3 - (SYM 27) from Homophobic Microaggressions to Suicidal Ideation: The Mediating Role of Perceived Burdensomeness in Minority Stress

Background: High rates of poor mental health, including suicidal ideation (SI), in sexual minority populations have been linked to minority stress, or experiences of prejudice and discrimination based on one’s sexual orientation (Meyer, 2003). Microaggressions, a form of minority stress, have previously been linked to SI via perceived burdensomeness (PB) but not thwarted belongingness (TB) in the context of racial discrimination (Hollingsworth et al., 2017), but to our knowledge, this relationship has largely been unexplored for sexual minority populations. Thus, a mediation analysis was used to model the relationship of sexual orientation-based microaggressions and SI via PB.

Methods: 114 sexual minority adults, self-identified as 23.7% gay or lesbian, 50% bisexual, 7.8% asexual, 16.7% queer, and .8% other, were recruited from a large university in the southeast U.S. Participants completed a set of online questionnaires assessing PB and TB via the Interpersonal Needs Questionnaire (INQ; Van Orden et al., 2012) and SI via the Depressive Symptom Index – Suicidality Subscale (DSI-SS; Metalsky & Joiner, 1997). The Homonegative Microaggressions Scale (HMS; Wegner, 2014) was used to assess the frequency of experiencing sexual orientation-based microaggressions. Additionally, the four HMS sub-scales (Assumed Deviance, Second-Class Citizen, Assumptions of Gay Culture, and Stereotypical Knowledge and Behavior) were assessed separately to parse apart which forms of microaggressions are related to SI.

Results: TB did not have a significant association with HMS total scores or SI in this sample. On the other hand, PB fully mediated the association between HMS total scores and SI (direct effect: B = .001 [95% CI: -.01, .01], p = .75; indirect effect: B = .012 [95% CI: .001, .02], p =.028). Further analysis of HMS sub-scales revealed that this full mediation was significant only for the Second-Class Citizen subscale of the HMS (direct effect: B = .001 [95% CI: -.04, .04], p = .89; indirect effect: B = .0768 [95% CI: .02, .13], p = .008).

Discussion: The current study confirmed that minority stress contributes to elevated rates of SI via interpersonal factors in sexual minority populations. Specifically, the association between experiencing microaggressions and SI was mediated by PB. Given that this relationship was not identical across HMS sub-scales, further work should clarify which aspects of sexual orientation-based microaggressions are especially relevant in the development of PB and subsequent SI.