The impact of victimization on the mental health and suicidality of lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths.

TLDR

The study examined how verbal abuse, threat of attacks, and assault affect mental health and suicidality among 15‑ to 21‑year‑old lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths, hypothesizing that family support and self‑acceptance mediate these relationships. Structural equation modeling showed that victimization directly worsens mental health, with family support and self‑acceptance jointly mediating this effect, while victimization had no direct link to suicide and only influenced mental health at low victimization levels when family support was low.

Abstract

Lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths 15 to 21 years old were studied to determine the impact of verbal abuse, threat of attacks, and assault on their mental health, including suicide. Family support and self-acceptance were hypothesized to act as mediators of the victimization and mental health-suicide relation. Structural equation modeling revealed that in addition to a direct effect of victimization on mental health, family support and self-acceptance in concert mediated the victimization and mental health relation. Victimization was not directly related to suicide. Victimization interacted with fam ily support to influence mental health, but only for low levels of victimization