High levels of intimate partner violence among youth and young adults with history in foster care can perpetuate the cycle of violence and abuse. It is therefore important to understand how the experience of growing up in foster care impacts youths' understanding and formation of intimate relationships. This qualitative study centered the perspectives of young adults and investigated what they learned about relationships through interactions with foster caregivers and child welfare professionals.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFYouth in foster care experience disproportionate rates of abusive relationships, teen pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Extant research points to the need for interventions at multiple levels of the social ecology, however, there is a lack of evidence to guide the development of coordinated interventions for youth, foster parents, and child welfare professionals. The Texas Foster Youth Health Initiative (TFYHI) convened a multidisciplinary learning community to build a foundation for intervention development.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA multisite survey conducted at eight campuses of a southwestern university system provides the data for the present study, total = 17,039 with 1,869 gender and sexual minority (GSM) students. Sexual violence was measured using the Sexual Experiences Survey (SES), and analysis included both the participant's risk of experiencing sexual violence and the extent (or total count) of sexual violence experienced. This study poses the following research questions: What effects do gender identity and sexual orientation have on the risk and extent of sexual violence among students and, among victims, what is the relationship between gender identity/sexual orientation and mental health (posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD], depression) and academic environment (disengagement and safety) outcomes for university students? Multilevel, random effect hurdle models captured this sequential victimization dynamic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSexual harassment is a pervasive problem on college campuses. Across eight academic campuses, 16,754 students participated in an online study that included questions about sexual harassment victimization by a faculty/staff member or by a peer since enrollment at their Institution of Higher Education (IHE). Utilizing an intersectional theory and hurdle models, this study explored the effects of gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, age at enrollment, student status, and time spent at institution on students' risk for peer- and faculty/staff-perpetrated sexual harassment victimization, as well as the extent of victimization for students who experience harassment.
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