Exploration of the Social Safety Model

Jenessa Canen, Orgon State University
Bridget Klest, Oregon State University

Since the start of my career, I have focused on conducting research that increases our understanding of suicide among the LGBTQ+ community. People who identify as a sexual minority are at a consistently greater risk for suicidal thoughts and behaviors. It is essential to understand the reasons behind these increased rates so that effective prevention and intervention efforts can be implemented.

Since 2003, the primary model used to understand increased rates of suicide among sexual minority individuals has been the minority stress model. This model proposes that, in addition to everyday stressors that everyone experiences, sexual minorities experience additional unique stress due to their minority identity. For example, people with an LGBTQ+ identity often experience discrimination and fear of coming out. Research into the minority stress model suggests that these additional stressors, called minority stress, are associated with increased rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviors.

However, the minority stress model has not fully explained gender and sexual minority mental health. Many studies find low correlations, and few report evidence of the physical effects of stress that would be expected if minority stressors behaved like other forms of stress. Thus, it is necessary to explore alternative, less well-researched models to gain a full understanding of sexual minority suicide. One such model is the social safety model, which proposes that sexual minorities lack a sense of safety in their day-to-day lives. According to the model this lack of safety, not minority stress, puts them at an increased risk of death by suicide. To improve understanding of this model, I conducted a study examining the associations between social safety, minority stress, and suicidal ideation.

Perceptions of LGBTQ+ social safety in the United States were found to be significantly lower among sexual minority college students as compared to their heterosexual peers. Likewise, experiences of sexual minority stress were found to be positively associated with perceptions of LGBTQ+ social safety. Despite this, social safety was found to be unrelated to suicidal thoughts and behaviors among sexual minority students.

These findings suggest that sexual minority individuals perceive less social safety for LGBTQ+ people than their heterosexual peers. This finding highlights the importance of diversity and inclusion, as people who are not part of the LGBTQ+ community may not be able to estimate how safe LGBTQ+ people feel in their environment accurately. Additionally, findings that perception of social safety is related to minority stress, but not suicidal ideation, suggest that social safety plays an important role in understanding what causes minority stress and subsequent suicidality. Overall, this study provides important insight into how the social safety and the minority stress models can be used to understand sexual minority mental health. By increasing our understanding of these models and the factors that are related to sexual minority mental health, key intervention and prevention strategies can be developed and put into place.