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

Overall, previous studies have found that Italian sexual minority people frequently face sev- eral heterosexist prejudices in their daily life [31]. Research about negative attitudes toward homosexuality in Italy, although limited, supports the hypothesis that Italian people are quite ambivalent toward homosexuality [32,33]. On the one hand, homosexuality is considered as a sin or a deviation from normal development; on the other hand, it is considered as a private matter, something that should be neither persecuted nor protected by law. Consistent with the Italian gender role tradition, negative attitudes are more prominent toward gay men compared with lesbians, supporting the representation of male homosexuality as a visible threat to the traditional gender norms, and the idea that only the traditional gender-conforming, heterosex- ual behavior is socially acceptable [34]. The present study This study sought to expand on previous knowledge by investigating social integration path- ways that link heterosexist microaggressions on campus with student perception of campus climate. More specifically, we hypothesized that witnessing environmental microaggressions will decrease student social integration and the overall perception of campus climate, based on previous literature highlighting that psychological stress associated with discrimination leads students to develop negative interactions on campus and damaging perceptions of the overall academic experience (Hypothesis 1: main effects). Furthermore, we hypothesized that micro-

aggressions are associated with perception of campus climate through their negative effect on student social integration (Hypothesis 2: mediation effects). Finally, we tested whether both the direct and indirect effect of microaggressions on perceptions of campus climate are stron- ger for non-heterosexual compared to heterosexual students, because of their being directly targeted with them (Hypothesis 3: moderation and moderated mediation effects). The hypoth- esized model is depicted in Fig 1. As previous research suggested that perceptions of a negative climate due to experiences of heterosexist microaggressions may vary by gender identity, with heterosexual women perceiving a more negative climate for sexual minorities than men [17], Fig 1. The hypothesized model. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231580.g001 PLOS ONE Heterosexist microaggressions and campus climate PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0231580 April 16, 2020 5 / 16