Research Article Synopsis

Synopsis

This article examines the impacts of racial discrimination on victims’ psychological and mental health, including increased suicidal thoughts due to their sexual orientation, gender identity, and race. Two hundred individuals from the LGBTQ community and People of Color (POC) were subjects of this study about their encounters with racism, suicidal thoughts, and depression (Sutter & Perrin, 2016). The prejudice against LGBTQ persons harmed suicidal ideation. It was found with the help of a structural equation model (SEM). Racism had an immediate influence on mental health, even though it was not associated in the SEM with suicidal ideation. Effects of discrimination based on sexual orientation on mental health may be a crucial area for treatments to reduce suicide attempts in LGBTQ POC (Sutter & Perrin, 2016). Discrimination has continuously been linked to substantial stressors that have negative psychological repercussions. According to the minority stress process model, sexual minorities who experience minority stressors differently, such as biased events and anticipation of rejection, suffer from poor mental health outcomes.

This research aims to close many knowledge gaps in discrimination, mental health, and suicide ideation while advancing knowledge of the intersectionality of LGBTQ POC identities. In this study, structural equation modeling was used to evaluate a hypothesis of how discrimination and racism targeting LGBTQ people of the color impact mental health and suicidal ideation (Sutter & Perrin, 2016). It further predicts that their mental health will decline if LGBTQ people continue suffering more racism and prejudice. This will have a knock-on effect on suicidal ideation.

Participants completed many surveys to gauge their experiences with racism, suicidal thoughts, and sexual preference or gender identity-based prejudice. Then, demographic data were gathered using a questionnaire prepared by the researcher (Velez et al., 2019). Racism and suicidal thoughts were extensively examined in this investigation. Discrimination towards LGBTQ-based was utilized as a regression model represented by the workplace and harassment/rejection. Indicators of anxiousness, depression and life satisfaction were used to generate the dependent variables of mental health.

This research tested a structural model to investigate the connections between LGBTQ POC diversity, mental health, and suicide ideation. It was predicted that LGBTQ-related prejudice and racism would have a mental health effect on suicidal ideation (Sutter & Perrin, 2016). Even though bias based on sexual orientation or gender identity and racism were related and both negatively influenced mental health, only prejudice against LGBTQ people in the SEM had a significant negative indirect effect on suicidal thoughts.

Conclusion

This study demonstrates how discriminating against persons of color who consider themselves members of gender and sexual minorities significantly impacts their lives, particularly in terms of their psychological health and susceptibility to suicidal ideation. Although racism and discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation are connected, both have a direct influence on mental health. Only LGBTQ-based discrimination in the SEM had a significant indirect impact on suicide thoughts through mental health. People who have experienced rejection from friends and unfair treatment by coworkers, superiors, or other significant figures, including strangers, may be more susceptible to mental health issues, including sadness and anxiety, as well as, to a lesser extent, decreased life satisfaction (Sutter & Perrin, 2016). It is commonly recognized that LGBTQ people are more likely to experience mental health issues, including suicidal thoughts, and that racism is linked to psychological discomfort.

The experiences of LGBTQ people from various racial and ethnic backgrounds with racism may range greatly, resulting in diversity that the existing model could not account for. Additionally, because LGBTQ POC may encounter discrimination based on their sexual orientation from members of their race or ethnicity and the racism they may encounter from individuals, LGBTQ-based stereotyping may have statistical significance overshadowed racism with a greater standardized regression weight.

Implications

Important areas that require intervention include discrimination and its impacts on the mental health of LGBTQ individuals and suicidal ideation, given the results of new findings and the effects of racism on mental health. Group therapy can significantly improve social support and cognitive coping mechanisms in HIV-positive gay males, assisting individuals of the LGBTQ POC community in dealing with heterosexism and cisgenderism (Sutter & Perrin, 2016). Although research has not yet been done to specifically target these types of interventions to minimize the risk of suicide among LGBTQ POC, cognitive behavioral therapy has successfully treated mental health issues among various racial/ethnic groups.

According to the most recent research, psychologists who counsel people contemplating suicide can find it useful to concentrate on the role that racism and experiences of discrimination against LGBTQ people have in contributing to their mental health issues (Sutter & Perrin, 2016). It’s important to focus on how LGBTQ-based prejudice might lead to suicidal thoughts, especially in the setting within one’s community (Hingwe, 2021). It is beneficial to support individuals in becoming aware of the network of links discovered in the current study to prevent or eliminate the direct impacts of racism on mental health and the indirect effects of LGBTQ-based prejudice on suicidal thoughts. This may be why victims seek counseling in the first place if it looks like this network is at play in their lives.

References

Hingwe, S. (2021). Mental health considerations for Black, Indigenous, and people of color: Trends, barriers, and recommendations for collegiate mental health. In College Psychiatry (pp. 85-96). Springer, Cham.

Sutter, M., & Perrin, P. B. (2016). Discrimination, mental health, and suicidal ideation among LGBTQ people of color. Journal of counseling psychology, 63(1), 98.

Velez, B. L., Polihronakis, C. J., Watson, L. B., & Cox Jr, R. (2019). Heterosexism, racism, and the mental health of sexual minority people of color. The Counseling Psychologist, 47(1), 129-159.