Intimate partner violence is common and chronic among young sexual gender minorities assigned male at birth

Intimate partner violence is common and chronic among young sexual gender minorities assigned male at birth

Intimate partner violence is chronic among young sexual and gender minorities assigned male at birth (YSGM-AMAB), with bisexual, transgender and low-income people in this group having the highest likelihood of victimization, a Rutgers study has found.

“Our findings show how common and chronic intimate partner violence is among young gender and sexual minorities,” said Marybec Griffin, assistant professor in the Department of Health Behavior, Society and Policy at Rutgers School of Public Health and co-author of the study. which was published online ahead of print in the September issue of the Journal of Interpersonal Violence.

The general perception is that violence only happens once. But victims remain in relationships where violence occurs for a variety of reasons for a long time, and those most exposed to this cycle are economic, social and sexual minorities.”

Marybec Griffin, Assistant Professor, Department of Health Behavior, Society and Policy, Rutgers School of Public Health

To determine how chronic and widespread intimate partner violence is among this group of people and to determine whether sociodemographic characteristics have an influence, researchers surveyed 665 young people in New York City.

Data come from Project 18, an ongoing cohort study funded by the National Institutes of Health that began in 2014. Participants recruited in two waves were between 18 and 24 years old, self-identified as male at birth, had sex with a male partner in the previous six months, and were HIV negative.

Participants were asked about their gender identity, race and ethnicity, sexual identity, and income and education levels.

Almost half of the participants (47.1 percent) stated that they had been victims of intimate partner violence in the past year. Psychological violence was the most commonly reported form of victimization at 37.6 percent, followed by sexual violence (22.1 percent) and physical violence (19.5 percent). Psychological violence was the most common form of violence.

Bisexual, transgender, and low-income participants were more likely to report victimization, while participants who were Asian and Pacific Islander, bisexual, transgender, and lower-income participants were more likely to report perpetration of intimate partner violence.

Transgender participants were more likely to report severe psychological injuries or minor and severe injuries than cisgender victims. Bisexual participants reported serious injuries and serious sexual victimization more often than homosexual participants.

Participants earning less than $5,000 per year (34.6 percent of the sample) were more likely to report serious injuries and minor and major sexual victimization than participants earning more than $5,000.

The findings suggest that intimate partner violence is "a widespread and chronic health problem" for many young sexual and gender minorities assigned male at birth, and reveal "sociodemographic differences in [intimate partner violence] experiences in this historically marginalized group ... reflect larger systems of oppression and privilege in our society," the researchers noted in the study.

Griffin said the data should be used to develop intimate partner violence prevention and intervention programs and to develop and strengthen education and health policies.

“The takeaway from our work is that the range of people experiencing intimate partner violence is shockingly high and that violence is often repeated among sexual and gender minorities,” Griffin said.

Source:

Rutgers University

Reference:

Stults, CB, et al. (2022) Sociodemographic differences in the prevalence, chronicity, and severity of intimate partner violence among young sexual and gender minorities assigned male at birth: The P18 Cohort Study. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. doi.org/10.1177/08862605211021985.

.