Interpersonal Victimization, Substance Use, and Mental Health Among Sexual and Gender Minority Youth: The Role of Self-concept Factors

Reducing substance use and negative mental health outcomes of interpersonal victimization among sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY) represents a critical public health priority. Victimized individuals often develop cognitive schemas, or organized knowledge structures consisting of traits, values, and memories about the self, such as self-concept factors, in response to interpersonal victimization. Prior studies demonstrate the role of self-concept factors (e.g., mastery, control, and self-esteem) in explaining the relationship between victimization and substance use and mental health. However, mastery, control, and self-esteem have not been explored as mediators of interpersonal victimization and health among SGMY. This study is among the first to apply cognitive schema models of trauma-related health symptoms using a large sample of SGMY to examine (a) whether interpersonal victimization is associated with substance use (i.e., alcohol use, cannabis use, and cigarette use) and mental health problems (i.e., depressive symptoms, self-perceived stress, self-rated health issues) and (b) whether diminished sense of mastery and control and lower self-esteem can partially explain elevated rates of substance use and mental health problems in this population. We used the U.S.-based 2017 LGBTQ National Teen Survey ( n = 17,112; Mage = 15.57, SD = 1.27); 6,401 (37.4%) identified as gay or lesbian, 7,396 (43.2%) as cisgender women, and 10,245 (59.9%) as White. Substance use and mental health variables were positively associated with interpersonal victimization variables and negatively associated with self-concept factors. Self-concept factors partially mediated the relationship between interpersonal victimization and mental health. This model explained 74.2% of the variance in mental health and 28.4% of the variance in substance use. Cognitive coping may represent an important modifiable factor that can be targeted by trauma-focused interventions in efforts to improve victimized SGMY’s mental health. Findings call for the development of identity-affirmative, evidence-based, and trauma-focused interventions for SGMY to improve this populations’ overall health.

Exploring Help Seeking Patterns for Emerging Adult Victims Using the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey

Emerging adulthood is a critical developmental period and a particularly important one for studying responses to interpersonal victimization as they can shape future coping patterns. This study focuses on non-college-attending emerging adults to explore their use of help seeking and satisfaction with resources. Comparisons are made with their college-attending counterparts. The findings highlight (a) the importance of friends across gender and education levels as a common resource and one perceived as helpful and (b) the large proportion of victims of interpersonal violence who do not seek any help. These results are discussed in connection with future research and policy implications.

“Where is the Safe Haven?” Transgender Women’s Experiences of Victimization and Help-Seeking across the Life Course

Transgender women report high rates of interpersonal victimization, including child abuse and maltreatment, intimate partner violence and sexual assault, and community and bias-related violence. Transgender individuals experience distinct barriers to help-seeking, including fear of discrimination, harassment, or violence by police, being outed as transgender by partners, and discrimination by social services for survivors of violence. The present study explores experiences of cumulative victimization across the life course and barriers to help-seeking behaviors among a sample of 21 transgender women in Chicago. Study findings can be used to inform interventions that are inclusive of transgender women survivors.

Traumatic Stress in Special Populations

Special populations are individuals who by virtue of psychiatric, behavioral, cognitive, or physical disabilities are more likely to be exposed to psychological trauma. Individuals with severe psychiatric disorders, substance use disorders, or developmental disabilities and persons who are incarcerated are more likely to experience trauma throughout their lives, especially interpersonal victimization, and are more likely to develop posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Trauma and PTSD have a negative impact on special populations, often exacerbating symptoms and substance use problems and interfering with community functioning. Despite the high rates of trauma and PTSD in special populations, these problems are often not identified, and when they are, they are rarely treated. Recent progress has been made in adapting treatments developed for PTSD in the general population to special populations, including persons with severe mental illness and individuals with substance use disorders.

Trauma among Sexual and Gender Minority Populations

This chapter describes the current state of the literature on trauma in sexual minority and transgender and gender-diverse populations. The authors begin by critically defining “trauma” and highlighting some consequences of the way trauma is defined. The authors describe how the subsequent mental health responses are understood and categorized psychiatrically (i.e., posttraumatic stress disorder). The authors describe relevant theoretical contributions to the literature on the cumulative burden of stress on sexual and gender minority individuals. Epidemiologic data are presented showing that trauma—especially in the form of interpersonal victimization—is an unfortunately common experience in the lives of sexual and gender minority individuals, especially those who hold additional devalued and stigmatized identities, such as being a racial or ethnic minority in addition to having a sexual and gender minority identity. Suggestions are presented for future directions for the field of trauma research among sexual and gender minority populations.

Rape Aggression Defense Course: Physical, Psychological, and Interpersonal Benefits Among Women With and Without Interpersonal Victimization Histories

Women’s self-defense training increases self-efficacy and reduces subsequent assaults, but self-defense training’s effects on women’s psychological and interpersonal functioning are understudied, particularly for women with histories of interpersonal victimization. This study examined the effects of a self-defense course on somatic symptoms, post-traumatic stress symptoms, depression, anxiety, interpersonal problems, and locus of control among women with and without interpersonal victimization histories and explored how women’s disinhibition of their aggression during simulated attacks predicts changes in their symptoms and functioning. In all, 82 women reported their symptoms and functioning before participation and 6 weeks after participation in a university-based Rape Aggression Defense course. Among the whole sample, participation in the course led to significantly decreased posttraumatic stress, somatic, and hostility symptoms and problems with being too nonassertive, overly accommodating, and self-sacrificing. Women who reported interpersonal victimization histories ( n = 49) did not differ in the degree of improvements when compared with women without interpersonal victimization histories ( n = 33). Greater disinhibition during the simulation predicted less improvement in some symptoms; moderation analyses showed that this association occurred only among those women with high baseline anxiety or hostility. These findings highlight the value of self-defense training in improving the health of women, including posttraumatic stress symptoms and interpersonal functioning, regardless of women’s history of interpersonal victimization. Results also suggest the importance of considering women’s baseline symptoms in modulating the degree of aggression that is optimally expressed during training.

Online Interpersonal Victimization as a Mechanism of Social Control of Women: An Empirical Examination

Cyber space is an ever-expanding mode of perpetrating sexualized violence toward women. This article empirically examines the applicability of Susan Brownmiller’s adaptation of the theory of social control to online interpersonal victimization (OIV) against women. Multiple regression analysis identified predictors of behaviors indicative of social control among a Canadian sample. Findings suggest that the theory of social control, which has been applied to violence against women in physical space, is applicable to OIV. This study also provides insights into the separate and compound effects of physical space and cyber space victimizations on women and identifies implications for improving methods and building theories for addressing violence against women in cyber space.