Social, Structural and Sexuality Influences on Acute Alcohol-Related Harms: Unifying Conceptual Models for Young Adults

Acute alcohol-related harms disproportionately impact sexual minority young adults compared to cisgender, heterosexual young adults. This stands true even when accounting for the amount of alcohol consumed, which suggests that other factors contribute to this relationship. The purpose of this study was to understand the factors that impact this inequitable relationship between acute alcohol-related harms and sexual minority young adults. The goal of this study was to co-create a community-informed, theory-based conceptual model with LGBTQ+ community members to illustrate the social and structural factors that contribute to the increased prevalence of acute alcohol-related harms for this specific population. There were six community collaborative sessions held where community members participated in human-centered design activities that helped foster idea generation in order to design a conceptual model. The final version of the conceptual model includes factors like poor mental health, discrimination, social constraints in the drinking context, lack of community support, and financial burden. The results from this study hope to inform future interventions to decrease incidents of acute alcohol-related harms for sexual minority young adults.