Social Support and Psychological Well-being of Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Students

Abstract

This study is intended to determine the underlying relationships between social support and the psychological well-being of lesbian, gay, and bisexual college students. A representative sample size of 50 participants from a private university was determined with the use of the snowball sampling process. The study utilized the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support by Zimet et al. (1988) to determine the degree of social support and Ryff (2013) 48-item Psychological Well-Being Scale. The findings revealed that the participants had higher to moderate levels of perceived social support while the level of their psychological well-being was moderate to low. It was also determined that no significant relationship existed between the variables when grouped according to specific demographics. However, participants from extended families had lower levels of perceived social support. Overall, the results show that the participants’ degree of perceived social support is not correlated with their levels of psychological well-being. Implications of the study have been discussed. Furthermore, a podcast series has been aired as the proposed program for the participants and interested individuals to listen to, with episodes ranging from social support, experiences of LGB members, and destigmatizing perceptions of sexuality.