Environmental and Individual Predictors of Resilience for Queer-Spectrum College Students

In the United States, anti-queer mobilization (e.g. demonstrations, propaganda, political attacks) has increased in recent years. Although campus climate data from the past decades for queer-spectrum individuals show promising trends, these students still navigate numerous academic, social, and health challenges in the college. Given students' efforts to traverse these issues, this exploratory study of 8,988 queer-spectrum students examines both individual and collegiate environmental predictors of resilience. Results highlight the importance of queer-spectrum students' experiences of the environment, particularly a sense of belonging and active engagement in both conversations across difference and behaviors that promote social change. Thus, to cultivate queer resilience, educators must attend to queer-spectrum students' perceptions of campus climate as well as activism and cross-cultural dialogue.