Race-Ethnicity Omission in LGBTQIA+ Youth Research in the Netherlands: A Scoping Review
摘要
This scoping review examines the extent of race-ethnicity omission in empirical research on LGBTQIA+ youth in the Netherlands, a country context with a unique history regarding this group and a well-established research tradition on their experiences. We hypothesized that (1) most studies overlook racial/ethnic diversity and (2) LGBTQIA+ youth of color are more commonly studied through deficiency than system-critical approaches. To test this, we reviewed studies on LGBTQIA+ youth aged 16–26 in the Netherlands.
MethodsA comprehensive, cross-disciplinary search including social and behavioral studies across three large databases, PsycInfo, SCOPUS, and Web of Science, yielded 124 empirical articles. These articles were coded to assess their consideration and/or empirical inclusion of LGBTQIA+ youth of color and categorize their approaches as deficiency-focused or system-critical.
ResultsWe found a strong tendency toward race-ethnicity-omitting methodologies, with 117 (94%) of the 124 articles presenting no specific findings for LGBTQIA+ youth of color, supporting our first hypothesis. Counter to our second hypothesis, we found that, when participants’ racial/ethnic group membership was considered, system-critical approaches were more common than deficiency approaches.
ConclusionOur findings demonstrate the widespread occurrence of race-ethnicity omission in empirical, peer-reviewed LGBTQIA+ youth research in the Netherlands.
Policy ImplicationsAddressing the race-ethnicity omission observed is crucial for effective policy and intervention design. More structural attention to the racial/ethnic diversity of LGBTQIA+ youth research can help avoid inaccurate generalizations of experiences of White youth as normative, and inform policy approaches to interplays between cis-heterosexism and racism.