Objective: The purpose of the present study was to assess distal (i.e., stigma consciousness) and proximal (i.e., internalized homophobia, identity concealment) minority stressors as predictors of sexual intimate partner violence (S-IPV) victimization and perpetration among LGBQ+ U.S. college students, as well as the extent to which hazardous alcohol use and social support moderated these relationships. Method: A crosssectional research design was utilized in a sample of LGBQ+ U.S. college students (n = 1,221) across 20 institutions of higher education who completed an online survey. Structural equation modeling with moderation was used to evaluate if the association between minority stressors and S-IPV victimization and perpetration were moderated by hazardous alcohol use and social support. Results: Social support was unrelated to both S-IPV victimization and perpetration. Hazardous alcohol use was related to S-IPV victimization, but not S-IPV perpetration. Whereas minority stress had a direct effect on S-IPV victimization, there were no direct effects of minority stress on S-IPV perpetration. However, at higher levels of hazardous drinking, indicators of minority stress were related to both S-IPV victimization and perpetration. Conversely, at lower levels of hazardous drinking, minority stress was unrelated to S-IPV victimization and perpetration. Conclusion: S-IPV prevention efforts for LGBQ+ college students should focus on reducing minority stress and hazardous drinking. Future research is also needed to identify additional factors, not measured in the present study, that increase the risk for S-IPV among LGBQ+ college students.
Extant literature has explored the relationship between weight bias (WB) attitudes and sexual assault scenarios on perceptions of survivor and perpetrator responsibility, sympathy, and negative affect. While some studies support negative attitudes toward survivors of sexual assault as a result of having thin body types, other research displays a contradicting effect of victim-blaming attitudes toward heavier survivors. The current investigation examined the influences of survivor weight and sexual assault scenario ambiguity through four randomized vignettes. Further, the effect of participant gender and weight bias attitudes on perceptions of survivor and perpetrator responsibility, sympathy, and negative affect were evaluated. Participants (N = 396) were drawn from introductory psychology classes and received extra credit for participation. Participants completed measures of weight bias and answered questions related to their perceptions of a sexual assault vignette (i.e., thin vs. heavy survivor; ambiguous vs. unambiguous sexual assault scenario). Effects for participant gender, weight bias, and sexual assault ambiguity were evident. Interaction effects of participant gender with sexual assault ambiguity and weight bias with sexual assault ambiguity were also evident. These results indicate that as sexual assault scenarios increase in ambiguity, men (in comparison to women) and individuals high in weight bias tend to rate survivors more negatively and perpetrators more favorably.
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