The relationship between belonging to the LGBT community and the well-being of young people

This article examines the relationship between young people's belonging to the LGBT+ community and their psychological well-being. The issue of LGBT+ people, in general, in the Romanian space remains an arid field, with few researchers showing scientific interest in this topic, and their well-being is largely unknown. Through the present research, we aimed to shed more light on the situation of young people in the LGBT+ community, focusing on their psychological well-being. The hypotheses that we verified during the study were as follows: (1) LGBT+ youth have a lower level of psychological well-being compared to youth who are not part of the LGBT+ community; (2) Young people who came out and received a positive reaction have a higher level of psychological well-being than those who received a negative reaction; (3) Young people who came out and received a positive reaction have a higher level of psychological well-being compared to those who did not come out; (4) LGBT+ youth have a low level in the following dimensions: "Self-acceptance," "Environmental control," and "Positive relationships" compared to young people who are not part of the LGBT+ community. The obtained results confirmed three of the four hypotheses. Hypothesis number three could not be verified as all young LGBT+ included in the research recognized their sexual identity.