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Abstract
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OBJECTIVE: Sexual minority youth are disproportionately affected by dating violence. Previous population-based studies have largely been cross-sectional, focused on physical teen dating violence (TDV), and neglected some sexual orientation dimensions. The current population-based, longitudinal study aimed to compare prevalence, co-occurrence, and recurrence of multiple forms of TDV victimization (psychological, physical, sexual, and threatening TDV) according to various dimensions of sexual orientation (sexual attraction, lifetime sexual partners' gender, current/last romantic partner's gender).
METHOD: Drawn from a representative sample of adolescents from Quebec (Canada), 4,691 students involved in a dating relationship during Wave 1 and/or Wave 2 completed self-reported questionnaires assessing TDV and sexual orientation.
RESULTS: Multilevel models revealed that adolescents with multigender sexual attraction or sexual partners faced higher prevalence and recurrence rates of physical, sexual, and threatening TDV compared with their different-gender and, to a lesser extent, same-gender counterparts, and they were more likely to experience multiple forms of TDV. TDV was also more recurrent in same-gender than in different-gender relationships. Conversely, sexually inactive adolescents reported significantly lower prevalence, co-occurrence, and recurrence rates for all or most forms of TDV compared with sexually active adolescents with multigender, different-gender, and same-gender sexual partners.
CONCLUSION: Adolescents with multigender sexual attraction or sexual partners and those in same-gender relationships appear as the most at-risk groups for TDV. Prevention and intervention efforts are warranted to meet the needs of these vulnerable populations. Further studies are needed to better understand mechanisms underlying this vulnerability. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)
Language: en |