Citation

Luo F, Stone DM, Tharp AT. Am. J. Public Health 2014; 104(10): e66-73.

Affiliation

Feijun Luo is with the Division of Analysis, Research, and Practice Integration, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA. Deborah M. Stone and Andra T. Tharp are with the Division of Violence Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, American Public Health Association)

DOI

10.2105/AJPH.2014.302051

PMID

25121813

Abstract

OBJECTIVEs. We examined (1) whether sexual minority youths (SMYs) are at increased risk for physical dating violence victimization (PDVV) compared with non-SMYs, (2) whether bisexual youths have greater risk of PDVV than lesbian or gay youths, (3) whether youths who have had sexual contact with both sexes are more susceptible to PDVV than youths with same sex-only sexual contact, and (4) patterns of PDVV among SMYs across demographic groups.

METHODS. Using 2 measures of sexual orientation, sexual identity and sexual behavior, and compiling data from 9 urban areas that administered the Youth Risk Behavior Surveys from 2001 to 2011, we conducted logistic regression analyses to calculate odds of PDVV among SMYs across demographic sub-samples.

RESULTS. SMYs have significantly increased odds of PDVV compared with non-SMYs. Bisexual youths do not have significantly higher odds of PDVV than gay or lesbian youths, but youths who had sexual contact with both-sexes possess significantly higher odds of PDVV than youths with same sex-only sexual contact. These patterns hold for most gender, grade, and racial/ethnic subgroups.

CONCLUSIONS. Overall, SMYs have greater odds of PDVV versus non-SMYs. Among SMYs, youths who had sexual contact with both sexes have greater odds of PDVV than youths with same sex-only sexual contact. Prevention programs that consider sexual orientation, support tolerance, and teach coping and conflict resolution skills could reduce PDVV among SMYs. (Am J Public Health. Published online ahead of print August 14, 2014: e1-e8. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2014.302051).

Language: en