The Lifetime Violent Victimization of Sexual Minorities in the United States

• In Event: The Need for Queer Victimology

Abstract

Theoretically informed by the social ecological model of human development and its subsequent adaptations to victimization research, the study uses an integrative approach to identify contextual factors at the ontogenic, microsystem, and exosystem levels of the social environment that may increase or decrease the sexual minorities’ risk of violent victimization over the life course. This secondary analysis is based on data collected between 2016 and 2018 from a nationally representative sample of sexual minority adults (N = 1,507) in the United States. The prevalence of violent victimization among sexual minorities in the United States is very high. In the overall national sample, only 16% of respondents did not report any type of verbal, physical, or sexual violence over their life span and 36% of those interviewed reported direct violent victimization both before and after they turned eighteen. Additionally, findings show that sexual minorities who were victimized in childhood by parents/caregivers, peers, or others were more likely to be revictimized during adulthood. While risky lifestyles (i.e., substance misuse) significantly increased the risk of adult victimization, perceived social support by family and friends acted as a protective factor against violent victimization in adulthood.

Authors

• Bryan C. Moore, University of Southern Indiana

• Viviana Andreescu, University of Louisville