Risk and Danger among the “Invisible”: Bisexual IPV Victimization, Lifestyle Factors, and Feelings of Marginalization

ABSTRACT

This paper examines intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization risk of bisexual individuals compared with their straight and gay peers, highlighting the ways in which risky lifestyle factors and feelings of marginalization operate to increase risk. We theorize that both behavioral and stigma-related risk factors identified in previous work may be systematically different in the bisexual population compared to their straight peers, thus increasing IPV risk. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Wave 4, N = 14,415), we examine the extent to which risky behaviors and feelings of marginalization mediate the impact of bisexual identity on IPV risk. Findings suggest bisexual individuals are significantly more at risk for IPV (OR = 1.60) than their straight and gay peers. Their increased risk is explained by risky behaviors (e.g., drug use and number of partners), and feeling unloved. Adjusting for these mediators, the effect of being bisexual on IPV is reduced substantially (OR = 1.27) but remains significant. Understanding the unique stigmatization experiences and vulnerability of this population is critical for designing effective victimization prevention strategies. It is important to consider risk reduction strategies that may be uniquely important for bisexual adults and mitigating the burdens of stigma.

KEYWORDS:

• Intimate partner violence
• bisexuals
• stigma
• risky lifestyles

Disclosure statement

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

Data statement

Add Health is directed by Robert A. Hummer and funded by the National Institute on Aging cooperative agreements U01 AG071448 (Hummer) and U01AG071450 (Aiello and Hummer) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Waves I-V data are from the Add Health Program Project, grant P01 HD31921 (Harris) from Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), with cooperative funding from 23 other federal agencies and foundations. Add Health was designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.https://addhealth.cpc.unc.edu/data/

Notes

1. There are several other marginalized sexual identities worth examination (e.g., pansexual, asexual, etc.) as well as marginalizing gender identities that impact risk of victimization. Very little currently available data incorporates these equally valid but less commonly studied sexual identities as part of their data analysis, so we are limiting our discussion here to the sexual identities about which there is published research on this topic.

Additional information

Funding

The authors have no funding to report.