This dissertation explores the relationship between general childhood adversity, identity-based invalidation, and emotional dysregulation among sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals in Southwest Alabama. Grounded in the Minority Stress Model (Brooks, 1981; Meyer, 2003), the Traumatic Invalidation Framework (Cardona et al., 2022), and the Transactional Model of Emotion Dysregulation (Fruzetti et al., 2005), the study tests three primary hypotheses: (1) a positive association between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and identity-based adversities (ID-Adversities), (2) an association between ACEs and emotional dysregulation, and (3) an association between ID-Adversities and emotional dysregulation.

This study is a secondary analysis of cross-sectional data collected through the Southwest Alabama Inclusion Project’s LGBTQ+ Community Needs Assessment. Participants (N = 488), ranging in age from 13 to 82 and representing a wide spectrum of sexual and gender identities, completed a survey that included measures of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), identity-based adversity (ID-Adversity), and emotional dysregulation using the DERS-SF. One-way ANOVA confirmed that ACEs were positively associated with ID-Adversity; multiple linear regressions confirmed that both ACEs and ID-Adversity independently predicted higher levels of emotional dysregulation. Post hoc analyses revealed developmental variation: identity-based adversity had the strongest effect among adolescents (13–17), ACEs were most predictive among emerging adults (18–24), and for adults 25 and older, lower household income emerged as the most robust predictor of dysregulation. Transgender boys and men reported significantly more ACEs than their cisgender peers, highlighting compounded risk among multiply marginalized subgroups.

Findings underscore the cumulative, shifting nature of adversity across development and point to the embeddedness of psychological risk in structural and socioeconomic contexts. Policy and clinical implications include the need for trauma-informed, identity-affirming mental health services; caregiver education programs; and systemic reforms to reduce stigma, poverty, and exclusion of SGM individuals across the life course.

Key words: sexual and gender minority, mental health, emotion regulation, parenting, identity-based adversity, adverse childhood experiences