title: Beyond Same-Sex Attraction: Gender-Variant-Based Victimization Is Associated with Suicidal Behavior and Substance Use for Other-Sex Attracted Adolescents.
abstract: Gender-variant-based victimization is victimization based on the way others perceive an individual to convey masculine, feminine, and androgynous characteristics through their appearance, mannerisms, and behaviors. Previous work identifies gender-variant-based victimization as a risk factor for health-risking outcomes among same-sex attracted youths. The current study seeks to examine this relationship among other-sex attracted youths and same-sex attracted youth, and determine if gender-variant-based victimization is similarly or differentially associated with poor outcomes between these two groups. Anonymous data from a school-based survey of 2,438 racially diverse middle and high school students in the Eastern U.S. was examined. For other-sex attracted adolescents, gender-variant-based victimization was associated with a higher odds of suicidal thoughts and behaviors, regular use of cigarettes, and drug use. When compared to same-sex attracted adolescents, the harmful relationship between gender-variant-based victimization and each of these outcomes was similar in nature. These findings suggest that gender-variant-based victimization has potentially serious implications for the psychological wellbeing and substance use of other-sex attracted adolescents, not just same-sex attracted adolescents, supporting the need to address gender expression as a basis for victimization separate from sexuality- or gender-minority status. The impact that gender-variant-based victimization has on all adolescents should not be overlooked in research and interventions aimed at addressing sexual orientation-based and gender-variant-based victimization, substance use, and suicide prevention.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, United State of America.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ioerger
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, United States of America.
authors.forename: Kimberly L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Henry
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, United States of America.
authors.forename: Peter Y
authors.initials: PY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Konstantin P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Cigularov
authors.affiliation: Borough of Freehold Public Schools, Freehold, New Jersey, United States of America.
authors.forename: Rocco G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Tomazic
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D019548:Crime Victims / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006716:Homosexuality / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D013405:Suicide / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data