Abstract
Sexual and gender minority youth face unique challenges due to multiple stressors that compromise their development. Over the past two decades, under the Minority Stress Framework (Meyer, 2003), numerous studies have demonstrated that sexual and gender minority youth report lower academic performance, higher internalizing problems, and increased bullying victimization. More recently, research has focused on the negative experiences in online environments faced by these youth. While online spaces such as social media can serve as means of community building and identity formation, they can also exacerbate societal prejudices, allowing discriminatory and stigma-based violence to thrive. However, there is a critical gap in adolescence literature regarding risks and protective factors associated with these phenomena. Employing a stigma-based socio-ecological framework (Earnshaw et al., 2018; Newman & Fantus, 2015), the purpose of this dissertation is to explore the individual and contextual factors that might influence both online perpetration and victimization of sexual and gender-related violence. Through a mixed-method exploratory approach, we collected cross-sectional data among Italian youth, both online and from schools. Our sample is gender and sexually diverse, ensuring representation for minoritized youth. Surveys and focus groups were used as the main data collection methods. The results of the present research align with existing literature demonstrating that sexual and gender minority youth report lower levels of well-being, alongside higher rates of online negative experiences. Findings from the studies presented in this dissertation suggest that technology-facilitated sexual violence is strongly influenced by peer norms and cultural influences. Nevertheless, fostering socio-emotional skills and digital resilience can protect against both perpetration and victimization while buffering the effects of victimization on adolescents' mental health. This dissertation provides key implications for practice and future research. It calls for the implementation of prevention and intervention programs that address the specific needs of gender and sexual minority youth and the development of individual and social skills that are key for healthy adolescent development.