Tactics used to perpetrate sexual violence may be crucial to understanding when and why sexual violence occurs. Moreover, most sexual violence occurs between people who know each other—including in ...the context of dating or sexual relationships. Little is known about the context of sexual violence that occurs with non-romantic partners. To address these research gaps, we examined online survey data from 786 young adults (weighted n = 763) aged 19 to 27 years, living across the United States. Findings suggest that 60% of sexual assault, 40% of attempted rape, 42% of rape, and 67% of coercive sex were perpetrated against a romantic partner, defined as a current or ex-boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse, or domestic partner. Contextual differences were noted by relationship type: Those who perpetrated against romantic partners were more likely than those who targeted non-romantic partners to report that it occurred because they were feeling sad or angry. They were also more likely to say that the other person was completely responsible for what happened. Conversely, those who aggressed against non-romantic partners were more likely to say that someone else found out about what happened. Making the other person feel guilty was the most common tactic for both groups. The most frequently endorsed reason for perpetrating sexual violence was “feeling really horny,” although feeling “good” or being drunk/high were also common reasons noted by aggressors. Afterward, many said they felt guilty or ashamed and were worried about the other person’s feelings. Fear of getting caught was universally absent. Findings support the importance of building emotion regulation and emotional awareness skills in sexual violence prevention programming. Prevention programs should also discuss coercion as a violence tactic, since perpetrators may not always recognize this to be sexual violence. More generally, violence prevention programs should also address healthy relationships, consent, and taking responsibility.
PURPOSEYouth victims of sexual violence often experience physical health problems but are unlikely to receive medical care. However, victims' reasons for not accessing medical care have been ...understudied. We examined barriers to seeking medical care among youth victims who contacted the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline.METHODSWe used archival data about one-on-one chat sessions with youth victims between June 2018 and February 2020. Hotline staff described victims' reasons for not accessing medical care via an online assessment. We coded and qualitatively examined these reasons using data about 520 victims with physical health concerns who had not received medical care.RESULTSVictims' barriers were rooted in individual beliefs and contextual realities reflected in three categories: (1) perception that medical care was not needed, (2) anticipated consequences of seeking medical care, and (3) inability to physically access medical care. Victims who perceived care as unnecessary did not understand the health implications of abuse or minimized their need for care. Anticipated consequences included privacy and control over disclosure, stigmatization, retaliation from the perpetrator, family disruptions, and retraumatizing medical treatment. Victims unable to physically access care were uncertain how to access care independently, lacked social support, or were prevented from care by the perpetrator.DISCUSSIONMedical treatment can ameliorate acute health concerns and increase safety, but youth victims perceived numerous barriers to care. Several barriers implied unintended consequences of child maltreatment policies, including mandatory reporting. Trauma-informed policy and practice are critical for improving victims' access to medical care and other support services.
Polyvictimization Among Sexual and Gender Minority Youth Mitchell, Kimberly J.; Ybarra, Michele L.; Goodman, Kimberly L. ...
American journal of preventive medicine,
August 2023, 2023-08-00, 20230801, Volume:
65, Issue:
2
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Polyvictimization is a significant public health issue. Sexual and gender minority youth are important to include in polyvictimization research because they report higher rates of victimization than ...nonsexual and gender minority youth. This study examines whether polyvictimization attenuates the associations between individual types of victimization and depressed mood and substance use across gender and sexual identities.
Data were collected cross-sectionally from 3,838 youth aged 14–15 years. Youth were recruited through social media between October 2018 and August 2019 across the U.S. Analyses were conducted in July 2022. Sexual and gender minority youth were oversampled. Depressed mood and substance use were dependent variables.
Transgender boys were the most likely to be polyvictims (25%). Transgender girls (14.2%) and cisgender sexual minority girls (13.4%) also reported high rates. Cisgender heterosexual boys were the least likely to be classified as polyvictims (4.7%). When adjusting for polyvictimization, existing relationships between individual types of victimization (e.g., theft) and depressed mood became nonsignificant in most cases. Of exception, witnessing violence and peer victimization remained significant predictors of the odds of depressed mood. Most associations between individual types of victimization and substance use became nonsignificant after considering polyvictimization, with the exception of cisgender heterosexual boys and girls, for whom many remained significant but attenuated (e.g., emotional interpersonal violence).
Sexual and gender minority youth experience a disproportionate number of victimizations across multiple domains. A comprehensive assessment of victimization exposure may be important when considering prevention and intervention approaches for depressed mood and substance use.
We investigated the feasibility of detecting aberrant DNA methylation of some novel and known genes in the serum of lung cancer patients.
To determine the analytic sensitivity, we examined the tumor ...and the matched serum DNA for aberrant methylation of 15 gene promoters from 10 patients with primary lung tumors by using quantitative methylation-specific PCR. We then tested this 15-gene set to identify the more useful DNA methylation changes in the serum of a limited number of lung cancer patients and controls. In an independent set, we tested the six most promising genes (APC, CDH1, MGMT, DCC, RASSF1A, and AIM1) for further elucidation of the diagnostic application of this panel of markers.
Promoter hypermethylation of at least one of the genes studied was detected in all 10 lung primary tumors. In majority of cases, aberrant methylation in serum DNA was accompanied by methylation in the matched tumor samples. In the independent set, using a single gene that had 100% specificity (DCC), 35.5% (95% CI: 25-47) of the 76 lung cancer patients were correctly identified. For patients without methylated DCC, addition of a logistic regression score that was based on the five remaining genes improved sensitivity from 35.5% to 75% (95% CI: 64-84) but decreased the specificity from 100% to 73% (95% CI: 54-88).
This approach needs to be evaluated in a larger test set to determine the role of this gene set in early detection and surveillance of lung cancer.
Given widespread recognition of sexual violence as a public health concern, sexual harassment has garnered considerable attention from researchers and the public. Yet research with adolescent samples ...has typically focused on the experiences of victims rather than perpetrators, and males as perpetrators and females as victims. In the current article, we consider whether risk and protective factors operate similarly within and across sex assigned at birth. A national sample of youth, ages 14 and 15, were recruited via social media and surveyed online (N = 1,981). At the individual level, girls who sexually harassed others, were more likely to have a propensity to respond to stimuli with anger compared to boys who sexually harassed. At the relational level, girls who sexually harassed were more likely to be victims of sexual harassment compared to boys, and having a negative peer environment (have delinquent peers, seen someone get attacked, and know someone who has been sexually assaulted) was of particular importance in understanding why girls harass others. For boys who harass, family relations, having seen or heard about peer physical or sexual assault and bullying perpetration were important for contextualizing boys’ sexual harassment. As empathy increased, the relative odds of sexually harassing decreased for girls. Future research should explore motivations for perpetrating sexual harassment, bystander interventions, and longitudinal frameworks to identify causal patterns to determine which factors inhibit or facilitate sexual harassment.
Youth in foster care have higher lifetime rates of sexual abuse victimization than their peers who are not in foster care. This sexual abuse occurs before, during, and after their placement. Yet ...there is a dearth of qualitative research focused on the characteristics of the abuse and the disclosure experiences of youth in foster care.
We aimed to understand potential barriers to disclosure for youth who were abused while in foster care.
Our study used anonymous, archival data of 143 one-on-one chat sessions on the US based National Sexual Assault Online Hotline (NSAOH) with youth currently living in foster care who sought help for sexual abuse.
Hotline staff summarized youth's disclosure experiences and barriers using an assessment that included open-ended responses. We used thematic analysis to code text segments.
Youth in foster care most often discussed that the abuse was being perpetrated by a foster family member (66 %). Disclosure barriers included concerns for physical safety, not wanting to move placements, not trusting the system to keep them safe, and not wanting to disclose again after previously receiving a negative reaction to their disclosure.
Youth in foster care who seek help for sexual abuse while in the foster care system have unique barriers to disclosure. This study underscores the need for more qualitative research with youth in foster care and includes safety recommendations and implications for training and education of those who work with youth in foster care.
In this study, we examine reports of exposure to suicidal behavior by youth sexual and gender identity. We explore how exposure is related to depressed mood in the context of high social support ...while accounting for cumulative adversity.
Data from a large national sample of youth aged 14 to 15 years in the United States (
= 3979) were collected online in 2018-2019.
Sexual- and gender-minority youth were more likely to know someone close to them who attempted suicide, relative to cisgender heterosexual youth. Cisgender heterosexual youth were buffered from recent depressed mood when they endorsed having high social support in the context of exposure to suicidal behavior; less social support did not provide such a buffer. For cisgender sexual-minority male and female youth, exposure to suicidal behavior was related to recent depressed mood regardless of the level of social support. For gender-minority youth assigned female at birth, the combination of exposure and high social support was significantly associated with elevated depressed mood. Cumulative adversity accounted for some but not all of these relationships, indicating the influential role of exposure to suicidal behavior on depressed mood for some youth.
These findings illustrate the complexities of social support and raise questions about its potential to magnify stress rather than serve as a buffer for some youth. Although findings need to be replicated, suicide prevention efforts should carefully consider how to promote resilience among these suicide-exposed sexual- and gender-minority youth who may themselves be at risk for suicidal ideation and behavior.
This study examined the longitudinal consistency of mother–child reporting discrepancies of parental monitoring and whether these discrepancies predict children’s delinquent behaviors 2 years later. ...Participants included 335 mother/female-caregiver and child (46% boys, >90% African American; age range 9–16 years
M
= 12.11, SD = 1.60) dyads living in moderate-to-high violence areas. Mother–child discrepancies were internally consistent within multiple assessment points and across measures through a 2-year follow-up assessment. Further, mothers who at baseline consistently reported higher levels of parental monitoring relative to their child had children who reported greater levels of delinquent behaviors 2 years later, relative to mother–child dyads that did not evidence consistent discrepancies. This finding could not be accounted for by baseline levels of the child’s delinquency, maternal and child emotional distress, or child demographic characteristics. This finding was not replicated when relying on the individual reports of parental monitoring to predict child delinquency, suggesting that mother–child reporting discrepancies provided information distinct from the absolute frequency of reports. Findings suggest that mother–child discrepancies in reports of parental monitoring can be employed as new individual differences measurements in developmental psychopathology research.
The study purpose was to examine how the COVID-19 pandemic may be differentially impacting the well-being of sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth compared with their non-SGM counterparts. ...Specifically, we looked at perceptions of mental and physical health impact and relevant aspects of coping with the pandemic such as engagement in prosocial activities that might ultimately promote resilience.
Survey data were collected between November 27, 2020, and December 11, 2020, from 990 adolescents and emerging adults aged 13-23 years. Participants were recruited through advertisements on Facebook and Instagram with an effort to overrecruit SGM youth. Questions asked youth about their perception of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their physical and mental health, the types of prosocial activities engaged in during the pandemic, and how they felt they were doing now versus before the pandemic.
SGM youth reported a significantly greater impact from the pandemic than non-SGM youth. Both SGM youth and cisgender heterosexual females reported greater impact on their mental health compared with cisgender heterosexual males, with cisgender sexual minority females and gender minority youth reporting the highest mental health impact. Gender minority youth also reported feeling less connected to their families and less safe at home as a result of the pandemic.
Health professionals, educators, and advocates need to help assess SGM youth for negative impact from the pandemic and help them connect with other youth and support resources online as they move forward. Youth may also benefit from programs connecting them to volunteer work and neighbors.
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