Sexual trauma, depressive symptoms linked in men, nonbinary people
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Key takeaways:
- Sexual trauma was associated with depressive symptoms among men and nonbinary people.
- Reporting an underrepresented race, ethnicity, sexuality or gender identity strengthened the association.
SAN FRANCISCO — Among men and nonbinary people, nonconsensual sexual experiences were associated with greater depressive symptoms, according to a poster presented at the American Psychiatric Association annual meeting.
Seena Ounsinegad, MD, who conducted the research while in medical school at the University of Texas Health (UTHealth) Houston McGovern Medical School, and colleagues enrolled 66 patients at the UTHealth Houston Harris County Psychiatric Center who voluntarily completed a Qualtrics survey while hospitalized. The researchers evaluated patient demographics, and participants completed Nonconsensual Sexual Experiences Interview-Revised (NSEI-R), Outcome Questionnaire 45.2 (OQ-45.2), Inventory of Attitudes Toward Seeking Mental Health Services (IASMHS), Barriers to Help-Seeking Scale (BHSS), Support Preferences Questionnaire (SPQ), Stereotypes About Male Sexuality Scale (SAMSS), Gender Role Conflict Scale I (GRCS-I), LGBTQ+ Identity Scale (LGBTQIS) and Heterosexual Harassment, Rejection and Discrimination Scale (HHRDS).
Overall, the largest proportions of participants identified as men (n = 65), were assigned male at birth (n = 64), were heterosexual (n = 51), were Caucasian or white (n = 25), had attained a high school level education (n =22) and earned less than $15,000 in income (n = 41). The cohort had a mean age of 37.98 years and a mean hospital stay of 13.14 days.
Analyses of the NSEI-R and the OQ-45.2 revealed a strong association between the number of nonconsensual sexual experiences (NSEs) and depressive symptoms (P = .042). Including data on minority status — defined as underrepresented race, ethnicity, gender identity or sexuality — strengthened the association between NSEs and depressive symptoms (P = .034).
Additionally, having more NSEs was associated with greater preference for receiving a combination of clinical and social support, but only among people reporting minority status (P = .049). Notably, LGBTQ+ participants reported experiences of identity-related discrimination, rejection and harassment.
“The long-term goals of this study and something that I want to implement throughout my career are, first off, to reduce stigma in this population so that we can talk more freely and openly about experiences of sexual violence with all of our patients and specifically with men,” Ounsinegad told Healio. “That’s really important especially because men are ... often socialized not to seek help with these experiences.”