Abstract
The current study examined the relation between sexual minority status, social support, emotion dysregulation, and suicide attempt in a community sample. A total of 388 community and college adults completed a one-time survey examining self-injury and suicidality. Findings demonstrated that that social support and emotion regulation, independently and in sequence, mediated the relation between sexual minority status and suicide attempt. The reverse mediation model with emotion regulation as the first mediator and social support as the second mediator was also significant. Social support and emotion regulation may both be related and may explain the relation between sexual minority status and suicide attempt. If replicated longitudinally, these findings shed light on specific risk factors and their interrelations, which may have important implications for preventing suicide in sexual minorities.
Highlights
Across the U.S population, suicide is the tenth leading cause of death, killing more than 47,000 people in 1 year [1]
We explored the following questions: a) is sexual minority status related to increased likelihood of having attempted suicide? b) does degree of social support mediate the relation between sexual minority status and suicide attempt? c) does emotion regulation mediate the relation between sexual minority status and suicide attempt? and d) do the two mediators work in sequence? Hypotheses were as follows: 1) sexual minority status would be associated with greater likelihood of suicide attempt, 2) degree of social support would independently mediate the relation between sexual minority status and suicide attempt, 3) emotion regulation would independently mediate the relation between sexual minority status and suicide attempt, and 4) social support and emotion regulation, in sequence, would mediate the association between sexual minority status and suicide attempt
The current study examined the relationship between sexual minority status, social support, emotion regulation, and history of suicide attempt in a community sample of adults
Summary
Across the U.S population, suicide is the tenth leading cause of death, killing more than 47,000 people in 1 year [1]. Existing research suggests that emotion regulation, shame, and depression help to explain some of the mental health disparities that sexual minority individuals experience [18,19,20,21,22]. Few studies have empirically examined mediators of the relationship between sexual minority status and suicidal behavior, despite research highlighting the relevance of social support and emotion regulation as risk factors. Sexual minorities who do not identify as sexual minorities are not often included in existing research To address these gaps, the present study examined sexual minority status, social support, emotion regulation, and suicide attempt in a large sample of adults from both the community and college settings. We explored the following questions: a) is sexual minority status related to increased likelihood of having attempted suicide? b) does degree of social support mediate the relation between sexual minority status and suicide attempt? c) does emotion regulation mediate the relation between sexual minority status and suicide attempt? and d) do the two mediators work in sequence? Hypotheses were as follows: 1) sexual minority status would be associated with greater likelihood of suicide attempt, 2) degree of social support would independently mediate the relation between sexual minority status and suicide attempt, 3) emotion regulation would independently mediate the relation between sexual minority status and suicide attempt, and 4) social support and emotion regulation, in sequence, would mediate the association between sexual minority status and suicide attempt
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