Date of Award

Summer 8-31-2025

Document Type

Campus Access Dissertation

Degree Name

Candidate in Philosophy

Department

Counseling

First Advisor

Kerrie G. Wilkins-Yel

Second Advisor

Boaz Levy

Third Advisor

Raymond Tucker

Abstract

High rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviors (STBs) are an urgent issue among transgender, nonbinary, and gender-expansive (TNGE) Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color (BIPOC) that require scientific study to identify effective interventions that lower suicide risk. Despite extant literature detailing the intersection of trauma and discrimination as a unique vulnerability, scientific analyses of discrimination-related suicidal states among TNGE BIPOC remain limited. This study examined the relationship between exposure to racial-gendered discrimination, trauma symptoms from discrimination, risk factors, protective factors, and suicidal ideation within a sample of TNGE BIPOC (n = 27) using an ecological momentary assessment design. Results indicate significant variability across suicidal ideation variables per Interclass Correlation Coefficients (ICC), Root Mean Square of Successive Differences (RMSSD), as well as intensity and severity descriptive statistics. In their respective models, both racial-gendered discrimination and post-traumatic stress concurrently and prospectively predicted increases in suicidal ideation at statistically significant levels. However, in the integrated model between racial-gendered discrimination and post-traumatic stress, only post-traumatic stress predicted suicidal ideation at statistically significant levels concurrently and prospectively. As a whole, findings provide further evidence regarding the short-term variability of key variables (i.e. suicidal ideation, racial-gendered discrimination, and post-traumatic stress) and the saliency of discrimination and trauma as a unique suicide risk network.

Comments

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