# Understanding the Role of Structural Oppression for Suicide Risk among Black Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents and Young Adults

> **NIH NIH R01** · RUTGERS BIOMEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES · 2024 · $702,145

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Black sexual and gender minority (SGM) adolescents and young adults (AYA) face profound and increasing
suicide inequities. Evidence indicates differences in individual risk factors (e.g., mood disorders, substance
use) do not account for these suicide inequities. As such, there is a need to move beyond models of individual-
level causes of population-level inequities to identify and intervene upon the socio-structural drivers of suicide
among Black SGM AYA. Specifically, longitudinal research is needed to highlight sources of structural racism,
anti-SGM stigma, mental health stigma, and their intersections that affect suicidal thoughts and behaviors
(STBs) among Black SGM AYA, and to translate these findings into public health policy intervention. We are
submitting this application in response to RFA-MH-22-140 Understanding Suicide Risk and Protective Factors
among Black Youth (R01). We propose to build from an existing infrastructure supporting our U.S. national U-
award study (UG3AI169655), to enroll a national cohort of 1,000 Black SGM from ages 16 to 24, which would
be one of the largest Black SGM AYA national cohorts of its kind. We will use a combined approach to
recruitment (e.g., digital recruitment techniques, school-based recruitment) that capitalizes on community-,
school-, and internet-based networks maintained by our community collaborators. Participants will complete a
web-based survey annually for three years that assesses STBs, microsystemic suicide precursors
(interpersonal risk factors [thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness], suicide prevention resources
[access to psychotherapy, access to community-based SGM support]), STB correlates (e.g., interpersonal
stigma, anxiety, substance use), and key sociodemographic and contextual variables. In tandem with study
enrollment, our multidisciplinary team of oppression and suicide researchers, psychological care providers,
policy experts, and community-based collaborators will develop a database of novel quantitative structural
oppression metrics (e.g., state-level policy and social climate indicators), including developmentally-specific
forms of structural racism, anti-SGM stigma, mental health stigma, and their intersections that target Black
SGM AYA (Aim 1). We will subsequently utilize these metrics and the longitudinal follow-up data to test
whether there are direct associations from structural oppression to later STBs (Aim 2). We will also use these
data to test indirect associations from structural oppression to STBs through increased interpersonal suicide
risk factors (thwarted belongingness, perceived burdensomeness; Aim 3a) and decreased access to suicide
prevention resources (psychotherapy, SGM AYA social services; Aim 3b). Developing and testing a socio-
structural model of suicide risk meets the calls of the 2019 Congressional Black Caucus Taskforce “Ring the
Alarm” report and has strong potential to move the field beyond individual-level ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10872570
- **Project number:** 1R01MD018679-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** RUTGERS BIOMEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES
- **Principal Investigator:** Danielle R Busby
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $702,145
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-05-17 → 2027-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10872570

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10872570, Understanding the Role of Structural Oppression for Suicide Risk among Black Sexual and Gender Minority Adolescents and Young Adults (1R01MD018679-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10872570. Licensed CC0.

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