Childhood abuse and mental health indicators among ethnically diverse lesbian, gay, and bisexual adults.
OBJECTIVE
Prior research has established that lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) people experience higher rates of childhood abuse than heterosexuals. However, there has been little research on the mental health impact of these experiences or how race/ethnicity might influence prevalence and mental health impact of childhood abuse in this population. The study's objective was to examine the relationships between race/ethnicity, childhood abuse, and mental health indicators in a national sample of LGB adults.


METHODS
Participants were recruited via the Internet through snowball and targeted sampling methods. Six hundred and sixty-nine LGB adults, 21% of whom were people of color, participated in an online survey. Participants completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form, the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale, the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist-Civilian Version, and the Perceived Stress Scale-Short Form.


RESULTS
Latina/o and Asian American participants reported the highest levels of physical abuse (p < .01), and Latina/o and African American participants reported the highest levels of sexual abuse (p < .01). Childhood emotional abuse was the strongest predictor of psychopathology symptoms for all participants (ps < .01). Relative to White participants, emotional abuse showed a stronger relationship with PTSD and anxiety symptoms for African American participants (ps < .01), and physical abuse showed a stronger relationship with PTSD and anxiety symptoms for Latina/o participants (ps < .05).


CONCLUSIONS
Race/ethnicity may be an important factor when examining childhood abuse and mental health correlates among LGB populations.
Balsam
Kimberly F
KF
School of Social Work, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. kbalsam@uw.edu
Lehavot
Keren
K
Beadnell
Blair
B
Circo
Elizabeth
E
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology*; D001727:Bisexuality / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D018452:Homosexuality, Female / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018451:Homosexuality, Male / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011287:Prejudice; D012307:Risk Factors; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult