Citation

Reback CJ, Rünger D, Fletcher JB. Violence Gend. 2017; 4(4): 130-136.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, Mary Ann Liebert Publishers)

DOI

10.1089/vio.2017.0042

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Transgender women experience elevated rates of physical and sexual abuse relative to cisgender women and cisgender men, with transgender women of color demonstrating particularly elevated rates of abuse and assault. Little is known about the separate and combined effects of physical and sexual abuse on transgender women of color living with HIV. From February 2014 through August 2016, 139 trans women of color living with HIV were enrolled in a project to increase HIV care outcomes and, of those, 110 participants responded to the questions regarding physical gender abuse (PGA, i.e., physical abuse motivated by a person's gender expression) and childhood sexual abuse (CSA). Eighty percent of the participants reported a past experience of abuse including PGA (21.8%), CSA (27.3%), or both (30.9%). Multivariable regression analyses demonstrated that PGA and CSA were associated with greater likelihood of homelessness (PGA: adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 4.2, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] [1.1, 16.5]; CSA: AOR = 6.47, 95% CI [1.6, 26.0]) and engagement in sex work (PGA: AOR = 4.3, 95% CI [1.1, 16.3]; CSA: AOR = 4.5, 95% CI [1.2, 16.5]) in the previous 6 months. Significant interaction effects revealed no additive effects of PGA and CSA, indicating similar risk of homelessness and sex work after the experience of any form of abuse. By contrast, CSA, but not PGA, was linked to increased drug use (AOR = 9.9, 95% CI [2.1, 46.9]) and use of a larger number of substances (incident rate ratio = 3.9, 95% CI [2.0, 7.9]) in the previous 6 months. Service providers working with this or similar populations should assess for past experience of physical and sexual abuse as trauma-informed services may be indicated.

Language: en