Abstract

ALBUQUERQUE, Paloma Pegolo de  and  WILLIAMS, Lúcia Cavalcanti de Albuquerque. Reports from university students on their worst school experiences on homophobia: los informes de los estudiantes universitarios acerca de las peores experiencias. Temas psicol. [online]. 2015, vol.23, n.3, pp. 663-676. ISSN 1413-389X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.9788/TP2015.3-11.

Homophobia may be present at schools in several ways, involving multiple school agents, and favoring the development of many psychological and psychiatric symptoms by victims. This study aimed to describe university students retrospective reports on their worst school experiences motivated by homophobia, identifying their duration, main perpetrators involved, and symptoms resulting from these experiences. Among the 638 participants who answered the "Student Alienation and Trauma Survey - R" for a larger Brazilian study on school victimization, 21 (3.3%) reported homophobic components in their worst experience. The reports describe mainly verbal victimization and also social isolation situations, and for 14 students the experience lasted for "years". In terms of consequences from homophobia, 19 participants indicated that they were "much bothered from the experience", describing clinically significant symptoms, such as from depression and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. The need for further research is pointed out, and potential interventions in school to combat homophobia are discussed.

Keywords : School homophobia; homofobic bullying; school homophobia symptoms.

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