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Symposia

Suicide and Self-Injury

Daily Life Research on Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors among LGBTQ+ Individuals: Towards Understanding Momentary Mechanisms in a High-Risk Population

2 - (SYM 76) Within-person Changes in General Stress and Minority Stress Predict Same-day Suicidal Ideation

Sunday, November 23, 2025
2:22 PM - 2:39 PM CST
Location: Strand 13A&B, Level 2
Keywords: Suicide, Self-Injury, LGBTQ+
Recommended Readings: Testa, R. J., Michaels, M. S., Bliss, W., Rogers, M. L., Balsam, K. F., & Joiner, T. (2017). Suicidal ideation in transgender people: Gender minority stress and interpersonal theory factors. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 126(1), 125.,   Nicholas, J., & Bresin, K. (2024). Everyday sexual and gender minority stress and health: A systematic review of experience sampling studies. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 53(4), 1221-1243.,   Kohnepoushi, P., Nikouei, M., Cheraghi, M., Hasanabadi, P., Rahmani, H., Moradi, M., ... & Moradi, Y. (2023). Prevalence of suicidal thoughts and attempts in the transgender population of the world: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Annals of General Psychiatry, 22(1), 28.,   Mereish, E. H., Peters, J. R., Brick, L. A., Killam, M. A., & Yen, S. (2023). A daily diary study of minority stressors, suicidal ideation, nonsuicidal self-injury ideation, and affective mechanisms among sexual and gender minority youth. Journal of Psychopathology and Clinical Science, 132(4), 372.,  
Abstract Body



Sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals face heightened risk for suicidal ideation (SI), with stress related to their minoritized identities are theorized to play a crucial role. The minority stress model posits that unique identity-based stressors contribute to adverse mental health outcomes beyond general stress (Meyer, 2003). Prior research links distal (e.g., discrimination) and proximal minority stress (e.g., internalized stigma) to suicidality at the between-person level, but fewer studies have examined this at the within-person level. This study examines daily general stress and proximal minority stress as predictors of same-day SI in SGM individuals. 



 



We recruited 109 SGM adults from the community and 94 SGM undergraduates to complete daily surveys for two weeks. Participants rated their daily general stress, proximal minority stress (expectations of rejection, internalized stigma), and SI (intensity of desire, strength of intention, ability to resist the urge to kill oneself). Multilevel models examined within-person and between-person associations between daily stressors and SI. 



 



Daily fluctuations in SI were positively correlated with both daily general stress (r = .10) and daily minority stress (r = .09) at the within-person level, but not at the between-person level, indicating that on days people experienced higher-than-usual general stress and proximal minority stress, they also reported increased SI, relative to their norm. In multilevel models that included both stressors, each uniquely predicted daily variation in SI, suggesting that these effects persist even when accounting for general stress.  



 



Our results align with and extend prior work by finding that not only does proximal minority stress contribute to near-term suicide risk, but that it also provides independent predictive information over and above everyday general stress not based on one’s SGM identity. Despite the relatively sparse assessment schedules and insufficient power to test for SGM subgroup differences, these results highlight the importance of addressing minority stress in intervention efforts, to reduce near-term suicide risk among SGM individuals.