Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) youth can benefit from protective factors (e.g., social support). While a framework of LGBTQ youth social support and nonsupport exists (e.g., Kiperman, Varjas, Meyers, & Howard, 2014), findings were exploratory and demonstrated limited generalizability. A transformative framework indicates research should include LGBTQ youth without parent consent in addition to those with consent, as they have limited representation in literature.

Chapter one is a systematic review of counseling/psychotherapy interventions practices with LGBTQ youth overtime. Inclusion/exclusion criteria yielded a full review of n = 15 studies from N = 3,025 sources. Some reviewed variables include: recruitment methods, consent procedures, treatment type, design/measurement, and outcomes. Results identified (n = 2) studies that practiced behavior modification in the 1970’s and 1990’s, while studies meeting current ethical treatment types (e.g., affirmative, culture specific, strength based) (n = 8), occurred from the 2000’s to present day. Few studies identified consent procedures (n = 4). This chapter is among the first to explore characteristics of counseling/psychotherapy for LGBTQ youth chronologically.

Chapter two’s qualitative analysis explored whether LGBTQ youth experiences confirmed and/or disconfirmed an existing model of LGBTQ youth social support/nonsupport types (Kiperman et al., 2014). A total of (N = 42) LGBTQ youth with (n = 21) and without (n = 21) parent consent were interviewed. Unique contributions included replacing Kiperman et al.’s (2014) concepts, support and nonsupport types with support and nonsupport actions (what support/nonsupport was enacted) and descriptions (traits or mannerisms of a provided support/nonsupport or person). Findings compared experiences of youth with and without parent consent. Samples discussed social support and nonsupport similarly, permitting use of the same codebook across samples. More youth with parent consent endorsed experiencing appraisal, tangible/instrumental, and informational social support actions compared to youth without parent consent; however more youth without parent consent endorsed emotional social support actions. Social nonsupport descriptions codes were endorsed with greater frequency by youth without parent consent or equally among both samples. Implications inform how support/nonsupport actions and descriptions may interact. Analyses of sample differences validated the need to include LGBTQ youth without parent consent in research.