2 - (SYM 129) Minority Stress, Perceived Burdensomeness, and Non-suicidal Self-injury (NSSI): The Protective Role of Identity Affirmation for Bisexual+ Individuals

Bisexual+ (i.e., bisexual and pansexual; B+) individuals are at greater risk for non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) compared to other sexualities. Sexual minorities may be at increased risk because minority stressors (e.g., discrimination, harassment) exacerbate psychological processes associated with NSSI. In B+ individuals, these processes may be further exacerbated by bisexual-specific minority stressors (e.g., beliefs that B+ individuals are gay/lesbian or heterosexual).

While empirical findings have revealed that Perceived Burdensomeness (PB) mediates the relationship between minority stressors and NSSI in diverse samples of sexual minorities, little research has explored factors that may buffer these relationships. Identity affirmation, or feelings of self-acceptance and belonging to one’s identity group, is an emerging protective factor that has been shown to weaken the relationship between experiences of victimization and depression for LGB individuals. Thus, we tested whether the indirect effects of minority stress on NSSI via PB would be weakened for B+ individuals reporting higher identity affirmation.

A sample of 174 B+ MTurk workers (71.5% ciswomen; 70.8% White) completed measures assessing minority stress, identity affirmation, PB, and NSSI. Analyses were conducted using the PROCESS macro in SPSS (model 58).

There were no significant differences in the relationship between minority stress and PB at varying levels of identity affirmation (b = -1.33, CI = -2.93 – 0.28; p = 0.10), suggesting no evidence of moderation. However, there were statistically meaningful differences in the relationship between PB and NSSI at different levels of identity affirmation (b = -0.07, CI = -0.11– -0.03; p = 0.002), suggesting a moderating effect.

Analyses of indirect effects suggested partial mediating effects of minority stress on NSSI through PB at low (M-1SD = 3.54; ab = 2.26, CI = 0.85 – 3.84) and average (M = 5.02; ab = 1.09, CI = 0.47 – 1.87), but not high (M+1SD = 6.50; ab = 0.33, CI = -0.10 – 0.94), levels of identity affirmation. Pairwise contrasts of the conditional indirect effects revealed the effects of minority stress on NSSI through PB weakened as identity affirmation increased, supporting moderated mediation.

For B+ individuals, higher levels of identity affirmation buffer the positive relationship between experiences of minority stress and NSSI by weakening the influence of PB on NSSI. These findings implicate the value of integrating identity affirmation with cognitive behavioral treatments aimed at reducing the impact of PB.