2025 Theses Doctoral

Navigating Identity and Adversity Through Positive Emotions: An Exploratory Interview Study of Self-Identified Gay, Cisgender Males Post-High School Graduation

Monaco, James Vincent

The purpose of my qualitative interview study was to understand the high school experiences of six self-identified gay, cisgender males, age 18+, who graduated from a high school in the United States and responded via a short demographic survey that they had experienced positive emotions despite any adversity while in high school. I used a qualitative interview approach to address the dearth of such studies and literature, since I sought to learn from the participants in my research and amplify voices of LGBTQ high school graduates in a way that quantitative studies have not.

My study also addressed the problem of deficit-focused narratives regarding the LGBTQ student community through a lens of positive psychology, specifically Barbara Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (Cohn & Fredrickson, 2009; Fredrickson, 2001, 2004, 2011). I interviewed all six participants through a series of three 90-minute semi-structured interviews via Zoom and member-checked through transcript reviews and reviews of analytic chapters with all six participants.

Through the interviews with all six self-identified gay, cisgender male high school graduate participants, I found that when participants described their high school experiences, whether overall positive or negative, each participant named connections with a high school friend or trusted adult as important to their overall high school experience. Regarding their high school experiences, each participant also named at least one class that positively impacted them. Finally, regarding their high school experiences, I found that the three participants who described their overall high school experience as negative also described a family that was either unsupportive, distant, or with whom various conflicts existed.

Regarding the six participants’ discussions of their identities, I found that participants described what I call their identity journeys through contexts of confusion (5/6), denial (2/6), difference (2/6), and societal pressures and societal norms (6/6). I also found that three participants described what I call an identity artifice through codeswitching, which they used to navigate and survive various contexts and situations throughout high school and then possibly college.

Finally, regarding the six participants’ discussions of feeling and/or utilizing positive emotions and broadening and building their emotional repertoires in high school and beyond, I found that each participant identified happiness, joy, or pride, and important to these positive emotions and their development, each participant named the idea of connection, belonging, and friendship. Related to positive emotions, I found that half of the participants, those who originally described their overall high school experiences as negative, named hope as a positive emotion they felt and/or called upon during high school. I also found that five of the six participants named therapy as a specific way they broadened and built their emotional repertoires while in high school and/or beyond.

These findings have implications for those working in high schools, especially school building leaders, district leaders, teachers, and support staff as well as for university leaders and professors working in educational leadership and teacher preparation programs. These implications include strengthening LGBTQ-inclusive school policies and practices; integrating positive psychology in educational frameworks; expanding mental health support in schools; and reframing LGBTQ student narratives in educational research and leadership.