Heterosexist microaggressions, student academic experience and perception of campus climate: Findings from an Italian higher education context

RESEARCH ARTICLE Heterosexist microaggressions, student academic experience and perception of campus climate: Findings from an Italian higher education context Anna Lisa Amodeo1,2, Concetta EspositoID1,2*, Dario Bacchini1 1 Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy, 2 SInAPSi Center (Services for Active and Participated Inclusion of Students), University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy * concetta.esposito3@unina.it Abstract While overt instances of harassment and violence towards LGBQ+ individuals have decreased in recent years, subtler forms of heterosexism still shape the social and aca- demic experience of students in higher education contexts. Such forms, defined as microaggressions, frequently include environmental slights that communicate hostile and derogatory messages about one’s sexual-minority status. However, there is some evidence suggesting that environmental microaggressions have deleterious effects on all students, regardless of their sexual orientation. The aim of the current study was to exam- ine how heterosexist environmental microaggressions on campus contributed to hetero- sexual and non-heterosexual students’ negative perceptions of campus climate. We also analyzed whether the effect of microaggressions on campus climate was mediated by student social integration on campus. Data were collected in 2018 through an anonymous web-based survey that involved students from a large university of Southern Italy. The sample consisted of 471 students from 18 to 33 years old. Thirty-eight (8.1%) students

self-identified as non-heterosexual. Measures included self-reported experiences of envi- ronmental microaggressions on campus, student degree of satisfaction with peer-group and student-faculty interactions, perceptions of faculty concern for student development, and of the overall campus climate. The structural equation model showed that heterosex- ist environmental microaggressions on campus were associated with negative percep- tions of campus climate through lowered satisfaction with peer-group interactions and perceptions of faculty concern for student development, for both heterosexual and non- heterosexual students. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that heterosexist micro- aggressions within campus environments are negatively associated with students’ per- ceptions of campus climate, regardless of their sexual orientation. Both faculty and peers play an important role in creating an environment that supports the inclusivity of diversity and fosters a greater sense of belonging to the campus community. PLOS ONE PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231580 April 16, 2020 1 / 16 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 a1111111111 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Amodeo AL, Esposito C, Bacchini D (2020) Heterosexist microaggressions, student academic experience and perception of campus climate: Findings from an Italian higher education context. PLoS ONE 15(4): e0231580. https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231580 Editor: Cheng-Shi Shiu, University of California Los Angeles, UNITED STATES Received: November 5, 2019 Accepted: March 26, 2020

Published: April 16, 2020 Copyright: © 2020 Amodeo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Funding: The authors received no specific funding for this work. Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.