Depression, anxiety, and frequent gambling were significantly associated with specific types of intimate partner violence (IPV) and LGB-specific tactics.
This is according to a study – “Intimate Partner Violence Among Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Adults: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Hong Kong” by Elsie Yan, Iris Po Yee Lo, Rongwei Sun, Alex Siu Wing Chan, Haze Ka Lai Ng, and Anise Wu – that appeared in LGBT Health.
In this study, the researchers investigated the prevalence rates of various types of intimate partner violence (IPV) among LGB adults in Hong Kong, and examined the associations between IPV and different addictive behavior and mental health problems.
A total of 759 LGB adults completed an online cross-sectional survey between November 2021 and February 2022. Data on past-year IPV and LGB-specific tactics (whether perpetrated or experienced by participants), addictive behavior, anxiety, depression, and demographics were collected and analyzed with descriptive statistics and logistic regressions.
Among the key findings were:
- Psychological aggression was the most common type of IPV within an LGB relationship (22.1%), followed by physical assault (10.8%) and IPV-related injury (4.1%).
“Over two fifths of participants (22.1%) reported experiences of psychological aggression in their relationship. On the contrary, ∼10.8% of the participants reported physical assault; while 4.1% experienced injury in the past year. Across all types of IPV studied, experiences of bidirectional IPV were most prevalent (2.0%–17.8%).” - LGB-specific tactics were experienced by 39.0% of the LGB adults.
“Almost two in every five LGB participants (39.0%) in this study had experienced LGB-specific tactics in their relationship in the past year, and most of these experiences were bidirectional (22.4%).” - Depression, anxiety, and frequent gambling were significantly associated with specific types of IPV and LGB-specific tactics.
The findings “showed that anxiety and depression were specifically associated with LGB-specific violent tactics but not with the more general IPV-P or IPV-V among LGB individuals. As a unique type of psychological violence, LGB-specific tactics might resemble other types of psychological or emotional IPV in their strong associations with negative mental health outcomes.”
According to the researchers, this study demonstrated that IPV was not a rare phenomenon in the LGB population. And “the high prevalence of IPV and LGB-specific tactics warrants immediate attention and appropriate actions to support LGB IPV perpetrators and survivors.”
Also, the findings that depression, anxiety, and frequent gambling were associated with different types of IPV among LGB adults “provide valuable insights for the development of LGB IPV detection and intervention in the future.”
