Friendly Teasing or Traumatic Bullying? Examining the Conditioning Effect of Social Distance on the Negative Psychological Outcomes of Homophobic Name-Calling

ABSTRACT This study examined homophobic name-calling among 2,161 middle school students in the US and found that those who had experienced homophobic name-calling fared significantly worse than those who had never experienced it, regardless of whether they were called names by rivals, strangers, or friends. While this study also found evidence that the adverse mental health effect of homophobic name-calling was worse if it had been initiated by rivals than by friends, the overall findings affirm the potent and enduring toxicity of homophobic name-calling on adolescents’ mental health documented in previous studies. Despite some limitations, findings from this study shed light on our currently ambiguous understanding of the conditioning effect of social distance on the negative psychological impacts of homophobic name-calling and pose several implications for bullying prevention and intervention practice and policymaking.