Does Stress Explain the Effects of Sexual/Gender Minority Status on Children's Behavioral and Emotional Risk?

Sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth are at elevated risk for adverse mental health and substance use outcomes. Stressors such as family conflict, discrimination, and trauma have been suggested as possible mediators of these disparities.

This study examined whether family conflict, discrimination, and trauma mediate the associations between SGM identity and adverse outcomes, including suicide attempt, major depressive disorder (MDD), nicotine use, and marijuana use.

Participants were children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. SGM identity was reported at baseline, while outcomes included past MDD and suicide attempts as well as future nicotine and marijuana use. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test both direct and indirect pathways linking SGM identity to mental health and behavioral outcomes.

No significant mediation was found through family conflict, discrimination, or trauma. Instead, effects of SGM identity were primarily direct: SGM youth had higher odds of past suicide attempts and MDD, as well as future marijuana use, but not future nicotine use. Stressor variables, however, were independently associated with outcomes. Discrimination predicted all outcomes; trauma was positively associated with suicide, nicotine, and marijuana use but not MDD; and family conflict predicted all outcomes except MDD.

Family conflict, discrimination, and trauma did not mediate SGM disparities in mental health and substance use, but each emerged as an independent predictor of risk. These findings highlight the complexity of mechanisms underlying SGM-related disparities and suggest the need for future research to explore additional pathways and contextual influences.