Sexual Victimization Among Adolescents of Different Sexual Orientations and the Association with Sex Under Influence of Substance.

Abstract

Sexual victimization is a widespread problem and seems to be especially prevalent among non-heterosexuals. This study examined the prevalence of sexual victimization among adolescents with a heterosexual and non-heterosexual orientation and the role of sex under influence of substance. This was studied among 7841 adolescent men (50.1%) and women (49.9%) in the Netherlands, between the ages of 12 and 25 years old (M = 18.41, SD = 3.5), in the Sex under 25 II study. Non-heterosexual participants were more likely to have experienced sexual victimization than heterosexual participants, and sex under influence of substance played a role as a partial mediator. Non-heterosexual adolescents are more than two times as likely to have experienced sexual victimization and almost two times as likely to have experienced sex under influence of substance compared to heterosexual adolescents. Having had sex under influence of substance increases the risk of having experienced sexual victimization. These findings confirmed earlier studies that found an increased risk for non-heterosexual adolescents to be sexually victimized. More research is needed on the direction of the relation and the reasons behind the vulnerability of non-heterosexual adolescents.