Department of Psychology, University of Illinois Chicago, 1007 W. Harrison St., M/C 285, Chicago, IL 60607, USA.
J Interpers Violence. 2013 Jul;28(10):2088-111. doi: 10.1177/0886260512471081. Epub 2013 Jan 23.
Childhood abuse and neglect are pervasive problems among girls and young women that have numerous health consequences. Research suggests that sexual minority women are more likely than heterosexual women to report childhood abuse and neglect, but little is known about which sexual minority women are at greatest risk for these early adverse experiences. Using data from a pooled sample of women in a national probability study and in a large community-based study of sexual minority women designed to replicate the national study's methodology (pooled n = 953), we investigated rates and characteristics of childhood sexual abuse, physical abuse, and neglect among women from five sexual identity groups. As predicted, heterosexual women reported significantly less childhood abuse and neglect than did women who identified as mostly heterosexual, bisexual, mostly lesbian, or lesbian. We found considerable variability across the sexual minority subgroups, including severity of abuse, highlighting the need for research that distinguishes among these groups. To the extent that differences reported by women in the sample reflect the actual prevalence and severity of abuse experiences, sexual identity group differences in childhood abuse have important clinical and public health implications.
童年期虐待和忽视是女童和青年女性中普遍存在的问题,会带来诸多健康后果。研究表明,性少数群体女性比异性恋女性更有可能报告童年期虐待和忽视,但对于哪些性少数群体女性面临这些早期不良经历的最大风险知之甚少。本研究使用来自全国概率研究和一项大型基于社区的性少数群体女性研究的汇总样本中的女性数据(汇总 n = 953),调查了来自五个性身份群体的女性的童年期性虐待、身体虐待和忽视发生率和特征。正如预测的那样,异性恋女性报告的童年期虐待和忽视程度明显低于主要异性恋、双性恋、主要同性恋或同性恋女性。我们发现性少数群体亚组之间存在相当大的差异,包括虐待的严重程度,这突出表明需要对这些群体进行区分的研究。在样本中报告的女性差异在多大程度上反映了实际的虐待经历的普遍性和严重程度,童年期虐待方面的性身份群体差异具有重要的临床和公共卫生意义。