| Sexual minority individuals have been shown to have higher rates of depression,anxiety, trauma, and suicide. Several factors attributing to these rates have been analyzed, particularly within adult populations. The current study aimed to investigate external factors including parent support, peer support, and religious teachings in relation to the mental health of sexual minority youth.Participants were 152 youth ages 12 to 18 who identified as a sexual minority (i.e., gay, lesbian, bisexual, queer, or questioning). Participants completed a series of questionnaires that assessed forvarious variables such as their own, their parents’, and their peers’ beliefs about sexual minorities, their religious teachings about sexual minorities, their own level of religious practice, peer support, their conflict with their parents, and internalizing symptoms (i.e., depression and anxiety). A significant direct negative relationship was found between participant’s own beliefs about sexual minorities and internalizing symptoms, as well as a positive relationship between parents’ beliefs about sexual minorities and internalizing symptoms in participants. The difference between parent and participant beliefs about sexual minorities was significantly positively related to parent-child conflict. A similar relationship was found with peers such that the difference in beliefs about sexual minorities between peers and participants was also shown to be a significant predictor of peer support. Additionally, peer support was shown to be a protective factor between religiosity and internalizing symptoms within this population. Implications for continued research and clinical intervention are discussed.Keywords:sexual minority, religion, parent conflict, peer support, youth |