LGBTQ+ identity-related abuse during childhood and associations with depression and suicide behavior: Role of adulthood cisheterosexism and expressive suppression

Ruby Charak; Ines Cano-Gonzalez; Roman Ronzon-Tirado; Rachel M Schmitz; Jennifer Tabler; Sidsel Karsberg; Ayleen Flores; Julian D Ford

doi:10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106433

LGBTQ+ identity-related abuse during childhood and associations with depression and suicide behavior: Role of adulthood cisheterosexism and expressive suppression

Child Abuse Negl. 2023 Nov:145:106433. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106433. Epub 2023 Sep 1.

Authors

Ruby Charak¹, Ines Cano-Gonzalez², Roman Ronzon-Tirado³, Rachel M Schmitz⁴, Jennifer Tabler⁵, Sidsel Karsberg⁶, Ayleen Flores², Julian D Ford⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychological Science, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX, USA. Electronic address: charakruby@gmail.com.
² Department of Psychological Science, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, Autonomous University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain.
⁴ Department of Sociology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA.
⁵ Department of Criminal Justice and Sociology, University of Wyoming, Laraime, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychology and Behavioural Sciences, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT, USA.

PMID: 37660426
DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106433

Abstract

Background: Exposure to minority stressors specific to LGBTQ+ individuals, such as heterosexism and cissexism (or cisheterosexism) is not covered under the traditional adverse childhood experiences framework. This is important because childhood identity-related abuse by a parent/caregiver can lead to mental health challenges in later life through the adoption of maladaptive coping mechanisms.

Objective: The present study aimed to examine the role of cisheterosexism and expressive suppression as serial mediators in the associations between identity-related abuse and depressive symptoms and suicide behavior.

Participants and setting: Participants included 563 LGBTQ+ identifying adults between 18 and 64 years (M = 30.02, SD = 9.05) from different regions of Spain and were recruited through social media (e.g., Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram).

Method: A serial mediation model was conducted with cisheterosexism and expressive suppression as the mediators in the associations between LGBTQ+ identity-related childhood abuse and depressive symptoms and suicide behavior.

Results: Findings indicated a positive indirect effect of identity-related abuse on depressive symptoms through cumulative cisheterosexism (B = 0.628, p < .01), and via cumulative cisheterosexism and suppression (B = 0.146, p < .05). No significant indirect effect was found for identity-related abuse on depressive symptoms via suppression (B = 0.086). An indirect effect was found for identity-related abuse on suicide behavior via cumulative cisheterosexism (B = 0.250, p < .01).

Conclusions: Findings reveal that LGBTQ+ identity-related cisheterosexist experiences perpetrated by parents or caregivers are associated with harmful, long-term impacts on symptoms of depression and suicide behavior via experiences of cisheterosexism and expressive suppression.

Keywords: Cissexism; Depression; Heterosexism; Identity-related abuse; LGBTQ+; Minority stress; Suicide.

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
Adverse Childhood Experiences*
Child
Depression / epidemiology
Humans
Sexual and Gender Minorities*
Suicidal Ideation