Mental health, sexual identity, and interpersonal violence: Findings from the Australian longitudinal Women’s health study
Affiliation
Univ Arizona, Coll NursingIssue Date
2017-09-30Keywords
Interpersonal violenceFemale sexual identity
Stress
Depression
Australian longitudinal Women's health study
Metadata
Show full item recordPublisher
BIOMED CENTRAL LTDCitation
Mental health, sexual identity, and interpersonal violence: Findings from the Australian longitudinal Women’s health study 2017, 17 (1) BMC Women's HealthJournal
BMC Women's HealthRights
© The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Collection Information
This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at repository@u.library.arizona.edu.Abstract
Background: We examined the relationships among experiences of interpersonal violence, mental health, and sexual identity in a national sample of young adult women in Australia. Methods: We used existing data from the third (2003) wave of young adult women (aged 25- 30) in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (ALSWH). We conducted bivariate analyses and fit multiple and logistic regression models to test experiences of six types of interpersonal violence (physical abuse, severe physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, harassment, and being in a violent relationship), and the number of types of violence experienced, as predictors of mental health. We compared types and number of types of violence across sexual identity subgroups. Results: Experiences of interpersonal violence varied significantly by sexual identity. Controlling for demographic characteristics, compared to exclusively heterosexual women, mainly heterosexual and bisexual women were significantly more likely to report physical, sexual, and emotional abuse. Mainly heterosexual and lesbian women were more likely to report severe physical abuse. Mainly heterosexual women were more than three times as likely to have been in a violent relationship in the past three years, and all three sexual minority subgroups were two to three times as likely to have experienced harassment. Bisexual women reported significantly higher levels of depression than any of the other sexual identity groups and scored lower on mental health than did exclusively heterosexual women. In linear regression models, interpersonal violence strongly predicted poorer mental health for lesbian and bisexual women. Notably, mental health indicators were similar for exclusively heterosexual and sexual minority women who did not report interpersonal violence. Experiencing multiple types of interpersonal violence was the strongest predictor of stress, anxiety and depression. Conclusions: Interpersonal violence is a key contributor to mental health disparities, especially among women who identify as mainly heterosexual or bisexual. More research is needed that examines within-group differences to determine which subgroups are at greatest risk for various types of interpersonal violence. Such information is critical to the development of effective prevention and intervention strategies.Note
Open Access Journal.ISSN
1472-6874PubMed ID
28964264Version
Final published versionSponsors
Gay and Lesbian Medical Association's Lesbian Health Fund in the United States; Australian Government Department of Healthae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1186/s12905-017-0452-5
Scopus Count
Collections
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as © The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Related articles
- Sexual risk in "mostly heterosexual" young women: influence of social support and caregiver mental health.
- Authors: Corliss HL, Austin SB, Roberts AL, Molnar BE
- Issue date: 2009 Dec
- Cancer Risk Factors, Diagnosis and Sexual Identity in the Australian Longitudinal Study of Women's Health.
- Authors: Brown R, McNair R, Szalacha L, Livingston PM, Hughes T
- Issue date: 2015 Sep-Oct
- The mental health status of young adult and mid-life non-heterosexual Australian women.
- Authors: McNair R, Kavanagh A, Agius P, Tong B
- Issue date: 2005 Jun
- Validation of the Sexual Experience Survey-Short Form Revised Using Lesbian, Bisexual, and Heterosexual Women's Narratives of Sexual Violence.
- Authors: Canan SN, Jozkowski KN, Wiersma-Mosley J, Blunt-Vinti H, Bradley M
- Issue date: 2020 Apr
- Substance abuse and mental health disparities: comparisons across sexual identity groups in a national sample of young Australian women.
- Authors: Hughes T, Szalacha LA, McNair R
- Issue date: 2010 Aug