Date of Award

5-2024

Document Type

Project

Degree Name

Master of Social Work

Department

School of Social Work

First Reader/Committee Chair

Lim, Caroline

Abstract

Background- The LGBTQ+ community has seen a recent rise in policies and bills that limit or take away rights, including those that limit access to gender-affirming healthcare and remove LGBTQ+ education from schools. These policies have been difficult for the LGBTQ+ community. Objective- The aim of this study was to compare the difference between cishet (cisgender heterosexual) college students levels of hope and LGBTQ+ college students levels of hope, specifically hope in relation to their futures. Methods- This study utilized a cross-sectional design. Qualtrics surveys were distributed and participants answered questions using the Hopeful Future Expectations scale in order to scale the levels of hope and then average out the reported rates of hope. There were 16 questions on the scale, each with the following five scaling options; Very Low, Low, 50/50, High, Very High. The average hopeful future expectations score for the cishet college student participants will be compared to the LGBTQ+ college students hopeful future expectations average in order to determine the difference. Results- The cishet participants reported an average score of 3.6 (SD = 0.6) while the LGBTQ+ population reported an average score of 3.4 (SD = 0.6). This does not present a statistically significant difference in the reported hopeful future expectations of both groups of participants. Conclusion- The results show that there is not a statistically significant difference, but we can note there is a lower rating of hope among the LGBTQ+ college student population, especially in areas such as safety, acceptance, access to healthcare, and marriage. Since California is rated highly among safety and among equity for LGBTQ+ populations, completing this survey among a group outside of a highly rated safe state and with a larger population may yield different results.

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