(PS8-46) Examining Socio-Environmental Risk Factors of Self-Injurious Behaviors as a Function of Sexual Minority Status

Abstract Text: Self-injurious behaviors (SIBs) are a public health crisis in the United States. Trait-level and socio-environmental risk factors have been studied as correlates of SIBs, although generally among populations with majority identities. Research into these topics has begun to focus on sexual minority groups, yet relatively little work has simultaneously combined trait-level and socio-environmental levels of analyses when examining risk for SIBs among this population. To address this gap, this study examined whether stressful experiences frequently encountered by individuals of sexual minority orientation (SMO), specifically childhood trauma and daily discrimination, meaningfully contributed to SIB prevalence after accounting for trait-level risk factors. Among a community sample of 249 adults (149 female, ages 18-54, M/SD age = 30.52/9.66) varying in sexual orientation (166 heterosexual, 83 SMO), participants completed measures of emotional reactivity, disinhibition, discrimination, childhood trauma, and SIBs. As hypothesized, SMO vs. heterosexual participants reported significantly more lifetime NSSI and suicide attempts. Interactions between SMO and discrimination were observed for suicide attempts, such that discrimination correlated positively with suicide attempt frequency, but only among SMO participants. In addition to a positive main effect of childhood trauma, we found an interaction between childhood trauma and discrimination such that, as both adverse experiences increased, suicide attempts increased. This study demonstrates that socio-environmental factors confer relatively greater risk for SIBs among sexual minority populations after considering established trait-level factors for these behaviors. Future work should consider the explanatory power of alternative risk factors and motivations for engaging in SIBs among sexual minority populations.