Examining stressful life experiences as risk factors for self‐injurious behaviors as a function of sexual minority status in adults

Abstract Self‐injurious behaviors (SIBs) represent a major public health concern in the United States. Although sexual minority individuals experience disproportionately high rates of SIBs, research identifying population‐specific risk factors remains limited. This study examined how stressful experiences common among sexual minority (SM) adults relate to the likelihood of SIBs in SM versus heterosexual adults. A community sample of adults aged 18–54 years ( M age = 30.52 years, SD = 9.66, 59.8% assigned female at birth) completed self‐report and interview measures of trait‐level SIB risk factors (emotional reactivity, disinhibition), stressful life experiences (childhood trauma, discrimination), and lifetime history of nonsuicidal self‐injury (NSSI) and suicide attempts. One third of participants (33.3%) reported SM attraction, 48.2% identified as a racial/ethnic minority, and 42.3% earned a high school diploma or less. A substantial minority reported a history of NSSI (24.1%) and/or a suicide attempt (12.4%). SM versus heterosexual attraction was associated with both NSSI, r = .36, p < .001, and suicide attempts, r = .25, p < .001, at the bivariate level. SM attraction moderated the link between discrimination and the odds of a suicide attempt, OR = 4.10, p = .030, such that discrimination was positively associated with the odds of a suicide attempt among SM, p = .008, but not heterosexual participants, p = .643. These findings highlight that everyday discrimination exerts a disproportionate impact on the risk of suicide attempts among SM adults, emphasizing the importance of interventions that confront discrimination and minority stressors to mitigate these disparities.