Gay men, lesbians at higher risk for violence, PTSD

Gay men, lesbians, and bisexuals experience more violence over their lifetimes than their heterosexual peers, many small studies have shown. A new large, national study led by Boston researchers reports that exposure to violence begins in childhood, from abuse at home to bullying at school. Gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, and heterosexuals who have ever had same-sex partners -- a group the researchers call sexual orientation minority members -- are up to twice as likely to grow up experiencing violence. Sexual orientation minority members are also twice as likely to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder as heterosexual people, the study found.

Andrea Roberts and  colleagues from the Harvard School of Public Health and Children's Hospital analyzed records from the the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, which asked more than 34,000 people in face-to-face interviews about their sexual orientation and partners, traumatic events they might have witnessed or suffered, and symptoms of PTSD. They found that 45 percent of sexual minority women and 28 percent of sexual minority men experienced violence or abuse in childhood, compared with 21 percent of women and 20 percent of men in the general population. Nine percent of men and 20 percent of women reported symptoms that fit the criteria for PTSD, compared with 4 percent of men and 10 percent of women in the general population.

"It was known that sexual orientation minorities have a higher exposure to violence, bullying, and also family-driven abuse in childhood than heterosexuals, and the high prevalence of mental illness among sexual orientation minorities was also known," Roberts, lead author of the study published April 15 in the online American Journal of Public Health, said in an interview. "We connected those two pieces."