Peer victimization and suicidality among LGBTQ youth: the roles of school belonging, self-compassion, and parental support

Abstract

Research on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth’s experiences at school has largely focused on stigma, adversity, disparities, and peer victimization. Factors like school climate, individual differences, and social support have also garnered significant attention. However, there has been a dearth of research examining how they relate to both suicidal ideation and suicide attempts. Our goal was to bolster the extant literature by examining the protective role of parental support and psychological mechanisms like school belonging and self-compassion among LGBTQ youth struggling with peer victimization and suicidality. A cross-sectional study was completed with a sample of 934 LGBTQ high school students. Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze direct and indirect effects. Peer victimization was positively associated with both forms of suicidality and negatively associated with school belonging and self-compassion. Psychological processes varied in their in prediction of suicidal ideation and attempts. Parental support did not moderate pathways between victimization and processes, but was associated with diminished suicidality and improved school belonging. Our findings illustrate the critical nature of further developing our understanding of the complexities of suicidality. School programs and interventions that are designed to cultivate belonging, self-compassion, and parental support may prove to be especially beneficial for victimized LGBTQ youth who struggle with suicidality.

Keywords:

• LGBTQ youth
• bullying
• suicide
• school connectedness
• mental health
• social support

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interests was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tyler Hatchel

Tyler Hatchel is a counseling psychology graduate student at the University of Florida. He received his BA and MA in psychology from California State University, Los Angeles. His research interests include the well-being LGBTQ youth, bias-based aggression, and digital media.

Gabriel J. Merrin

Gabriel J. Merrin received his doctoral degree in educational psychology at the University of Illinois. He is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Victoria. His research interests include developmental violence, substance use, risk behaviors, the transition from adolescence to emerging adulthood, aggression, and longitudinal quantitative methods.

and Dorothy Espelage

Dorothy Espelage is a professor of psychology at the University of Florida. She is the recipient of the APA Lifetime Achievement Award in Prevention Science and the 2016 APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to Research in Public Policy, and is a Fellow of APS, APA, and AERA. She was recently elected to the National Academy of Education. She earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Indiana University in 1997. Over the last 22 years, she has authored over 190 peer- reviewed articles, six edited books, and 70 chapters on bullying, homophobic teasing, sexual harassment, dating violence, and gang violence. Her research focuses on translating empirical findings into prevention and intervention programming and she has secured over twelve million dollars of external funding.