title: Sense of belonging in secondary schools: a survey of LGB and heterosexual students in Flanders.
abstract: This study focuses on differences in sense of belonging between lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) and heterosexual students. Data from 1,745 secondary school students were collected with an online survey. Step-wise multiple regression analyses was used to investigate the relationship between sexual orientation and sense of school belonging. The results show that sexual orientation has an impact on sense of belonging for girls, but not for boys. Perceived discrimination and LGB friendliness of the school appeared to be important indicators of sense of belonging for all the respondents, irrespective of their sexual orientation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Research Team CuDOS, Ghent University, Gent, Belgium. saskia.aerts@ugent.be
authors.forename: Saskia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aerts
authors.forename: Mieke
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Van Houtte
authors.forename: Alexis
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dewaele
authors.forename: Nele
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Vincke
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001530:Belgium; D001727:Bisexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D020010:Heterosexuality / Q000523:psychology*; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000523:psychology*; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012574:Schools; D012737:Sex Factors; D012933:Social Identification; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*