Associations of past-year overall trauma, sexual assault and PTSD with social support for young adult sexual minority women

ABSTRACT

Background: Young adult sexual minority women (SMW) are at elevated risk for sexual assault (SA), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and inadequate social support. While SA and PTSD can lead to reductions in social support from close significant others, the impact of SA and PTSD on SMWs’ social support has not previously been assessed.

Objective: This study examined the associations of past year SA and PTSD with SMW’s social support from intimate partners, family, and friends. It was hypothesized that SA and PTSD would be negatively associated with support from partners, family and friends, and that PTSD would moderate the effect of SA on support in early adulthood.

Method: Young adult SMW in the United States (N = 235) who were M = 23.93 (SD = 2.15) years old, primarily lesbian or bisexual (n = 186, 79.1%) and White (n = 176, 74.9%) completed measures on past year exposure to SA and non-SA trauma, PTSD, and social support from intimate partners, family and friends.

Results: PTSD was associated with less social support from partners, ($b$ = −0.06, SE = 0.02, p = .010, R²_change= .02), family, ($b$ = −0.06, SE = 0.03, p = .025, R²_change= .02), and friends, ($b$ = −0.07, SE = 0.02, p = .008, R²_change= .02). There was a significant interaction between PTSD and SA on social support from partners ($b$ = −0.01, SE = 0.01, p = .047, R²_change= .01). Neither non-SA nor SA trauma was associated with support from family or friends.

Conclusions: Results underscore the potential impact of recent SA on intimate partnerships for young adult SMW with more severe PTSD. Future work should explore how addressing PTSD and improving social support quality may help SMW recover from traumatic experiences and ameliorate the effects of SA on intimate partnerships.

HIGHLIGHTS

• We examined the associations of past-year sexual and non-sexual assault trauma and PTSD with sexual minority women’s social support from close significant others.

• Higher PTSD was associated with lower social support from partners, family and friends.

• In intimate partnerships, sexual assault was only associated with less social support when PTSD symptoms were more severe.

Antecedentes: Las mujeres adultas jóvenes de minorías sexuales (SMW, por sus siglas en inglés) tienen un riesgo elevado de sufrir agresión sexual (SA, por sus siglas en inglés), trastorno de estrés postraumático (TEPT) y apoyo social inadecuado. Si bien la SA y el TEPT pueden conducir a reducciones en el apoyo social de otras personas cercanas, el impacto de la SA y el TEPT en el apoyo social de las SMW no se ha evaluado previamente.

Objetivo: Este estudio examinó las asociaciones de SA y TEPT del último año con el apoyo social de SMW por parte de parejas íntimas, familiares y amigos. Se planteó la hipótesis de que la SA y el TEPT se asociarían negativamente con el apoyo de la pareja, la familia y los amigos, y que el TEPT moderaría el efecto de la SA sobre el apoyo en la edad adulta temprana.

Método: SMW adultas jóvenes en los Estados Unidos (N = 235) que tenían M = 23.93 (SD = 2.15) años, principalmente lesbianas o bisexuales (n = 186, 79.1%) y blancas (n = 176, 74,9%) completaron medidas sobre la exposición del último año a traumas SA y no SA, TEPT y apoyo social de parejas íntimas, familiares y amigos.

Resultados: El trastorno de estrés postraumático se asoció con menos apoyo social de la pareja (b = −0.06, SE = 0.02, p = .010, R²_cambio = .02), familia (b = −0.06, SE = 0.03, p = .025, R²_cambio = .02), y amigos, (b = −0.07, SE = 0.02, p = .008, R²_cambio = .02). Hubo una interacción significativa entre el trastorno de estrés postraumático y la SA en el apoyo social de la pareja (b = −0.01, SE = 0.01, p = .047, R²_cambio = .01). Ni el trauma no SA ni SA se asociaron con el apoyo de familiares o amigos.

Conclusiones: Los resultados subrayan el impacto potencial de la SA reciente en las relaciones íntimas de SMW adultos jóvenes con trastorno de estrés postraumático más grave. El trabajo futuro debería explorar cómo abordar el trastorno de estrés postraumático y mejorar la calidad del apoyo social puede ayudar a las SMW a recuperarse de experiencias traumáticas y mejorar los efectos de la SA en las parejas íntimas.

KEYWORDS:

• PTSD
• social support
• lesbian
• bisexual
• sexual minority
• sexual assault
• trauma

PALABRAS CLAVE:

• PTSD
• apoyo social
• lesbianas
• bisexuales
• minoría sexual
• agresión sexual
• trauma

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 While we refer to participants as SMW due to the fact that all participants identified as lesbian or bisexual women at the time of study enrolment, this sample includes some individuals whose gender or sexual identity changed from baseline to 36 months. These cases were inspected and no outliers were observed. In addition, no significant differences in outcomes based on gender identity or sexual identity were observed.

2 Each subscale of the LISRES was distributed only to participants who endorsed access to the corresponding relationship type. The majority (95.1%) of respondents reported family and friend connections, while 58.2% reported an intimate partnership. In determining eligibility criteria for the present analyses, data were inspected for differences between romantically partnered versus single participants on outcomes of interest. No significant differences were identified.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Institute of Mental Health [grant number T32MH019938]; National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [grant number R01AA018292].