Experiencing sexual violence is an important risk factor for trauma symptoms, and these symptoms significantly impair psychosocial functioning. Sexual and gender minority university students are more likely than their heterosexual and cisgender peers to experience sexual violence (e.g., sexual harassment, unwanted sexual contact, or sexual coercion) while attending university, but research on the consequences of these experiences is needed to inform service provision to these vulnerable populations. Using a large-scale study of university-based sexual violence in Quebec, the current study examined how gender and sexual minority status were associated with the severity of trauma symptoms among students who experienced sexual violence ( N = 1,196). Findings indicated that compared with their cisgender peers, gender minority students experienced significantly higher levels of trauma symptoms as a result of sexual violence, controlling for the severity of sexual violence behaviors experienced and other variables. Among cisgender women, but not cisgender men, sexual minority identity was also associated with higher levels of trauma symptoms, controlling for severity of sexual violence behaviors experienced and other variables. Furthermore, gender of perpetrator and amount of sexual violence moderated the associations between sexual identity and trauma symptoms among cisgender women. These findings not only suggest that gender minority and some sexual minority university students are more likely to experience sexual violence, but that they are also more likely to experience negative psychological sequelae as a consequence of these experiences. Ultimately, these findings may suggest the need for services that are more supportive of the specific needs of gender and sexual minority students with regard to sexual violence.
Some studies report that the sport context increases the risk of exposure to sexual violence for athletes. In contrast, others indicate a protective effect of sport participation against sexual violence, particularly among varsity athletes. Studies of sexual violence towards varsity athletes are limited by their failure to include control groups and various known risk factors such as age, graduate level, gender and sexual identity, disability status, international and Indigenous student status, and childhood sexual abuse. The purpose of the present study is to fill in these gaps to determine whether varsity athletes are at greater risk than non-athletes of sexual violence towards them or whether, on the contrary, involvement in a varsity sport is coherent with the Sport Protection Hypothesis. Data for this article come from the ESSIMU study (Enquête sur la Sexualité, la Sécurité et les Interactions en Milieu Universitaire), a broad survey of students, professors, and other employees at six francophone universities regarding sexual violence on university campuses. A total of 6,485 students with complete data on sexual violence, athlete status, and gender were included in the study. From this total, 267 participants identified themselves as varsity athletes. Data were analyzed using a series of logistic regressions on each form of violence using athlete status as a predictor and characteristics associated with sexual violence victimization or distinguishing between varsity athletes and non-athletes as confounding variables. When considering all confounding variables in the regression analyses on four yearly incidence rates of sexual violence, the results revealed that being a varsity athlete did not significantly increase the risk of exposure to sexual violence at university. All considered other variables were more significant predictors of the past year’s risk of sexual violence victimization than athlete status was.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.