Perpetration of Dating Violence Among Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Adolescents: Results from the 2008 Boston Youth Survey

Background: Dating violence is an important adolescent health problem; very little is known about dating violence among lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) youth. We examined the prevalence of dating violence perpetration among LGB and heterosexual adolescents. Methods: Data come from a cross-sectional survey of 9th-12th grade students in public schools in Boston, MA. Students indicated whether they were gay/lesbian, bisexual, or heterosexual, and also reported past 30-day perpetration of verbal or physical dating violence. Students who had not dated anyone were excluded. Chi-square statistics were used to compare the prevalence of dating violence perpetration among LGB and heterosexual youth. Results: There were 1,451 respondents in the analytic sample; 6.5% were LGB. Forty-six percent of respondents perpetrated at least one type of dating violence. Although LGB and heterosexual youth were similar with regard to race, age, and nativity, girls were significantly more likely to self-identify as LGB. Therefore, we conducted stratified analyses to control for confounding by sex. Because there were only 17 gay/bisexual boys, the prevalence of dating violence perpetration for boys was not reported. While the prevalence of physical dating violence for lesbian and bisexual girls (32.9%) was slightly higher than the prevalence for heterosexual girls (25.8%), the difference was not statistically significant. A similar pattern was identified for verbal dating violence (59.2% vs. 51.9%, p=0.23), which was more common than physical violence. Conclusions: Rates of physical and verbal dating violence perpetration among girls in this urban sample of adolescents were similar for lesbian/bisexual and heterosexual girls. Policies and programs should continue to be implemented to prevent adolescent dating violence perpetration, with attention paid to LGB youth.