Adolescence into adulthood: religiosity factors influencing trajectories of suicide ideation and attempt among sexual minorities

This study utilized three waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) to examine patterns of suicidal thoughts and behaviors and changes in religiosity from adolescence into young adulthood between sexual minority and heterosexual individuals. Repeated measure latent class analysis revealed sexual minority participants were more likely to be in the "high adolescent/lower adult risk" and "moderate- to high-risk across ages" classes compared to heterosexual participants. Sexual minority participants were more likely than heterosexuals to be in the low religiosity trajectory at Wave 1 and remained less religious than heterosexual participants. Interactions among sexual identity, religiosity, and suicidality trajectories were not statistically significant. Findings suggest there may not be direct sexual orientation-related differences in longitudinal trends of religiosity and suicidality from adolescence into young adulthood. Future research should explore indirect paths as well as examine religiosity at earlier ages.