(PS7-B33) What Type of Victimization Are Youth Most Likely to Experience? The Role of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity

LGBTQ+ youth face peer victimization due to their social minority position that is linked to negative academic, social, and mental health outcomes. Sexual orientation is the second most common reason youth are victimized. Identification of the specific types of victimization associated with sexual orientation and gender identity is essential to aid intervention development that may alleviate these negative impacts and foster well-being. The current study examined rates of overt, relational, reputational, and cyber victimization in a sample (N=6,251; Mage = 12.87 years, SD = .67 years; 52.7% male) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development^SM Study (ABCD Study®). 5.9% identified as gay or bisexual (G/B) females, 1.2% as G/B males, 3.8% as questioning females, 1.3% as questioning males, 37.5% as heterosexual females, and 50.4% as heterosexual males. Gender identity reports indicated that .7% identified as transgender, 1.4% as questioning, and 98.6% as cisgender. 

Based on responses to questions about types of victimization (range 0 to 3 overt, relational, and reputational; 0 to 1 cyber), youth classifying themselves according to the identities above were compared. Based on reports of never or ever experiencing these victimization events, ANOVA analyses revealed G/B males and females reported significantly greater total (M=3.96 G/B male; M=3.75 G/B female), overt (M=.83 G/B male; M=.65 G/B female), relational (M=1.64 G/B female; M=1.58 G/B male), and reputational (M=1.28 G/B female; M=1.21 G/B male) victimization than heterosexual males (total M=2.2, overt M=.5, relational M=1.09, and reputational M=.54) and females (total M=2.14, overt M=.23, relational M=1.17, and reputational M=.65). Transgender youth reported significantly greater total (M=3.58), relational (M=1.65), and reputational (M=1.2) victimization than cisgender youth (total M=2.33, relational M=1.18, and reputational M=.65). When comparing youth in terms of both low and high severity victimization (i.e., never/infrequent; at least weekly), G/B males and females reported significantly greater total (M=.72 G/B male; M=.43 G/B female) and relational (M=.21 G/B male; M=.15 G/B female) victimization than heterosexual males (total M=.18 and relational M=.05) and females (total M=.2 and relational M=.06). G/B males (M=.15) reported significantly greater reputational victimization than heterosexual males and females (both M=.04). No significant differences were found in any victimization scores between transgender and cisgender youth or with any group comparison using cyber victimization data.  

The greatest differences between the groups occurred with relational victimization, with 14% of G/B males and 11.5% of G/B females reporting at least one relational victimization event with high severity, compared to only 4.7% of heterosexual females and 4.3% of heterosexual males. Results support previous literature that LBGTQ+ youth are at greater risk of victimization than their peers and our results add to the literature by providing information about specific types of victimization in relation to specific categories of sexual orientation and gender identity. Additional descriptive data and analyses for these categories will be reported in the poster.