This study examines the role of older, or "elder," LGBTQ+ influencers on TikTok as sources of emotional support that may positively contribute to the mental well-being of queer young adults in the United States. This study is specifically guided by the question of whether older LGBTQ+ TikTok influencers foster hope among queer young adults and, if so, through what mechanisms. To that end, a 2 (condition: elder vs. peer-aged) & times; 3 (message variance) mixed-factorial online experiment was conducted with 292 LGBTQ+ young adults. Two potential processes to explain media effects were assessed, including perceived emotional support from TikTok content and ingroup identification with the LGBTQ+ community. Results found that participants reported greater hope for the future after viewing content featuring elder LGBTQ+ influencers compared to peer-aged influencers. This relationship was mediated by increases in perceived emotional support. Although the elder condition also increased LGBTQ+ ingroup identification, it did not significantly mediate the relationship between exposure condition and hope for the future. Collectively, these findings suggest that TikTok and intergenerational LGBTQ+ content may serve as meaningful sources of social support and future-oriented optimism among younger LGBTQ+ users.
Ethnic-racial socialization research has identified myriad ecological influences shaping youth identity development, but few studies have put this research in conversation with queer of color critique to understand contextual socialization processes of queer youth identity development. Advocating for greater attention to queer studies contributions in developmental science and family studies, the current study adopted a multidisciplinary qualitative approach to ask: how have LGBTQA+ youth explored and learned about their identities? We conducted individual interviews with 27 LGBTQA+ identifying young adults recruited from a larger project (2023-2024) based in the south-central U.S. (Mage = 21.62, range:18-27; 77.8% youth of color; 55.6% gender expansive; 63.0% plurisexual, 11.1% asexual). Results from reflexive thematic analysis identified four themes regarding contextual socialization processes: accessing queer knowledge, testing and unsettling, existing in queer places with queer people, and envisioning and building the future. Themes cut across multiple ecological contexts, indicating that studying queer youth identity development will benefit from examining socialization within and across family, peer, online, school, and community settings, as well as the sociohistorical contexts in which they are embedded. Results inform intersectional conceptualization of LGBTQA+ identity socialization, opportunities for future research, and policy and practice recommendations in support of queer youth's identity development.
