Non-Partner Sexual Violence Among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Adults: A Scoping Review

Abstract

The Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) population is rapidly growing in the United States. Despite sexual violence being a persistent and significant public health issue, research on this topic among AANHPIs is lacking. The study objective is to conduct a systematic scoping review on the published literature on non-partner sexual violence among AANHPIs to identify gaps and priorities to inform actionable research. The systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA Protocol for Systematic Reviews. Database searches were conducted of MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Central of Clinical Trials, along with and AgeLine and CINAHL for peer-reviewed articles describing non-partner sexual violence among AANHPIs. The search was limited to articles in English published after 1990. Each citation was reviewed by two trained independent reviewers, with a third researcher resolving any conflicts. Of the 998 articles screened and subsequently 496 full-text articles assessed for eligibility, 38 articles were included in the final analysis. The majority of studies did not report disaggregated data for AANHPI subgroups, with most focusing on East Asian subgroups and little evidence on NHPI communities. Most studies were cross-sectional, quantitative, and employed non-probability sampling. There was a lack of studies on effectiveness of interventions and validity of sexual violence-related measures. Our review provides a first step in mapping the extant literature on non-partner sexual violence among this underserved and under-researched population and will serve as a guide for future research, policy, and intervention.

An ecological approach to understanding the impact of sexual violence: a systematic meta-review

“…Finally, nearly two in five survivors report suicidal ideation and attempts, and medium to large effect sizes are found when comparing suicidality between survivors and controls (Ullman, 2004 ; Chen et al, 2010 ; Peterson et al, 2011 ; Dillon et al, 2013 ; Ba and Bhopal, 2017 ; Dworkin et al, 2017 ; Klein et al, 2022 ; Nicholas et al, 2022 ; Spencer et al, 2023 ). However, differences in depression and suicidal ideation between survivors and controls are not consistently confirmed in some reviews (Ullman, 2004 ; Ribeiro et al, 2009 ; Beydoun et al, 2012 ; Dillon et al, 2013 ; Finneran and Stephenson, 2013 ; Wadsworth and Records, 2013 ; Sparrow et al, 2017 ; Paulson, 2020 ; Forkus et al, 2021 ; Lim et al, 2022 ; Lombardi et al, 2023 ). Survivors also report feeling increased anger according to some reviews (Godier-McBard and Jones, 2020 ; Kahsay et al, 2020 ; Klein and Martin, 2021 ; Rani et al, 2022 ).…”

“…Specifically, reviews show that a quarter to more than three-quarter of survivors report experiencing PTSD-related symptoms. Reviews including primary studies with control groups of non-survivors or survivors of other types of trauma report medium to large effect size differences in PTSD symptoms between groups (Van Berlo and Ensink, 2000 ; Classen et al, 2005 ; Wilness et al, 2007 ; Cook et al, 2011 ; Peterson et al, 2011 ; Steine et al, 2012 ; Trevillion et al, 2012 ; Wadsworth and Records, 2013 ; Ba and Bhopal, 2017 ; Chmielowska and Fuhr, 2017 ; Dworkin et al, 2017 , 2023 ; Sparrow et al, 2017 ; Bows, 2018 ; Dworkin, 2018 ; Dame et al, 2020 ; Kahsay et al, 2020 ; Alessi et al, 2021 ; Forkus et al, 2021 ; Gallegos et al, 2021 ; Klein and Martin, 2021 ; Mazza et al, 2021 ; Zarchev et al, 2021 ; Klein et al, 2022 ; Lim et al, 2022 ; Spencer et al, 2023 ).…”

“…Having a sexual violence history is furthermore related to substance use (disorders) . Up to half of survivors report substance (ab)use and effect sizes for substance abuse range from small to medium when comparing survivors to controls and survivors of other trauma types (Goodman et al, 1997 ; Feldner et al, 2007 ; Meyer et al, 2011 ; Peterson et al, 2011 ; Finneran and Stephenson, 2013 ; Stockman et al, 2013 ; Wadsworth and Records, 2013 ; Heerde and Hemphill, 2016 ; Ba and Bhopal, 2017 ; Dworkin et al, 2017 ; Langdon et al, 2017 ; Sparrow et al, 2017 ; Dworkin, 2018 ; Stewart et al, 2019 ; Dame et al, 2020 ; Alessi et al, 2021 ; Forkus et al, 2021 ; Klein and Martin, 2021 ; Lim et al, 2022 ; Salim et al, 2022 ; Spencer et al, 2023 ). However, four reviews found no significant differences between ASA survivors and controls in substance use problems (Finneran and Stephenson, 2013 ; Heerde and Hemphill, 2016 ; Stewart et al, 2019 ; Forkus et al, 2021 ).…”

3-Month Prevalence of Unwanted Sexual Contact Victimization in a National Sample of College Students: Differences by Race, Gender Identity, and Sexual Identity

“…Further research is needed to disaggregate data and better understand rates of USCV among AIAN and NHPI student subgroups, including Southeast Asian populations, and to consider how experiences of racism intersect with sexual violence victimization. 13 Additionally, further research should focus on the speci c experiences of Black sexual and gender minority students and the compounding impacts of anti-Blackness, racial fetishization, transphobia, and homophobia on sexual violence victimization. 14,15 Scholars have argued that Black LGBTQ + students may be at greater risk for sexual assault due to racist and hypersexualized school climates, which reinforce racist stereotypes around Black student sexualities while further perpetuating homophobia.…”

Factors Influencing Recovery and Well-Being Among Asian Survivors of International Criminal Sex Trafficking in an Urban U.S. City

“…Yet, Asian Americans are severely under-researched; a recent portfolio review of clinical research funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) found that Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander participants composed 0.17% of the total NIH budget over 26 years (Ethoan et al, 2019). A recent systematic scoping review on non-partner sexual violence among Asian Americans similarly noted the lack of data both in the overall Asian American population as well as among disaggregated data among Asian American sub-groups (Lim et al, 2022).…”