Teacher Support Moderates Associations among Sexual Orientation Identity Outness, Victimization, and Academic Performance among LGBQ+Youth.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and youth with other minority sexual orientations (LGBQ+) who are more out to others about their sexual orientation identity may experience greater victimization at school based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, with negative implications for academic performance. Teacher support, however, may buffer these associations. Among a national US sample of cisgender and trans/non-binary LGBQ+ youth (n = 11,268; 66.1% White, 66.8% cisgender, Mage = 15.5 years, SDage = 1.3), latent moderated-mediation models were tested in which perceived teacher support and affirmation moderated the extent to which sexual orientation identity outness was associated with poorer reported academic performance in part through its association with greater victimization. As hypothesized, greater perceived teacher support and affirmation buffered (a) the association between sexual orientation identity outness and victimization, (b) the association between victimization and reported academic performance, and (c) the indirect association between sexual orientation identity outness and reported academic performance through victimization. These findings underscore the important protective role of supportive teachers for LGBQ+ youth in schools.