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Anti-LGBTQ Policies and Suicidal Ideation

Anti-LGBTQ laws and policies are considered to be institutional forms of discrimination,or the provide legal pathways for people to actively discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, or they fail to provide protections from discrimination to LGBTQ+ communities. Given the rise of far-right government in the (United States) U.S. and its foundations on Christian Nationalism, there has been an alarming increase of anti-LGBTQ legislations across the United States as evidenced by the resurgence of “don’t say gay” bills and transgender health care bans across multiple states.

While the detrimental effect of anti-LGBTQ legislation on LGBTQ+ people’s mental health has been documented, little research has been done to understand the ways in which these larger structural forms of discrimination are internalized and translate to individual mental health outcomes. Relevant to LGBTQ+ communities, suicide has been a prevalent public health concern that disproportionally impacts these communities. Building on Minority Stress Theory (MST) and the Psychological Mediation Framework (PMF) the present study sought to understand the direct and indirect associations of anti-LGBTQ legislations and anticipated discrimination with suicidal ideation.

Perceived Burdensomeness, thwarted Belongingness, and entrapment were looked as mediators of these associations. Further the role of perceived social support as a potential protective factor was assessed. Results indicated that anti-LGBTQ policies were significantly associated with suicidal ideation. Anticipated discrimination was indirectly associated with suicidal ideation through perceived burdensomeness and entrapment. Finally perceived social support did not moderate any of these associations. Implications for practice, research and policy are discussed.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:columbia.edu/oai:academiccommons.columbia.edu:10.7916/dt40-2508
Date January 2024
CreatorsLopez Molina, David Alejandro
Source SetsColumbia University
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeTheses

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