University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
J Interpers Violence. 2020 Mar;35(5-6):1351-1366. doi: 10.1177/0886260517696870. Epub 2017 Mar 15.
Sexual- and gender-minority (e.g., lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) undergraduate students are at greater risk for sexual assault victimization than their cisgender (i.e., nontransgender) heterosexual peers. However, few studies have examined how social environments affect sexual assault victimization among sexual- and gender-minority undergraduate students. Nevertheless, this research area was identified as a priority by the Institute of Medicine as well as President Barack Obama's White House Task Force to Protect Students From Sexual Assault. Therefore, we tested the association between college campuses' inclusion of sexual- and gender-minority people and experiences of sexual assault victimization. Cross-sectional surveys were completed by sexual- and gender-minority undergraduate students ( = 1,925) from higher education institutions in all 50 U.S. states in 2010. Our dependent variable was experiencing sexual assault victimization at college. Our primary independent variable was campus climate, measured with items assessing perceived inclusion of sexual- and gender-minority people and witnessing sexual- or gender-minority harassment. We used multivariable logistic regression with generalized estimating equations (accounting for the clustering of students within schools) to estimate the association between campus climate and experiencing sexual assault victimization. Overall, 5.2% of the sample reported ever being victims of sexual assault at college. Controlling for sexual orientation, gender identity, race/ethnicity, and year in school, greater perceived inclusion of sexual- and gender-minority people on campus was associated with significantly lower odds of experiencing sexual assault victimization. Our study suggests that improving campus climate for sexual- and gender-minority individuals may reduce their prevalence of college sexual assault, which has potential implications for college practitioners and administrators as well as sexual assault prevention programs and policies.
性少数群体（例如女同性恋、男同性恋、双性恋和跨性别者）本科生比顺性别（即非跨性别）异性恋同龄人更容易遭受性侵犯。然而，很少有研究探讨社会环境如何影响性少数群体本科生的性侵犯受害情况。尽管如此，医学研究所和巴拉克·奥巴马总统的白宫保护学生免受性侵犯特别工作组还是将该研究领域确定为优先事项。因此，我们测试了大学校园对性少数群体包容程度与性侵犯受害经历之间的关联。2010 年，来自美国 50 个州所有高等教育机构的性少数群体本科生（n=1925）完成了横断面调查。我们的因变量是在大学期间遭受性侵犯受害。我们的主要自变量是校园氛围，通过评估对性少数群体包容程度和目睹性侵犯或性别骚扰的项目进行测量。我们使用多变量逻辑回归和广义估计方程（考虑到学生在学校内的聚类）来估计校园氛围与遭受性侵犯受害之间的关联。总体而言，样本中 5.2%的人报告在大学期间曾遭受过性侵犯。在控制了性取向、性别认同、种族/民族和在校年级后，校园内对性少数群体的包容程度越高，遭受性侵犯受害的可能性就越低。我们的研究表明，改善性少数群体个体的校园氛围可能会降低他们在大学期间遭受性侵犯的比例，这对大学从业者和管理人员以及性侵犯预防计划和政策具有潜在意义。
