Diverging Trajectories? Educational Stratification and Life Opportunities of LGB Adolescents

Sexual orientation has increasingly gained attention in public debate and sociological research, not least because the share of individuals who identify and openly report as LGB(TQIA*) is steadily growing. Yet, educational inequalities, one of the main roots of social stratification, remains understudied among LGB people. Existing literature has primarily focused on the United States, leaving cross-national differences largely unexplored, and is often constrained by data limitations that hinder the study of the mechanisms through which sexual orientation shapes educational outcomes and life opportunities. The aim of this dissertation is to examine the relationship between sexual orientation, educational outcomes and life opportunities, with particular attention to changes over time and across cohorts. Beyond documenting differences, it investigates the mechanisms behind educational “premium”, the role of different social contexts, and how educational advantages or penalties translate into later-life outcomes. Most of the analyses focused on the UK as longitudinal (UKHLS) and cohort studies (MCS, BCS70, Next Steps) data collecting information on sexual orientation for this country are publicly available. One chapter offers a cross-country comparative perspective using a non-representative dataset (FRA EU LGBTQI II study). The empirical chapters explore: (1) the sexual identity development of LGB people in Europe, focusing on age at self-disclosure and at first coming out; (2) the educational outcomes of UK adolescents (i.e., grades, subject choices, and expectations of entering university) and the mechanisms through which the interaction of gender and sexual identity shapes them; (3) how the educational “premium” of LGB people have changed across cohorts in the UK and how changes in their family and school environments help explain these shifts; and (4) the disparities in partnership outcomes (i.e., union formation and timing to first coresidential partnerships) by sexual identity and education among adult UK people. Together with the theoretical chapters, this dissertation as a whole contributes to rethinking education as a central dimension in the stratification of LGBTQIA* lives and in shaping broader life chances.