Abstract

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals have higher rates of sexual assault and rape victimization compared with their cisgender (cis) and heterosexual counterparts. One support system that may be helpful for survivors of sexual assault is family support, which reduces the impact of some of sexual assault’s negative health outcomes. Two phases of online survey data from U.S. adults were merged—a panel sample that included cis women and transgender/non-binary (trans/NB) people (n = 1,366) and a social media sample that included cis women, trans/NB people, and cis men (n = 1,540). Approximately 62% of trans/NB individuals, 47% of lesbian women, 65% of bisexual women, 44% of heterosexual women, 45% of gay men, 40% of bisexual men, 25% of heterosexual men disclosed rape in their lifetime. Disclosing to a family member was lowest among cis men (11%), while overall family support was lowest among trans/NB individuals. The combination of lack of family support, high rates of victimization, and low disclosure rates among specific subgroups of the LGBT community puts people at greater risk for sexual assault-related negative health outcomes. Researchers may consider family support as an important confounding variable to assess when examining negative health outcomes among LGBT sexual assault victims.

摘要

与顺性别 (cis) 和异性恋者相比，女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋和变性者 (LGBT) 的性侵犯和强奸受害率更高。一种可能对性侵犯幸存者有帮助的支持系统是家庭支持，它可以减少一些性侵犯对健康造成的负面影响。合并了来自美国成年人的两个阶段的在线调查数据——一个包含顺式女性和跨性别/非二元性 (trans/NB) 人的面板样本 ( n  = 1,366) 和一个包含顺式女性、跨性别/NB 人的社交媒体样本, 和顺式男性 ( n = 1,540）。大约 62% 的跨性别者/NB 个体、47% 的女同性恋者、65% 的双性恋女性、44% 的异性恋女性、45% 的男同性恋者、40% 的双性恋男性、25% 的异性恋男性曾在其一生中披露过强奸经历。向家庭成员披露的情况在顺式男性中最低 (11%)，而在跨性别/非主流人群中整体家庭支持最低。缺乏家庭支持、高受害率和 LGBT 社区特定亚群的低披露率相结合，使人们面临与性侵犯相关的负面健康结果的更大风险。在检查 LGBT 性侵犯受害者的负面健康结果时，研究人员可能会将家庭支持视为一个重要的混杂变量来评估。