Citation

Hidalgo MA, Kuhns LM, Kwon S, Mustanski B, Garofalo R. Child Abuse Negl. 2015; 46: 103-112.

Affiliation

Division of Adolescent Medicine, Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA; Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.05.005

PMID

26002599

Abstract

Young men who have sex with men (MSM) are a risk group highly vulnerable to HIV infection and psychiatric symptoms are direct predictors of sexual risk behavior in MSM. Childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is associated with psychiatric symptomology in adolescence, and MSM are disproportionately impacted by CSA compared to heterosexuals. Some evidence suggests that childhood gender nonconformity, a natural variation of human gender expression, is more common in MSM than heterosexual males and places MSM at greater risk for CSA. This study examined whether or not childhood gender expression moderated the association between incidents of unwanted, early sexual experiences occurring before age 13 (ESE) and current psychiatric symptomology in a community-based sample of 449 young MSM aged 16-20. Analyses revealed significant bivariate associations between ESE and psychological symptoms, and significant multivariable associations between ESE, gender nonconformity and psychiatric outcomes. Young MSM with childhood gender nonconformity may be disproportionately victimized by CSA thereby increasing their likelihood of developing psychiatric symptoms in adolescence. Early intervention addressing these factors may help reduce lifetime negative sequelae.

Language: en