1043290
research-article2021

JARXXX10.1177/07435584211043290Journal of Adolescent ResearchCederved et al.

Empirical Article

A Clash of Sexual
Gender Norms andUnderstandings: A
Qualitative Study of
Homosexual, Bisexual,
Transgender, and Queer
Adolescents’ Experiencesin Junior High Schools

Journal of Adolescent Research
﻿1­–27© The Author(s) 2021
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https://doi.org/10.1177/07435584211043290
DOI: 10.1177/07435584211043290
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Catarina Cederved1 , Stinne Glasdam2 ,and Sigrid Stjernswärd2Abstract
The objective of this study is to explore the inclusiveness of lesbian, gay,bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) adolescents in junior high schoolfrom the perspective of LGBTQ adolescents in Sweden. Semi-structured
in-depth interviews were conducted with 10 GBTQ adolescents, aged 16 to
19. The study was approved by the Swedish Ethical Review Authority (Dnr:
2019-03816). A Braun and Clark inspired thematic analysis was performed
through a theoretical lens inspired by Berger and Luckmann. The analysis
resulted in three themes: (a) a navigator among peers as friends and bullies,(b) adults in school supported inclusion in and exclusion from the group ofpeers, and (c) non-heterosexuality and non-binary gender understanding asteaching projects in junior high school. In summary the LGBTQ adolescents
face multiple challenges related to identity development in hetero- and1

Uppsala University, Sweden
Lund University, Sweden

2

Corresponding Author:
Catarina Cederved, Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University,
SE-751 85 Uppsala, Sweden.
Email: Catarina.Cederved@kbh.uu.se2

Journal of Adolescent Research 00(0)cisnormative school environments, including adults and peers and their (re)actions. Inclusive and exclusive strategies exercised by the self, adults, andpeers affect adolescents’ experiences of their school time. Initiatives toincrease awareness and knowledge about the LGBTQ subject in school canlead to enhanced inclusion, but also to an enhanced sense of not belonging.
Inclusive initiatives can contribute to enhanced inclusion or its opposite,
motivating further research into LGBTQ adolescents’ experiences of juniorhigh school from a relational perspective.
Keywords
LGBTQ youth, interview study, junior high school, inclusion, exclusion,
identity

The mental health of adolescents that are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,and queer (LGBTQ) has been the focus of many studies from Western societies during the past 20 years and suggestions have been made on how to
improve the adolescents’ well-being (Madireddy & Madireddy, 2020; Russell& Fish, 2016; Taylor, 2019). Adolescence is considered as the end period of
the individual’s development from child to adult, and often the adolescents
struggle to establish their identity, including their sexual and gender identity(Erikson & Erikson, 1998). The age for coming out as homosexual has
decreased over time and is currently suggested to occur at the age of 14(Baams et al., 2015). The period of adolescence stretches from the start ofpuberty to the end of growth. The ages of 11 to 13 can be defined as preadolescent and 14 to 19 as adolescent, although 19 is not necessarily the endof adolescence (Best & Fortenberry, 2013). The period can be seen as a selective affirmation or rejection of the individual’s identity from childhood and associety’s way to identify youth by accepting who they become (Erikson &Erikson, 1998). School is a central part of the adolescents’ life. Not only is it
mandatory and occupies a large proportion of the person’s waking hours aday, but it is also considered the arena where the youth can make friends andfind role models. However, school as an historic institution is run by the adultgeneration and is hence influenced by this generation’s norms and beliefs(Magnus & Lundin, 2016; Stargell et al., 2020). Even though society is rapidly becoming more LGBTQ friendly through, for example, the adoption oflegislations permitting same sex marriages (Hamilton & La Diega, 2020) andguidelines of how to perform optimal care of children and youth experiencing
gender dysphoria (The National Board of Social Services, 2021), LGBTQ
persons are still suffering from past believes of homosexuality seen as anCederved et al.

3abnormality (Colvin et al., 2019; Katz, 2007; Roberts, 2019; Stargell et al.,2020). Generally, adolescents who want to be acknowledged as LGBTQ
challenge society’s current norms of heteronormativity (Bosse & Chiodo,2016). Heteronormativity marginalizes or sanctions those outside of the normative heterosexual sphere within an institution through the assumption thatprivilege and power are held by heterosexuals and is therefore the norm andideal in society (Jackson, 2006; Magnus & Lundin, 2016). Also, cisnormativity prevails where high schools often enact heteronormative and cisgendered
traditions so that gender and sexual minority students feel less of a belonging
to the school (Gannon-Rittenhouse, 2015). Society’s perception of LGBTQ
individuals can lead these individuals to reject their own identities due tointernalized homophobia (Yolaç & Meriç, 2020).
Multiple studies show that LGBTQ adolescents get bullied in school andhave poorer mental health than their peers (Eisenberg et al., 2019; Kosciw
et al., 2018; Williams, 2017). When faced with situational pressures, the adolescent is more self-reliant than in earlier stages of age-development and coping strategies have become more powerful in guiding action and regulating
emotions (Rogers et al., 2017; Zimmer-Gembeck & Skinner, 2011). However,growing up facing recurring situational pressures may have implications on
the LGBTQ youth’s sexual and gender identity development (Adegboyega
et al., 2019; Helms et al., 2014). Hobaica and colleagues (2019) show thattransgender youth experienced sex education in schools to be gendered,insufficient, and exclusive of trans identities, resulting in a delayed understanding of their own identity and a need to search for more information
outside the school context. Several studies show that LGBTQ adolescents
appreciate having supportive school personnel if they are bullied in school, as
it seemed to help them cope with the situation (Day et al., 2019; Gower et al.,2018; Marshall et al., 2015).
Adolescence can hence be a challenging period. As seen for young people identifying with LGBTQ, this period can come with the added challenge of not complying with society’s norms in terms of heteronormativity
and cisnormativity. This can represent a potential threat with regard totheir identity development (Adegboyega et al., 2019) and mental health(Russell & Fish, 2016; The Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society,2010; Williams, 2017). Internationally, research focuses on the situation
for LGBTQ adolescents in high school or college (Madireddy & Madireddy,2020), but little to our knowledge that frames the situation in the juniorhigh environment. Within the Swedish context, every fifth person in thegroup of 16- to 25-year-old individuals who are homo- or bisexual reportexperiences of physical abuse by a parent, partner, or other close adult; a4Journal of Adolescent Research 00(0)figure that was twice as big as compared with non homo- or bisexual persons in the same age group. Furthermore, young LGBTQ individuals
express that they have been subjected to unfair treatment, bullied andexperienced threats (The Swedish Agency for Youth and Civil Society,2010, 2019). However, the Swedish school curriculum establishes that nostudent shall be the subject of discriminating acts due to their sexual or
gender identity and that the institution shall work for the promotion of theindividual’s well-being and development (The Swedish National Agency
for Education, 2019). Research in the LGBTQ field in Sweden is scarce(Swedish Research Council for Health, Working life and Welfare, 2019).
This motivates the exploration of LGBTQ adolescents’ experiences ofjunior high school in a Swedish context. It seems important to increase theunderstanding of how LGBTQ adolescents experience, act, and interact inthe school environment. The current study’s aim is to explore the inclusiveness of LGBTQ adolescents in junior high school from the perspectiveof LGBTQ adolescents in Sweden.

MethodThe study was a retrospective interview study, where LGBTQ adolescents
contributed with their lived experiences of junior high school within the
Swedish context. The thematic analysis was inspired by the methods ofBraun and Clarke (2006) and a theoretical lens by Berger and Luckmann(1966).

Theoretical Framework
Berger and Luckmann’s (1966) understood “society” in terms of an ongoing
dialectical process composed of three moments of externalization, objectivation, and internalization, where socialization refers to the comprehensive andsustained governance that leads individuals into the objective world of (sub)society. A key concept in the current study is socialization of adolescents during junior high school. Primary socialization occurs through individuals’
growth. Secondary socialization refers to the internalization of institutional
or institutional-based “sub-worlds,” such as junior high schools, which are
determined by the division of labor and social distribution of knowledge. An
institutional world is experienced as an objective reality, confronting individuals with undeniable facts, external to the individual, and persistent intheir reality. Institutions require legitimations, which permit the individuals
to interpret the reality of the institutions. New generations learn these legitimations through socialization, where institutions’ transmitted knowledge
supplies institutionally appropriate rules of conduct, motivating the dynamics

Cederved et al.

5of institutionalized conduct and roles to be played (Berger & Luckmann,1966). Individuals externalize their own being into the social world and internalize it as a reality. The specific societal context, where the individuals are,influence their understandings of “reality” and “knowledge,” which also
applies to adolescents in understanding their sexuality and gender identities.
Berger and Luckmann (1966) showed that the structure of everyday makes
sense to the individual and gives everyday life meaning because everyday life
is apprehended as normal and self-evident. However, if the reality of everyday life becomes problematic and the integration of what the individuals perceive as normal and self-evident no longer holds true, their understanding of
everyday life is threatened. Human activity is subject to habitualization andrepeated actions become a pattern in individuals (Berger & Luckmann, 1966).
The current study took place in the sub-world of junior high schools
among LGBTQ adolescents. It meant that sexuality and gender identity wereat stake in the study. Berger and Luckmann (1966) show that human sexuality and gender constructions are socially controlled by its institutionalizationin the course of the particular history in question. Human sexuality is
directed and structured in every particular culture. Every culture has a distinctive sexual configuration, consisting of its own specialized patterns ofsexual conduct and assumptions in the sexual area. The relativity of these
configurations indicates that human sexuality and gender are the products ofsocio-cultural formations rather than of a biologically fixed human nature(Berger & Luckmann, 1966).

Recruitment
The sample consists of 10 LGBTQ adolescents who met the inclusion criteria. Inclusion criteria to participate were identifying the self as LGBTQ, aged
16 to 20 at the time of interview, no longer a student at junior high school,
willing to talk about school experiences, and able to speak and understandSwedish. Exclusion criteria were not having attended a school in Sweden
during Grades 7 to 9.
To get a variety of adolescents, the researcher reached out to four, medium
to large cities located in different areas of Sweden. Multiple channels wereused for recruitment. Flyers and posters about the study were distributed in
LGBTQ venues for adolescents in three cities after consent had been givenby their respective managers. In addition, at two of the venues, verbal information was given about the study. To display posters about the study atsenior high schools, six principals and the head of the student health care inthree cities were approached. The student health care and one principal

6

Journal of Adolescent Research 00(0)consented, resulting in the display of posters in two cities, in six different
schools. Six adolescents were recruited through the informational meetingsgiven at venues and five were recruited through the poster display. However,
one adolescent withdrew due to disease. The participants were 16 to 19
years old, with a mean age of 17.5. Before every interview, the researcher
informed the participants in more depth about the study. Written and oral
consent was obtained from all interviewed participants. Consent from parents was not required as young people in Sweden above the age of 15 canindependently decide to participate in research studies of their own free will
(The Government of Sweden, 2019). Furthermore, this facilitated the participation of adolescents who potentially may not yet be open with theirgender identity or sexuality in their families. No compensation was offeredto the participants.

Data Collection
Semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2019, eight face-to-face andtwo with IP telephony (Skype). The interviews were supported by an interview guide, which was first tested in a pilot interview. The pilot interview
was included in the analysis and one question was added, tapping into theparticipants’ well-being and sense of safety during high school. The interview guide consisted of questions about the adolescents’ experiences ofjunior high school, of the school climate in relation to the LGBTQ subject,and of their contact with the school nurse and other adults who could be
potential confidants. The first author and interviewer (CC) had knowledge
about children and school environments through her former employment as aschool nurse for 8 years. The interviews lasted between 17 and 44 minutes.
The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim.

Analysis Strategy
The latent, thematic analysis was methodically inspired by Braun and Clarke(2006, 2021) and theoretically inspired by Berger and Luckmann’s (1966)
theory of reality as a social construction. The empirical material was readseveral times to get an overall picture and thorough understanding of its content, facilitating familiarization with the material. Next, the empirical material was sorted through a process, where the researchers used questions to
break down and reduce the empirical material, and to code and reorganize thecontents in accordance with the article’s aim. The analytical questions were
inspired by Berger and Luckmann’s (1966) theory of reality as a social construction, asking what individuals said about

Cederved et al.

7•• The social norms of sexuality and gender identity,•• Inclusion strategies of LGBTQ adolescents in junior high schools at anindividual and a group level,•• Exclusion strategies of LGBTQ adolescents in junior high schools at
an individual and a group level, and•• Socialization of the self and others related to sexuality and gender
identity.
Next, initial themes were constructed based on the coded material, basedon similarities and differences of the coded material and with similar codes
being constructed into themes that answered the study’s aim. The themes
were then reviewed and further developed in a consensual process of analysis
among the authors, with the authors going back and forth between the constructed themes and the empirical data in this analysis process to make surethat the themes appropriately reflected the empirical material, and that empirical material answering the study’s aim was covered by the constructed
themes. The authors have handled their preconceptions through active discussions throughout the data collection and analysis processes. The use of atheoretical lens for the analysis was also a way of lifting the authors’ preunderstanding to an analytical level. All researchers commonly agreed upon thechosen analytical strategy and initially carried out the described steps separately, and then co-jointly, including ongoing discussions along the process
and comparisons of their constructions with constant focus on and guidanceby the theoretical framework. In that way, the three themes were refined,
defined, and named: “A navigator among peers as friends and bullies,”“Adults in school supported inclusion in and exclusion from the group ofpeers,” and “Non-heterosexuality and non-binary gender understanding asteaching projects in junior high school.” Quotes were used to illustrate thefindings and enhance transparency of the analysis process and the researchers’ interpretations of the empirical material. All quotes were translated into
English by the researchers.

Ethical Considerations
The study followed the ethical principles of the declaration of Helsinki(World Medical Association, 2000). The study was approved by the Swedish
Ethical Review Authority (Dnr: 2019-03816). All participants signed an
informed consent form prior to the interviews. The participants can be considered a vulnerable group, both because they are children (Bracken-Rocheet al., 2017), and because they belong to a sexual minority group in society(Salway et al., 2021), which is why it was of utmost importance to protect

8Journal of Adolescent Research 00(0)Table 1. The Adolescents’ Self-Presentation.
LGBTQ

Preferred pronoun

Bisexual
Bisexual, transgender
Bisexual
LesbianGay, transgender
Bisexual, queer
LesbianBisexual
Bisexual
Bisexual, transgender

She
He/they
She
SheHe
They/any
She
She
She
They/heNote. LGBTQ = Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer.

the participants from being identified through the findings’ presentation.
Therefore, quotations from the interviews have been anonymized.

Findings
A Navigator Among Peers as Friends and Bullies
The adolescents in the study regard themselves as homosexual, bisexual,
transgender, and/or queer. The adolescents presented themselves with thepronoun related to their assigned sex (she/he), others introduced themselveswith pronouns typically associated with gender, using she/he, any, and they(see Table 1).
In that way, the adolescents challenged the common norm understandingthat a male person (sex) is called “he” and a female person (sex) is called“she.” They risked disturbing the order of sexual understanding in society
and thereby, they risked to challenge this order in junior high school among
peers and teachers. They introduced a distinctive sexual understanding withspecialized patterns of sexual conduct and assumptions in a teenagers’
environment:
I have been part of the LGBTQ community since I was maybe 13-14 years old.
I came out first as bisexual, then as pansexual and lastly as lesbian, [laughter]
it’s been a pretty long journey. (Adolescent 4)

The teenagers were in fact in the process of finding an identity and defining
their own sexuality.

Cederved et al.

9

The adolescents knew the risk of being excluded from the group of peers
in junior high school due to their sexual orientation or their gender expression. They tried to behave in ways that supported an inclusion in the group. It
seemed significant to fit the heterosexual and cis norm and try to adapt to
how their peers at school dressed and/or behaved. It made it difficult to standup for what one believed in. Some adolescents stopped airing their opinions
in an attempt to deflect others’ attention to the self. It was thus difficult to go
against the students’ primary socialization into an internalized heterosexual
norm. The adolescents found that their peers regarded them as having a different gender expression or sexuality than the majority of peers, for instancebased on the clothes they chose to wear, although they did not intend to lookdifferent. The adolescents thus voiced a balance act, where they had to negotiate their way forward while considering both the environment’s actual
norms and their own, perceived and developing gender identity and sexual
orientation. The tension between the two could ignite a sense of exclusion,
while simultaneously searching for a sense of belonging and inclusion among
their peers.
It was a lot that people got shunned for, well for how they dressed, how they
acted, what pronouns they wanted to use and, if you were the least bit different
it became quite difficult. (Adolescent 4)Some adolescents had been excluded from the peers’ community and bullied
to such an extent that they had changed school or class as a way to actively
address and change their situation. Overall, the adolescents experienced several peers’ attempts at resocialization or renormalization, which unfolded as(attempts at) bullying, both at school and on the internet.
It was noticeable that they excluded you. Sometimes it was the things they said,
but the majority only said it after school, online. (Adolescent 6)

The adolescents were outsiders in the sub-universe of junior high schools.
However, they did not want to give their peers the right to harass them for
who they were or to use it against them.
I knew [that I am lesbian], but I didn’t want to endorse what they said about me,
I didn’t want them to have anything on me that I didn’t feel comfortable withsharing with them. (Adolescent 7)

The experienced exclusion strategies made it hard for the adolescents toaccept themselves for who they were. Some of them reacted with sadness, a
sense of alienation and resignation, and physical and/or mental symptoms.

10

Journal of Adolescent Research 00(0)During eighth and ninth grade, I felt really bad. . . . There was online hatred,
and looks, really obvious looks that tell that they question you. (Adolescent 6)

They withdrew from the social community in junior high school, and inthat way, they supported the exclusion processes themselves. The adolescents expressed a social alienation from their peers at school. They
regarded themselves as excluded from the peer group, just because they
were LGBTQ persons. The adolescents’ experiences thus led to a double
sense of exclusion, both from the peers and from the self, by “rejecting”
their true identity or delaying its acceptance. Not adapting to the norm
represented a threat in terms of exclusion from the group, while an adaptation to the norm represented a threat to the adolescents’ acceptance of theirtrue identity.
We were just scattered parts, like a piece from a child’s jigsaw puzzle that had
been placed in a puzzle of a thousand pieces where it doesn’t belong.
(Adolescent 6)

The adolescents knew that they had a different sexual orientation or gender
identity than other peers. They had only a few friends. However, the adolescents found that friends were important to share interests and discuss mattersof importance in a nonjudgmental manner.
Through junior high I only had one friend and like, just that time, I didn’t feellike she supported me, but she did later when I talked to her about it.
(Adolescent 1)

Some friends stood up for the LGBTQ adolescents. While doing this, potential latent conflicts regarding gender and sexual orientation were illuminated,which could further reinforce a sense of exclusion.
We started talking about the LGBTQ subject and he [peer] said that he was kindof neutral. He said something in the way of “I wouldn’t want to be that myself,
but people can do whatever they want.” For me, it was enough. [. . .] Then
comes my hetero friend, who is really an activist [. . .] and she thought thatbeing neutral was not enough [. . .] she started making this a really big politicalissue that we had to discuss right there and then [. . .] which made things muchworse. (Adolescent 3)

Nevertheless, even among friends, the adolescents could feel “different”
because the friends also had a hard time understanding what it meant to bea LGBTQ person if they were not LGBTQ persons themselves. Yet, theCederved et al.

11adolescents demanded to be included among the insiders as an outsider, andfrom the premise of the outsider.
Like very very weird, like it is a joke, it was not like ‘Yuk it’s disgusting,’ but
people were still like God this is strange. [when discussing homosexuality](Adolescent 7)

Finding friends who were LGBTQ individuals themselves was expressed as
the easiest way to socialize and get a feeling of belonging. Experiencing a
sense of inclusion thus seemed to be dependent not only on having friends,
but on having friends that could truly grasp the meaning of identifying as
being LGBTQ. Similar others shared the same gendered or sexual frameworkof understanding and belonged to the same sub-culture in junior high school
and, by extension, also in society. Friends who themselves had gone througha process of resocialization toward a non-normative identification were thus
experienced as more supportive.
After being in the closet for a really long time and being really nervous andsad because of the school I came from, then I suddenly became reallyenergetic and super enthusiastic about actually finding people who are likeme. (Adolescent 3)

Having friends was a way for the adolescents to demonstrate their legitimate
inclusion in the group, toward themselves, and toward the peers who sought
to exclude them.

Adults in School Supported Inclusion in and Exclusion From theGroup of Peers
The adolescents expected the adults at their schools to act as helpers in their
inclusion process in the group. For instance, the adolescents expected theteachers to (re)act immediately when they were bullied by peers, such as
when LGBTQ-related terms or degrading words were used as insults. The
adolescents thus placed the responsibility for successful school days in termsof being equal and included members in the peer group on the adults in theirrespective schools. From the adolescents’ perspective, some teachers ignored
excluding behaviors toward the LBGTQ adolescents:
They [the other adolescents] could make jokes about that people were lesbianor . . . gay, but the teachers didn’t say anything, and then I said that you can’t
say that, it’s really bad. (Adolescent 8)

12

Journal of Adolescent Research 00(0)He [the principal] walked around and played guitar and stuff and that is nice,but not right when people have it tough and are harassed or bullied.
(Adolescent 3)

Other teachers depreciated the students’ experiences of being bullied, andsome of the teachers did not have an inclusive behavior at all, from the perspective of adolescents:
It was about these anonymous messages. I raised the issue with my teacher
because I noticed that people were writing during class: “what the hell are you
wearing today?!.” And there was nobody else there, other than people from myclass. And the reply I got [from the teacher] was that, no it is just someone who
is joking with you. (Adolescent 4)
We had a locker room for girls, one for boys, and one for like whomever but
then some teachers commented; why should we have that? (Adolescent 1)

The adolescents expected the adults to oppose excluding behavior from fellow students and actions that the adolescents deemed as unacceptable. Lackof (re)action from school personnel was in that way associated with silent
support of peers’ exclusion strategies or as an excluding strategy. At times,
the adolescents even chose to remove themselves from a school environment experienced as harmful. After having witnessed adults in junior highschools that ignored unjust or nonchalant treatment of students, the adolescents stopped asking for help when experiencing exclusive behavior toward
them by other peers. The adolescents apprehended the teachers as ignorantor uninterested in the LGBTQ subject, which appeared as an exclusion
mechanism in itself.
There were teachers who walked by in the corridors and heard the insults [. . .]and those [students] were never reprimanded. (Adolescent 7)

According to some adolescents, other teachers brought up bullying that
occurred outside the classroom. This was seen as an attempt at stopping thecultivation of exclusion strategies and at conveying acceptance, tolerance,
and inclusion in the group of peers. However, it did not change how the adolescents’ peers acted, or how the adolescents experienced their peers’ actions.
The teachers had an idea that students should learn, so we saw a documentary
about trans people. Peers said bluntly that [. . .] we do not think that this person
has the right to define himself. [. . .] just that day, we had a substitute teacher
who didn’t know if someone transgender was in the classroom or not, or did notCederved et al.

13

dare to say so, but it was really a very strong signal [. . .] afterwards, theteachers took it up [in plenary] [. . .] but then everyone was like “we never said
that and we do not think so.” Like “We have never said such a thing, it does notexist, it is not true.” (Adolescent 10)

However, there were also peers who resented and lamented fellow students’actions, when considered wrongful.
So I talked to one of the teachers and then she talked to the guys that had said
all that and then, the day after, one of them apologised to me. (Adolescent 1)

Some adolescents had however experienced teachers who made efforts tounderstand what had happened when the adolescents experienced exclusive
behavior from their peers. The teachers had follow-up dialogues with thesepeers, which demonstrated attempts at inclusive behavior from the teachers. Experiences of a good connection with a teacher contributed to theadolescents feeling respected, recognized, and included in the wider community of junior high school. Also, school nurses could function as mediators in the process of acceptance by peers and inclusion of LGBTQ persons
in the sub-universe of junior high school. An adolescent got help from theschool nurse when informing the class about the forthcoming social andmedical transition:
I was really nervous, so I thought I’d talk to the school nurse and then we could
fix it together . . . She helped a lot, she came and then we informed the class
together. (Adolescent 5)

Taken together, school personnel could both reinforce a sense of exclusion or
inclusion in the adolescents by choosing to (re)act, or not, on questionablebehavior among the students.

Non-Heterosexuality and Non-Binary Gender Understanding as
Teaching Projects in Junior High School
The adults in junior high school provided different initiatives to establish an
inclusive milieu for LGBTQ adolescents by making LGBTQ a project forawareness raising. This implied that identifying a LGBTQ identity was
regarded as something special, that is as something that is not “normal.” A
process of resocialization of the school personnel and peers was set in motion
to widen their acceptance of what they viewed as something out of the ordinary. For example, the LGBTQ subject had been brought up in association

14

Journal of Adolescent Research 00(0)with a LGBTQ-themed day, with a lecture by a guest speaker from an LGBTQ
community. At some schools, students themselves had been educational promoters by addressing the subject within art projects, school plays, or when
informing the class about a forthcoming social and medical transition. Someof the adolescents appreciated how teachers and student counselors had
worked with the LGBTQ subject.
The teachers are quite open to letting the students express themselves about
what they do, so it was more that LGBTQ persons included themselves . . . it
was mostly because the students pushed towards it, and anyways, well at myschool there was a very positive LBGTQ environment. (Adolescent 2)

Others expressed that there had been too little focus on the subject and thatthe addressed information did not include, for them, relevant knowledge.
I remember sexual education as being inclusive in general, and we had a teacher
that was really good at teaching sexuality. However, they could also havebrought up trans. . . . Another thing I have thought about a lot is that one can behomosexual, but it was not discussed as if anyone in the room could possibly
be [homosexual]. It was more that people in the world are [homosexual] but
they could have made it more obvious that it is common and that many are[homosexual]. (Adolescent 10)

The adolescents rated the teaching on the LGBTQ subject as inadequate since
it mainly consisted of short statements about the meaning of the letters
LGBTQ and nothing more substantial.
They said nothing about homosexuals, or wait, they said: there are homosexuals,
bisexuals and heterosexuals, or if they said bisexuals. I don’t think so. And insocial sciences, they never brought up that there is oppression against the
LGBTQ communities. And the school nurse never brought it up when we had
the health check-up, which I think they should do. (Adolescent 8)

In addition, the contributions from invited representatives from the LGBTQcommunity were rated as of little value as the adolescents could not identify
with the guest speakers (for instance due to differing ages and sexual identity).
The presented contents did not match the adolescents’ personal wishes, expectations, or needs. For instance, one guest speaker only talked about being gay
and also said very little about gender identities in the LGBTQ communities.
We had a guest speaker coming over and he was like a crossdresser. He did not
say transsexual, but said transvestite and he like, that is what I call myself andhe was like 65. (Adolescent 7)

Cederved et al.

15

Such initiatives could be regarded as resocialization and inclusion attempts,
with the aim of promoting the LGBTQ subject in the sub-universe of juniorhigh schools by facilitating the internalization of a new normal among thepeers. However, such a project started and ended, and as also expressed bysome of the adolescents, it had limited effect as a stand-alone event without
continuous follow-up in everyday life at school.
Well, the LGBTQ-themed day was the only thing, otherwise the teachers neverbrought it up. (Adolescent 8)

Nonetheless, some adolescents mentioned positive examples of focus on
LGBTQ teaching during classes. For instance, some students received a bookabout the subject in connection with a Swedish lesson, and other teachers had
used teaching time on the subject during biology classes.
When we had biology classes, the biology teacher spent three to four lessons
solely addressing the LGBTQ subject when we had sexual education, and that
was a lot because it was like three fourths of all the lessons we had in biologythat year. (Adolescent 9)

Despite good intentions, some teachers lacked knowledge about the LGBTQ
subject, from the perspective of the adolescents.
I feel that there is a big gap in what they teach regarding LGBTQ, it is lacking
in the curriculum. // It is important for somebody who is LGBTQ. But overall,they were not bad towards LGBTQ adolescents. It was mostly that they wereignorant. (Adolescent 2)

According to some adolescents, certain teachers reinforced the experiencesof LGBTQ persons as abnormalities by designating the LGBTQ-themed day
as a waste of time.
I don’t know exactly, but some of the teachers did not have a positive
attitude to the [LGBTQ-themed] days. Some thought that it was a waste oftime, that there were better things to do [with the time]. So there was a mix.
(Adolescent 9)In summary, the school personnel’s attitudes, efforts, and potential continued work on the subject thus appeared to make a difference in terms of theadolescents’ experiences of a sense of inclusion or exclusion in relation tosuch initiatives. The adolescents’ thirst for enhanced knowledge in theschool environment can be interpreted as a wish to re-socialize their peers

16

Journal of Adolescent Research 00(0)and teachers, or at least to expand their horizons. Overall, the adolescents
expressed a wish for the subject to be addressed to a higher extent in juniorhigh school, partly to normalize LGBTQ persons, partly to include them inthis sub-universe on terms equal to those of cisgender and heterosexualadolescents.
“This is homosexuality, it is nothing strange.” Think about it like that and then
you can have that statement in your head when you grow up. But I never got
that, not from school. (Adolescent 7)

School personnel could thus make a difference for the LGBTQ persons byactively addressing the subject and contributing to all students’ knowledge
enhancement, and thereby also to a sense of inclusion and belonging rather
than exclusion in the adolescents.

Discussion
The discussion will focus on three main findings, namely how the LGBTQ
adolescents are placed in a web of inclusion and exclusion strategies in juniorhigh school. This often situates them in an outsider position, enforced by others and themselves. Second, it will focus on how the overall social norms ofsexuality and gender in society are habitualized in teenagers and how thisaffects the identity development process. Third, it will focus on how articulations and stagings of sexual and gender minorities simultaneously can create
both openness and silence about LGBTQ. These points will be addressed
across the findings in the following discussion.

A Web of Inclusion and Exclusion Strategies
The findings show how the LGBTQ adolescents find themselves in a web of
inclusion and exclusion strategies in junior high school, through which they
are often placed in an outsider position, both by others and themselves. The
adolescents interpret their navigation in a school environment, where the personnel’s and the peers’ actions or lack of action affect the adolescents’ relation to the self and others. Such actions can contribute to both a sense ofinclusion and exclusion in the adolescents. As seen, a sensitivity to the prevailing norms and a wish to belong can contribute to igniting or strengthening
a sense of alienation while in search for a gender and/or sexual identity.
Previous studies show that marginalized persons whose self-expression ishampered can find an outlet online, among similar others (Craig & McInroy,2014). Studies show that adolescents spend a considerable amount of timeCederved et al.

17

with peers and their socialization by peers becomes narrower in adulthood(Mousavi et al., 2019; Šikić-Mićanović, 1997; Witt, 2000). Gender identities
and sexuality are not just personal markers; they are social markers. Theyarise from the individuals’ relationships to other people, through primary andsecondary socialization, and depend upon social interaction and social recognition (Berger & Luckmann, 1966). It means that gender identities influence
how individuals understand themselves in relation to others (Zevallos, 2014).
Identifying with a minority in terms of gender identity and/or sexual orientation, which does not represent the dominating norms in society, may be associated with additional challenges for adolescents. At the same time, it mightchallenge and/or confuse peers that are in their own process of establishing
their sexuality and gender identity. In that way, it can trigger strong emotions
and resistance stagings. Resistance or deviance from the norms means pushing the boundaries of one’s own and/or others’ primary and secondary socialization through the cultural family unit and surroundings in which they grew
up. The findings also show that the adolescents view themselves as victims of
discriminating behaviors, expecting school personnel to counteract such
behaviors. Lack of action from the adults results in feelings of alienation,
isolation, and resignation, increasing the adolescents’ vulnerability and possibly challenging their mental and social well-being, as also shown in otherstudies (McDonald, 2018; Russell & Fish, 2016). Lack of and low levels ofsocial support have been associated with higher levels of mental health issues,risky sexual behaviors, shame, and low self-esteem (McDonald, 2018).
Nevertheless, the adolescents also demonstrate a sense of agency, for instanceby actively addressing situations that were experienced as challenging. The
findings thus point to mechanisms of both inclusion and exclusion that were
set in motion by the adolescents themselves, by school personnel and peers.
The adolescents wish for inclusion from an outsider’s position and by delaying an acceptance of their true, developing sexual and gender identity, they
get caught in a double-bind. Their longing for inclusion leads them to deny or
negotiate their gender and/or sexual identity, without increasing their sense ofinclusion. As also seen in previous studies, stereotyping, criticism, and strong
reactions by friends and family can hamper such identity explorations, also
representing risk factors in terms of mental well-being (Aranmolate et al.,2017). Nonetheless, social support can help buffer stressful experiences inlife, including struggles with mental health issues (Stjernswärd & Östman,
2011; Takizawa et al., 2006); in LGBTQ adolescents (McDonald, 2018).
While some school personnel’s and peers’ behavior contributed to a sense of
exclusion, the presence of a supportive teacher or friends helped the adolescent to cope during junior high school and contributed to self-acceptance.
Befriending other LGBTQ adolescents facilitated an acceptance of their

18

Journal of Adolescent Research 00(0)LGBTQ identity and a sense of inclusion in these communities, corroborating previous research that also shows the value of expressing the true self in
a community of similar others, especially in marginalized individuals (Craig& McInroy, 2014; Dym et al., 2019).

Habitualization of Norms in Society
Furthermore, the findings show that the school environment is ruled by dominant norms in society pertaining to sexual and gender identity, that is a heteronormative and cisnormative society (Foucault, 1978; Katz, 2007). It
means that the overall social norms of sexuality and gender expressions insociety may be habitualized in teenagers. A norm that teenagers, positively or
negatively, benchmark themselves against and through which they relate
their sexuality to heterosexuality, regardless of gender identity. Deviancefrom or resistance toward prevailing norms creates reactions in the environment, for instance from school personnel and peers. Nonetheless, the transition from current norms to an identity orientation that is not in line with thedominant norms is not free of friction (Fish & Pasley, 2015), especially if theadolescents themselves have their primary and secondary socialization rooted
in heteronormativity and cisnormativity. The adolescents in the current study
balance between accepting their developing LGBTQ identity and avoiding
attracting attention to their identification with a sexual and gender minority
as this makes them easy victims of bullying and unwanted attention (Jackman
et al., 2020). Simultaneously, they do not want to appear different from theirpeers and thereby, they cannot fully take on a gender or sexual identity thatdiffers from that of most of their peers. However, Stewart et al. (2019) showthat many adolescents are nuanced and dynamic in how they identify andexperience their developing sexuality and gender identities. Jensen et al.
(2016) show that Modern societies are characterized by increasing trends
toward projectification. There is ongoing pressure for each individual withina crowd to, paradoxically, “stand out” from the crowd. In this process, individuals merge their private and professional persona into a single identity,and “private” decisions such as gender identity and/or sexual orientation all
become part of the development of a unique and interesting profile. In thecurrent study, the LGBTQ adolescents strive to be accepted for who they are,which could also be regarded as a projectification of their gender identity andsexuality. The feeling of being different was hence amplified by being teenagers in their own quest for a sexual and gender identity. This projectification, driven and aided by social media, acts as a form of de-marginalizationand helps with the development of an alternative profile. Therefore, the construction of meaning becomes essential for adolescents. Previous researchCederved et al.

19

has also shown that marginalized individuals can take on and try different
roles through mediated and partly anonymous communication, thereby
affecting their self-concept and increasing feelings of self-worth and acceptance (Dym et al., 2019), with social support showing associations with positive self-esteem (McDonald, 2018).

Re-Socialization Takes TimeThe findings show that articulations and stagings of belonging to a sexual andgender minority simultaneously can create openness and silence about
LGBTQ. The openness from the LGBTQ adolescents could be regarded as aconfession. Foucault (1978) shows how confessions have become highly valued techniques for producing truth where people go about telling with thegreatest precision, whatever is most difficult to tell. The LGBTQ adolescents
described several initiatives, supporting their confessions, with the aim ofenhancing knowledge on the LGBTQ subject, although their value was questioned. They expressed a wish for further education on the subject in school.
A question is whether time limited projects, such as thematic days, contributeto increasing the sense of not belonging or if they contribute to higher degrees
of inclusion and to stretching the boundaries of prevailing norms toward
more accepting attitudes toward minorities. Such initiatives are deeply rooted
in a knowledge-behavior (cognitive-behavioral) tradition, as there is anattempt to change behavior through knowledge and recognition of how
behavior affects acceptance of heteronormativity and cisnormativity insideand outside the school environment. Apparently, this is a problematic starting
point as socialization processes happen over a lifetime, in environments withmore or less dominant norms (Berger & Luckmann, 1966). A process of resocialization and re-habitualization, through which dominating views arechallenged, may take time, perhaps unless they happen in times of upheaval(Wolfsfeld et al., 2013) or crises (Glasdam & Stjernswärd, 2021). Events canturn the world upside down overnight and rapidly give rise to a “forced”
acceptance of a “new normal” (Glasdam & Stjernswärd, 2021). Nonetheless,inclusive school policies have been associated with a better climate for students, with less victimization and bullying for LGB youth, and higher grades
for transgender youth (Day et al., 2019), indicating the value of inclusion
strategies on strategic levels.

Study Limitations
Finally, the study’s methods are discussed in short. As this is a retrospective
study, there might be a reconstruction and re-interpretation of the narratives

20

Journal of Adolescent Research 00(0)over the years. The older participants more often described their feelings inrelation to the school environment instead of particular events, while younger
participants talked about specific events and did more rarely make a deeper
analysis of how that affected them. During adolescence, a person matures cognitively and coping strategies become more evolved (Graber et al., 2010;
Zimmer-Gembeck & Skinner, 2011), which in itself may alter how events areperceived in hindsight. During some of the interviews, when it became evident
that the participant struggled with emotions, the investigator reminded the adolescents that participation was voluntary and that they were to freely choose
what to share or not. A card with numbers to helplines was prepared in advancein case participants showed signs of needing professional help. No such signs
were displayed during the interviews and no cards thus distributed.
Quotes were included to enhance transparency and facilitate alternativeinterpretations of data. The data proved to be rich even though the sample canbe considered small. The empirical data give voice to differing opinions andexperiences within the studied group. A potential limitation of this study
when assessing the findings in view of credibility is that the sample is notevenly distributed in terms of gender identity and/or sexual orientation represented in the LGBTQ group. The participants represented a varied group interms of gender identity and sexual orientation. The current study did primarily focus on the experiences of adolescents defining themselves as non heterosexual and non cisgendered. It means that the study did not focus on
differences in gender identity or sexual orientation as such among the studied
adolescents, but on their experiences of junior high school from the perspective of individuals who do not identify with the dominant norms on gender
and/or sexual orientation. The literature nevertheless shows that there may bedifferences in experiences of marginalization, (self) stigmatization, and social
exclusion for trans people compared with other gender identities and sexual
orientations among adolescents (Hughto et al., 2015; Reisner et al., 2016;
Takács, 2006), which motivates further research with larger samples to further explore these issues in more depth. The literature indicates unique biological, behavioral, social, and structural contextual factors surrounding
health risks and resiliencies for transgender people, which represent areas of
exclusion and marginalization of specific importance for this population(Hughto et al., 2015; Reisner et al., 2016).
The choice of Berger and Luckmann (1966) as a theoretical framework
and analytical lens made it possible to minimize the potential influence of theresearchers’ preconceptions on the analysis process. By moving the researcher’s pre-understandings to a theoretical perspective, it is possible to be stringent and transparent in the process of analyses with a limited disruption of theresearchers’ unconscious pre-understandings. This strengthens the study’sCederved et al.

21

trustworthiness. A weakness of the method is that it is based on how adolescents articulate feelings, actions, and interactions in the school. The study
does not address how daily life in school is handled within the practical reality. Likewise, the study does not address the perspective of the adults andpeers in the school environment, which means that it is not possible todescribe all the relational understandings of the complex reality, the actions
and interactions in the studied context.

Conclusion
The current findings showed that LGBTQ adolescents faced multiple challenges in their school environment, related to their own identity development, the personnel’s attitudes and behavior, and those of their peers. The
adolescents found themselves in a web of inclusive and exclusive strategies,
exercised by the self and others, which affected their experiences of juniorhigh school. Furthermore, in a world dominated by heteronormativity andcisnormativity, they struggled with developing and accepting their gender
identity and sexual orientation. They balanced between adapting to andresisting the norm so as to be included, and not actively excluded, from thegroup of peers. Like most teenagers and their fellow peers, the adolescentswere in a process of identity development, including gender and sexual identity development. They were in a school environment ruled by the dominant
heteronormative and cisnormative norms in society pertaining to sexual andgender identity. Deviance from or resistance toward prevailing norms creates
reactions in the environment, where the LGBTQ adolescents represented aminority group. Offensive and discriminating behaviors, lack of supportive
networks and of role models they could identify with risk enhancing the vulnerability and sense of alienation and isolation in LGBTQ adolescents.
Opposite, the adolescents’ projectification of their gender identity and/or
sexual orientation support the construction of the meaning of being an
LGBTQ adolescent. This must be regarded in line with the adolescents’wishes for more initiatives aiming at increasing the school environment’s
knowledge about the LGBTQ subject, which could enhance people’s understanding of the subject and prevent discriminating behaviors. At the sametime, such initiatives could reinforce a sense of not belonging, thus contrary
to the primary goal of introducing the subject at school.

Implications
The findings added to the body of work on how LGBTQ adolescents perceived their time in school. Further studies are needed to enhance our22

Journal of Adolescent Research 00(0)knowledge and understanding of the LGBTQ adolescents’ situation in juniorhigh school through anthropological field studies of the actions and interactions from relational perspectives.
Acknowledgments
The authors warmly thank all the adolescents for participating in the study and theLGBTQ venues that, through their help, facilitated participation in the current study.

Author Contributions
Catarina Cederved: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, transcription, writing—original draft preparation, writing—review & editing, project administration.
Stinne Glasdam: conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft preparation,
writing—review & editing. Sigrid Stjernswärd: conceptualization, methodology, writing—original draft preparation, writing—review & editing.

Data Availability Statement
The authors elect to not share data for confidentiality reasons.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research,authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iDs
Catarina Cederved
Stinne Glasdam

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7242-5559
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0893-3054

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Author Biographies
Catarina Cederved is a PhD student, pediatric nurse, and teaches at the master’slevel at the program for specialist nurses in child and youth health. Cederved’s
research interests are primarily health promotion, preventive care, child and adolescent development, school nursing, LGBTQ issues, and child oncology.
Stinne Glasdam is associated professor and teaches at the bachelor’s, master’s, anddoctoral level, primarily in qualitative research methods and medical sociology,
where the focus areas are health care, oncology, and nursing. Glasdam’s researchinterests are primarily oncology, gerontology, antibiotic resistance, COVID-19, relatives, and professions. Glasdam has edited and written a number of textbooks primarily for undergraduate students in health sciences and the pedagogy field.
Sigrid Stjernswärd is associated professor and teaches at the bachelor’s, master’s, anddoctoral level, primarily in qualitative research methods, e-health and psychiatry.
Stjernswärd’s research interests are primarily mental health and mental health careinterventions, family support, e-health, mindfulness and compassion, and COVID-19.