Longitudinal Transitions in Intimate Partner Violence among Female Assigned at Birth Sexual and Gender Minority Youth

Gregory Swann*, Christina Dyar, Michael E. Newcomb, Sarah W. Whitton

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Female-assigned at birth sexual and gender minorities (FAB SGM) are at elevated risk of experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV), yet little longitudinal research has been conducted with this population. In the current study, we attempted to understand how patterns of IPV victimization and perpetration, measured across a wide range of IPV behaviors (psychological, physical, sexual, cyber, and SGM-specific), changed over time for FAB SGM youth. Participants came from a longitudinal cohort study of FAB SGM late adolescents and young adults (FAB400; N = 488) and included anyone who reported a romantic partner at one of the first three waves (six months apart; N = 433). Latent class analysis (LCA) was run at each wave to determine the best-fitting class structure across IPV experiences. These were followed up with latent transition analyses (LTAs) to determine patterns of movement between classes over the course of the three waves. Lastly, we looked at the effects of staying with the same romantic partner on transitions. We found that the same three-class structure replicated across all three waves of the study. That class structure identified no/low, psychological, and high IPV classes at each wave. In the LTA, when transitions occurred for FAB SGM, they were much more likely to transition to a class defined by lower likelihoods of experiencing IPV (i.e., psychological to no/low) than they were to a class defined by higher likelihoods of IPV (i.e., psychological to high). However, we found that FAB SGM youth were less likely to transition to a less severe IPV class if they maintained the same serious romantic partner across waves. This finding, in particular, suggests that IPV is often relationship specific for FAB SGM and that efforts to reduce IPV in SGM communities must consider intervening at the relationship level to effect meaningful change.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)NP4578-NP4603
JournalJournal of Interpersonal Violence
Volume37
Issue number7-8
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2022

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (Grant no. R01HD086170: PI Dr Sarah Whitton).

Keywords

  • gender minority
  • intimate partner violence
  • longitudinal
  • relationship continuity
  • sexual minority

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Clinical Psychology
  • Applied Psychology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Longitudinal Transitions in Intimate Partner Violence among Female Assigned at Birth Sexual and Gender Minority Youth'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this