‘They showed me what was possible’: Investigating the perceived influence of traditional and social media role models on young LGBTQ adults’ well-being and identity development

This study investigates whether LGBTQ people think that LGBTQ media role models have a positive impact on their identity development and well-being. We compared the effects of role models from social media and role models on TV and in films. An online survey with both quantitative and qualitative measures among 183 participants revealed that the perceived impact of social media role models on LGBTQ people’s coming out is greater than the perceived impact of role models on TV and in films. The qualitative results reveal that LGBTQ people feel that media role models are important for recognition, normalization, and concrete information.