8,000 miles and still counting … reaching gay, lesbian and bisexual adolescents for research

Major challenges in conducting research with sexual minority adolescents include difficulties in finding large samples of youths under 18, particularly young women, diverse in their stages of coming out, and not associated with organized groups. Institutional review boards may prohibit the participation of youths for whom parental consent cannot safely be obtained. This paper discusses the strategies employed to recruit a sample of 184 self-identified gay, lesbian and bisexual adolescents (mean age = 16.6), of which 62% were female, 56% resided in rural areas or small towns, 23% were not associated with organized groups, and, using participant advocates, 65% participated without parental consent. It also reports on some findings from a larger study using data collected from this sample.