.
 RECOMMENDATIONS

• There is a lack of a support system for students from the community. Hence there
should be a proper channel from where students can receive guidance and support for
when they need it. A student cell that can take care of their problems and take it to the
notice of the higher authorities can be the first step for it.
• Increasing the awareness about the community by conducting talks and workshops for
the students. This way, students who want to know about the community can have
reliable channels of learning, and students from the community would interact with
people who can be considered role models from the community that they belong to.
• Representation of the community across student activities is important to boost the
morale of the students to achieve without the fear of alienation or discrimination.
• Having this information shared with students and parents at their first orientation to
show campus support and availability of resources to students of the community.
• Addition of the inclusiveness details in the college brochure and manifestos so that
students know that the college is a safe space, coming in.
 LIMITATIONS AND FUTURE SCOPE

The biggest limitation that we faced was that our participant pool was limited only to students
from the Pilani campus. A more extensive pool would have a given better idea about how other
campuses around the country work for the community. Another fact was the lack of awareness
and ignorance of students which are often evident from the comments in the survey where we
face backlash.

In the future, a pre-test and post-test survey could help us determine how different activities
influence students and if conducting such events is useful for the community.

Our study was based only on the students from BITS Pilani, Pilani campus. This can be further
extended to other campuses of BITS and the data received can be used to set up a cross-campus
student cell that would help the institute become an inclusive and safe campus where students
from identities have a chance to create a bright future. BITS can become a pioneer in terms of
inclusive campuses in India.
 CONCLUSION

According to studies conducted to date, there exists a lot of proof to show that the mental
health of students is dependent majorly on the kind of environment they live in. Similarly, it
is also shown that students from the LGBTQ+ community go through mental problems more
than their heterosexual peers. One of the biggest reasons for this is the hostile environment
the lack of awareness among students, lack of initiative by institutes towards inclusion, and
the thought that being a member of the LGBTQ+ community is unnatural and can be cured,
much like a disease.

The survey results tell us about the climate that BITS have from the perspective of students
from the community. This is a gateway to their experiences on the campus, which, according
to research, is a major factor for mental health and the overall development of students. The
recommendations given are suggested keeping in mind the results of this survey and our
previous project which studied the level of awareness among students.
 APPENDIX 1

QUESTIONNAIRE:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1P6Kg-Fxn-yRu3u879HeTeD4mLLRtjBMf

RESPONSES:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1x5RleLacyrhZAvneOz_jNJfysZ2bpyBnRo7B9rRrY
nM/edit?usp=sharing
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