Gender and Sexual Orientation Differences in Sexual Violence Knowledge, Prevention Behaviors, and Care-Seeking Behaviors

Sexual violence (SV) on college campuses disproportionately affects cisgender (nontransgender) women, sexual minorities (e.g., gays/lesbians, bisexuals), and gender minority (e.g., transgender/nonbinary) people. This study investigates gender and sexual behavior differences in common SV intervention targets—SV-related knowledge, prevention behaviors, and care-seeking. We analyzed cross-sectional survey data, collected in 9/2015–3/2017, from 2202 students aged 18–24 years attending college health and counseling centers at 28 Pennsylvania and West Virginia campuses. Multivariable multilevel models tested gender and sexual behavior differences in SV history; recognition of SV; prevention behaviors (self-efficacy to obtain sexual consent, intentions to intervene, positive bystander behaviors); and care-seeking behaviors (knowledge of, self-efficacy to use, and actual use of SV services). Adjusting for lifetime exposure to SV, compared with cisgender men, cisgender women had higher recognition of SV and reproductive coercion, prevention behaviors, and care-seeking self-efficacy (beta range 0.19–1.36) and gender minority people had higher recognition of SV and intentions to intervene (beta range 0.33–0.61). Cisgender men with any same-gender sexual partners had higher SV knowledge (beta = 0.23) and self-efficacy to use SV services (beta = 0.52) than cisgender men with only opposite-gender partners. SV history did not explain these differences. Populations most vulnerable to SV generally have higher SV knowledge, prevention behaviors, and care-seeking behaviors than cisgender men with only opposite-gender sexual partners. Innovative SV intervention approaches are necessary to increase SV-related knowledge among heterosexual cisgender men and may need to target alternative mechanisms to effectively reduce inequities for sexual and gender minority people.