Online Program

324757
Gender Nonconformity, Childhood Abuse, and Sexual Victimization among Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Adults


Monday, November 2, 2015

Henny Bos, PhD, Research Institute of Child Development and Education; Faculty of Social and Behavioral Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Stan de Haas, Rutgers WPF, Utrecht, Netherlands
Lisette Kuyper, The Netherlands Institute for Social Research, Den Haag, Netherlands
In the present study we examined whether the relationship between childhood gender nonconformity and sexual victimization among lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) men and women, is mediated by experiences with childhood abuse. Data are based on a survey among LGB individuals (N = 3,054; 1,580 men and 1,474; Mage= 44.7) recruited from an online research panel. Participants completed an online questionnaire consisting of existing scales.

The mean scores on gender nonconformity and experiences with childhood abuse (emotional neglect and psychological/ physical abuse in the family) were 2.23 and 1.52, respectively. Twenty-four percent of the participants reported that they had experienced sexual victimization. There were gender differences: Men reported more gender nonconformity and women reported more often experiences with childhood abuse and sexual victimization. Bootstrapped mediation analysis showed that childhood abuse significantly mediated the relation between childhood gender nonconformity and experiences of sexual victimization (B = .09, Bootstrap 95%, Confidence Interval 0.06, 0.11); no significant difference in this mediation was found between men and women. In other words, higher levels of childhood gender nonconformity predicted  experiences with childhood abuse, which in turn predicted the higher prevalence of sexual victimization.

Implementations of these findings are that interventions aimed at increasing the social acceptance of gender nonconformity might also lower the levels of childhood abuse and sexual victimization among LGB individuals. Professionals working with children should be aware of the impact of gender nonconformity on childhood abuse and experiences of sexual victimization later in life.

Learning Areas:

Public health or related public policy
Public health or related research
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Describe the role of childhood gender nonconformity of lesbian, gay, bisexual individuals in explaining their experiences with sexual victimization while paying attention to possible gender differences. Identify the mediating effect of experiences of childhood family abuse in the relation between childhood gender nonconformity and sexual victimization. Discuss what the focus should be in interventions aiming at preventing childhood abuse in the family environment of lesbian, gay, bisexual youth.

Keyword(s): Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT)

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I have been the principal investigator of several studies on LGBT issues such as lesbian and gay parents (1), LGBT and gender nonconforming youth, and sexual health among LGBT individuals (3). As an associated professor I am also supervising on these themes PhD candidates.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3307.0: Relevant LGBT Topics 1