| Description |
While the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) can provide emotional relief, social belonging, and community support to many of its members, its doctrine often fails to affirm the needs of its LGBTQ+ and sexually/gender diverse (SGD) members. Church policy maintains that members of the religion are not permitted to engage in same-gender romantic relationships or alter their assigned gender at birth, and SGD members of the church often face ostracization from their families and communities due to their sexual and/or gender identities. The absence of social safety, a sense of unconditional social support and belonging, has been linked to various mental health disparities for marginalized people (Christensen, 2022; Diamond, 2023). One identified disparity is scrupulosity, a type of obsessive-compulsive symptom (OCS) surrounding sin and moral values. Previous research has found a relationship between scrupulosity and social safety in populations of SGD members of the LDS church (Christensen, 2022). However, scrupulosity is only one form of obsessive-compulsive symptomology, and many individuals with OCS or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have obsessions that span multiple topics. This study is the first to investigate social safety and its relationship with obsessive-compulsive symptoms other than scrupulosity. A survey of 1230 LGBTQ+ individuals who had held membership in the LDS church at some point in their lifetimes was administered online, with participants recruited from social media, various community organizations, and a previous study by Christensen (2022) among LGBTQ+ Mormons. Participant scores on the OCI and PIOS demonstrated global obsessive-compulsive symptoms that exceeded the subclinical range, even though only 11% of the sample had been diagnosed with OCD. When examined in relation to OCS, greater nonreligious social safety was associated with decreased rates of obsessive-compulsive symptomology and had the greatest impact on former members. However, greater social safety within the church was associated with increased rates of obsessive-compulsive symptomology for both inactive and active members. Interactions between nonreligious and church social safety demonstrated that the individuals with the highest obsessive-compulsive symptoms reported a combination of high social safety from church members and low social safety from nonreligious sources. These results suggest that SGD Mormons with higher social safety in family and church settings may experience more distress because they rely on these sources for fundamental connection and belonging, but risk losing this safety when expressing their authentic gender/sexual identity. Relationships between social safety and obsessive-compulsive symptomology have notable implications when conducting future research and applying clinical interventions for LGBTQ+ former and current members of the LDS church. |
