Asexuality in Youth Counseling Research

[Jinksy]

Greetings,

My name is Katherine and I am a graduate student currently working toward my degree in School Psychology. As someone who is invested in improving available resources for minority populations in the education system, I am currently researching the experiences of adults (persons age 18+) who identify themselves as Asexual, as I believe this population is desperately under-recognized and under-served population as youths within schools.

Therefore, I am reaching out to you in order to better understand:

1. The characteristics/mannerisms/perceptions that may be unique to children/adolescents on their personal journey toward self-identifying as Asexual;
2. The impact society has had in positively/negatively shaping your sense of identity, as well as any barriers you may have encountered; and perhaps most importantly,
3. How a school psychologist could better serve your population within the counseling environment (e.g., how would you want a counseling experience during childhood-adolescence to be different from the kind of counseling provided to the majority population?).

To help me answer these questions, I have constructed the survey below. Please feel free to answer as many, or as few, questions as you would like. I appreciate your help, I deeply respect your willingness to share who you are with me, and I will read every response in its entirety.

All responses are confidential, and any potentially identifying information contained within these statements will be either altered or entirely omitted. If you choose to click the link, you will be directed to the survey. There are two pages preceding the survey; the first provides legally pertinent and required information necessary for you to provide informed consent, and the second page is a statement of informed consent that you will need to agree to in order to proceed.

Thank you for your time and sincerely look forward to your responses.

SURVEY LINK: http://goo.gl/forms/8xxLzNgmw3

Warm Regards,

Katherine

NOTE: The survey will only be open for 14 days from the date of posting.

[Steph Ace]

This research request has been approved by the Project Team for advertising on AVEN.

Steph

Dedicated Research Contact.

[Ficulnean]

Huh, this is the first time I've used a google forum to take a survey. They're nice.

[Jinksy]

Prior to going for school psych I did my undergrad in art, so I try to think about overall experience even with simple things like the survey aesthetics/ease of use. It's rewarding to hear that the survey presentation was noticed and well-received. Thanks! :)

[Skycaptain]

done

[Breinan]

Done!

I really liked how the questions allowed us to write out our own responses (Even if it was really long). :D

Do you have a purpose/thesis that you are hoping to be able to answer from this survey?

[Jinksy]

done

Thanks for your contribution to my research!

[Jinksy]

Done!

I really liked how the questions allowed us to write out our own responses (Even if it was really long). :D

Do you have a purpose/thesis that you are hoping to be able to answer from this survey?

Hi Breinan,

I'm glad you liked the open format of the survey. Boiled down to it's most basic essence, my immediate purpose of this survey is to gain evidence/feedback that the Ace culture is something that mental health professionals in the schools need to be aware of.

The longer story:

I'm writing a manuscript on the culture's background, history, and common counseling considerations, etc, but a lot of the counseling considerations are derived from the broad umbrella of sexual minority - because there hasn't been a whole lot of research. Obviously, the experiences of a youth as an asexual vs that of a homosexual, for example, is like comparing apples and oranges. There are certain commonalities, but there are many, many more differences.

So~ my game plan is to write up the cultural background and gathered information from the survey. Publish said manuscript and present it at next year's national conference. Goal 1 is to get my professional community at least talking about it. Goal 2 is to, using this research, and gathering additional information from other sources, to establish the need for awareness AND resources specifically tailored to the unique needs of Ace youths. Goal 3, if there is a demonstrated need, would be to start developing said resources and demonstrating their efficacy in improving the well-being of students self-identifying as asexual.

I'm finishing up my specialist's degree now, and am hoping to work on goal 2 when I get into a doctoral program, and goal 3 would become my doctoral thesis.

[Baam]

I'm really confused at the race/ethnicity part.. I've had to check prefer not to say, because I'm not a Unitied States citizen. Non-Hispanic white is definied by wikipedia as specific to America, so I didn't check that one... It doesn't say anywhere that you only want Unitied States people to respond, either?

[Jinksy]

I'm really confused at the race/ethnicity part.. I've had to check prefer not to say, because I'm not a Unitied States citizen. Non-Hispanic white is definied by wikipedia as specific to America, so I didn't check that one... It doesn't say anywhere that you only want Unitied States people to respond, either?

Hi Baam,

The survey is indeed open to non-US citizens.

Since the research will be disseminated primarily in the USA it was decided that utilizing USA race/ethnicity qualifiers would be most appropriate.... However, based on your feedback it appears that the options there are limiting, so I've added a write-in option. Thanks. :)

[Issy_Marie]

Done! :) I really liked how you set up the survey. I hope that everything goes well with your research.

[kimbo21]

done- thanks for this! good luck :)

[Jinksy]

Hi all,

Thank you again for participating in the survey! It is now officially closed.

I look forward to reading your responses.

Please feel free to add me as a friend if you'd like updates on my progress. :)

[fairytalefanfor1]

Thanks for doing this research. I have faced a lot of discrimination from adults that I look up to. My own parents have told me my identity is invalid and unreal. Before I found out about my orientation, I described my feelings towards sex and romance to a youth consular at a summer camp and she said it was an issue I need to fix.