| Description |
Within the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS church), LGBTQ+ members have reported negative mental health outcomes related to their participation (Simmons, 2017; Dehlin et al., 2014). However, few studies have sought to measure how exposure to harmful beliefs and teachings experienced by LGBTQ+ members may be related to PTSD symptomology in a religious context, how this exposure (and/or the trauma such exposure evokes) may predict negative health outcomes, or how social safety may play a role in mediating the relationship between exposure, trauma, and these outcomes. This study evaluated LGBTQ+ individuals with past/present involvement in the LDS church (n = 642) through an online survey, which measured total exposure to potentially harmful LDS beliefs and teachings, religious trauma, social safety (both within and outside the church), and three health outcomes-depression, scrupulosity, and general subjective health (operationalized via the CESD-R, PIOS, and SF-36, respectively). Harmful exposure was operationalized via a measure designed by Simmons (2017), religious trauma was screened using the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS), and social safety was operationalized via the Social Safety Questionnaire, designed by Dehlin (2021). Our research found significant positive correlations between exposure to harmful beliefs/teachings and religious trauma, as well as between social safety and religious trauma. Religious trauma significantly predicted worse health outcomes, and religious social safety mediated this relationship for scrupulosity alone. Finally, nonreligious social safety significantly predicted better health outcomes. The LDS CONTEXT: TRAUMA, SOCIAL SAFETY, & LGBTQ HEALTH iii results of this study are discussed in the context of past research and broader implications are proposed. |
