Original articleDating violence among gay, lesbian, and bisexual adolescents: results from a community survey☆
Section snippets
Setting and study sample
A community-based gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) youth organization in the Northeast administered an anonymous, self-report survey to a convenience sample of adolescents attending a rally focused on GLBT youth rights held in an urban area in Spring, 2000. Volunteers for the community organization asked adolescent and young adult rally participants whether they would be willing to fill out a short, anonymous survey on dating violence. Those who agreed completed the questionnaire
Study population
As shown in Table 1, of the 521 participants, 171 (32.8%) were male and 350 (67.2%) were female. The mean age of respondents was 17.1 years (±1.8). Of the respondents, 410 (78.7%) were white/non-Hispanic, 38 (7.3%) were Hispanic, and 67 (13%) were of other ethnicities. Overall, gay and lesbian participants had the highest mean age in years (gay/lesbian: 17.9 years; bisexual: 16.7 years; heterosexual: 16.6 years; p < .01). The mean age in years of those reporting at least one of the five types
Discussion
This study is unique in that it reports the prevalence of dating violence among GLB adolescents and additionally identifies the gender of the abuser. These initial findings suggest a substantial proportion of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and heterosexual adolescents have experienced abuse in a dating relationship. In addition, we found the prevalence of dating violence was similar among males and females in our sample.
Bisexual males were more than five times more likely and bisexual females more
References (20)
- et al.
The safe dates projectTheoretical basis, evaluation design, and selected baseline findings
Am J Prev Med
(1996) Violence against women, the congressional response
Am Psychol
(1993)- et al.
Somatic consequences of violence against women
Arch Fam Med
(1992) - et al.
Health impact of interpersonal violence 2Medical and mental health outcomes
Behav Med
(1997) - et al.
The long-term effects of battering on women’s health
Womens Health
(1998) Dating violence among high school students
Soc Work
(1992)Gender differences in adolescent dating abusePrevalence, types and injuries
Health Educ Res
(1996)Massachusetts 1999 Youth Risk Behavior Survey Results
(2000)Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Youth risk behavior surveillance—United States, 1999
MMWR Morb Mort Wkly Rep
(2000)Relationship problems and dating aggressionA potential treatment target
J Interpers Violence
(1993)
Cited by (162)
Measurement of adolescent dating violence in sexual minority youth: A scoping review
2023, Aggression and Violent BehaviorDisclosure and Help-Seeking Experiences of Sexual and Gender Minority Victims of Intimate Partner Violence: A Mixed-Methods Study
2024, Journal of Interpersonal ViolenceRural Culture and Coercive Sexual Environments: A Queer Path from Victimization to Incarceration
2024, Critical CriminologyWhat Did Obergefell Change? Clearance of Intimate Partner Violence Before and After the Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage
2024, Journal of Interpersonal Violence
- ☆
All authors contributed substantially to both the manuscript preparation and the design, analysis, and interpretation of data. All authors have approved the version submitted.
- 1
N. Freedner, S. B. Austin, L. H. Freed, and Y. W. Yang planned the data analysis and wrote the paper. Y. W. Yang, S. B. Austin, and L. H. Freed analyzed the data.