The Role of Minority Stressors in Teen Dating Violence Victimization and Perpetration among Sexual and Gender Minority Youth

Abstract

Despite research documenting high rates of teen dating violence (TDV) among sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY), there is little research that examines group differences in patterns of TDV (e.g., victimization only and victimization and perpetration) among SGMY on minority stress and resilience variables (e.g., internalized homo/bi/trans phobia and LGBTQ+ sense of community). The purpose of the current study was to address this gap in the literature. Participants were 304 dating SGMY who completed an online survey as part of a study evaluating an online prevention program for TDV and alcohol use. Overall, 37.8% of participating SGMY reported no TDV experiences during the past 3 months, 17.4% reported TDV victimization only, 9.2% reported TDV perpetration only, and 35.5% reported TDV victimization and perpetration. Turning to inferential analyses, those with no recent TDV histories had more favorable scores on most measures (e.g., higher outness, lower family rejection) than any other group. Conversely SGMY reporting both victimization and perpetration were higher on some minority stress variables (e.g., lower LGBTQ+ sense of community and greater internalized homo/bi/trans/phobia) than those reporting recent victimization only. However, on other variables (e.g., hope for the future, outness), those reporting victimization had lower scores on some resilience variables than those reporting both victimization and perpetration. Follow-up analyses showed that those reporting both victimization and perpetration had higher rates of some forms of victimization than those reporting victimization only. These findings point to complex associations between patterns of TDV and minority stress and resilience factors. These findings suggest that minority stress-specific factors may be important to address in comprehensive TDV prevention and intervention efforts with SGMY.