(PS8-82) Interactional Effects of Alcohol Use and Minority Stress on Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration Among Transgender and Gender Diverse People

The prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) among adults who identify as transgender or gender diverse (TGD) is alarmingly high (Henry et al., 2021). To understand IPV perpetration among TGD people, an integrated examination that evaluates the synergistic effects of multiple risk factors is needed (Shorey et al., 2019). Alcohol is an established risk factor for IPV among cisgender people (Cafferky et al., 2018), and seems to be linked to experiences of violence for TGD people (Coulter et al., 2015). In addition, minority stress has been shown to increase the risk for IPV perpetration among sexual minority people. Theoretically, we would expect that experiences of minority stress among TGD people (e.g., internalized transnegativity) would also be linked to IPV, but research is lacking to support this hypothesis. Conversely, there may be factors among TGD people, such as the degree to which they feel connected with the broader TGD community, that attenuate the impact of alcohol on IPV perpetration. Thus, the current study examined the interactional effects of alcohol use and minority stress and resilience factors in predicting IPV perpetration among TGD adults.

137 participants (age 18-58, M=29, SD=8.6) who self-identified as TGD in an exclusive intimate relationship were included. The most common gender identities reported were nonbinary (67.8%) and transgender (55.5%), and most participants were assigned female at birth (81.0%). The sample was predominantly White/Caucasian (78.8%) and not Latinx (87.6%). As part of a longitudinal study, participants completed a baseline questionnaire assessing psychological, physical, sexual, and identity abuse IPV perpetration in the past year (i.e., the Sexual and Gender Minority Conflict Tactics Scale 2; Dyar et al., 2021), alcohol use/problems (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test; Saunders et al., 1993), internalized transnegativity (Gender Minority Stress and Resilience Measure (GMSR); Testa et al., 2015), TGD identity outness (transgender outness measure from the 2015 U.S. Transgender Study; James et al., 2016), and community connectedness (GMSR, Testa et al., 2015).
A pattern emerged whereby increases in alcohol use/problems was associated with an increased incidence of psychological, physical, sexual, and identity abuse IPV perpetration at low and mean levels of internalized transnegativity, yet was not significantly related at high levels of internalized transnegativity. The interaction between alcohol use/problems and identity outness was also associated with all forms of IPV perpetration, such that increases in alcohol use/problems were significantly associated with an increased incidence of psychological, physical, sexual, and identity abuse IPV perpetration at low and mean levels of identity outness, but not high levels of identity outness. There were no significant interaction effects for alcohol use/problems and community connectedness. Findings provide preliminary support for synergistic effects of alcohol use and gender minority stressors in predicting IPV perpetration in TGD adults. This suggests that IPV intervention programs for TGD people should focus on reducing alcohol use, especially among those with low identity outness.