COVID-19 pandemic increased the frequency of intimate partner violence

The study found those living in the South were more likely to report an increase in violence and depression.

2023-04-07

(Press-News.org) Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people who experienced intimate partner violence in their current relationship before COVID-19 had an increase in the frequency of victimization after the pandemic began, according to a Rutgers study.

While national emergencies, crises and pandemics increase the frequency of health risks and intimate partner violence few studies have considered the nuances of social and psychological factors, such as socioeconomic characteristics and mental health, in explaining the increase in intimate partner violence during times of crisis.

“To date, most programs on intimate partner violence focus on opposite sex and heterosexual couples,” said Perry N. Halkitis, dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health and senior study author. “However, same-sex couples are different in terms of partner dynamics, and thus interventions need to address these differences.”

The study, published online ahead of print in the Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services in April 2023, found that nearly one in five LGBTQ people reported intimate partner violence in their current romantic or sexual relationship, which increased following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also found those in the southern United States were more likely to report an increase in intimate partner violence frequency and that intimate partner violence was associated with greater severity of depressive symptoms.

The Rutgers researchers conducted to the best of their knowledge the first analysis that reported the frequency of intimate partner violence victimization since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in a national sample of LGBTQ adults and assessed associations between sociodemographic characteristics such as region, education, age, race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual identity and mental health states.

These findings also support calls for increased intimate partner violence-related resources available for and tailored to the needs of LGBTQ people, particularly during times of national crisis.

“Intimate partner violence interventions need to address that LGBTQ people are not monolithic in terms of many factors, including environments in which they live. Now more than ever given the attacks on LGBTQ people by politicians, the work we are doing at our research center CHIBPS is as important as ever,” Halkitis said.

Other study authors include Christopher B. Stults, Kristen D. Krause, Richard J. Martino, Marybec Griffin, Caleb E. LoSchiavo, Savannah G. Lynn, Stephan A. Brandt, David Tana, Nicolas Hornea, Gabin Lee and Jessie Wong.

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Scientists discover a way Earth’s atmosphere cleans itself

2023-04-07

Irvine, Calif., April 7, 2023 — Human activities emit many kinds of pollutants into the air, and without a molecule called hydroxide (OH), many of these pollutants would keep aggregating in the atmosphere. How OH itself forms in the atmosphere was viewed as a complete story, but in new research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a research team that includes Sergey Nizkorodov, a University of California, Irvine professor of chemistry, report that a strong electric field that exists at the surface between airborne water droplets and ...

Webb reveals never-before-seen details in Cassiopeia A

2023-04-07

The explosion of a star is a dramatic event, but the remains the star leaves behind can be even more dramatic. A new mid-infrared image from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope provides one stunning example. It shows the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A), created by a stellar explosion seen from Earth 340 years ago. Cas A is the youngest known remnant from an exploding, massive star in our galaxy, which makes it a unique opportunity to learn more about how such supernovae occur. “Cas ...

A new quantum approach to solve electronic structures of complex materials

2023-04-07

If you know the atoms that compose a particular molecule or solid material, the interactions between those atoms can be determined computationally, by solving quantum mechanical equations — at least, if the molecule is small and simple. However, solving these equations, critical for fields from materials engineering to drug design, requires a prohibitively long computational time for complex molecules and materials. Now, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago’s ...

The social framework

2023-04-07

On January 6, 2021, the public watched in disbelief as the Capitol building was stormed by hundreds of protestors. Most spectators at home didn't know violence at the Capitol building was already circulating through far-right social media channels for months. Social media, for better or worse, play a large role in how we consume information – as well as spreading misinformation and conspiratorial propaganda. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh received $100,000 as part of the Meta Foundational Integrity Research ...

HonorHealth Research Institute joins City of Hope and TGen in creating method for scoring pancreatic cancer patients for surgery

2023-04-07

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — April 7, 2023 — A trio of premier Southwest biomedical research centers — HonorHealth Research Institute, City of Hope and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), part of City of Hope — have developed a more precise method that may help determine when it is best to surgically remove of pancreatic cancer tumors. Surgical removal of the tumor can be a key step in helping extend the survival of patients with pancreatic cancer, one of the most aggressive and deadly of all malignancies and the nation’s third leading cause of cancer-related death. Currently, surgery — or surgery plus chemotherapy ...

CHOP-led study identifies two different regulatory T cell populations

2023-04-07

Philadelphia, April 7, 2022—A regulatory class of human T cells descends from two different origins, one that relates to autoimmunity and one that relates to protective immunity, according to a new study led by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The findings, published today in Science Immunology, could pave the way for new treatments for autoimmune diseases that target the immune system selectively. “When it comes to autoimmunity, the prevailing wisdom has been that the only way to stop inflammation ...

Here’s how a worm’s embryonic cells changed its development potential

2023-04-07

Researchers have spotted how specific proteins within the chromosomes of roundworms enable their offspring to produce specialized cells generations later, a startling finding that upends classical thinking that hereditary information for cell differentiation is mostly ingrained within DNA and other genetic factors. The Johns Hopkins University team reports for the first time the mechanisms by which a protein known as histone H3 controls when and how worm embryos produce both highly specific cells and pluripotent cells, cells that can turn certain genes on ...

New genetic finding provides clue for personalizing depression treatment

2023-04-07

A team of scientists at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) has identified a stress-regulated gene that plays a role in the link between long-term stress and a common type of depressive behavior in mice. Specifically, this gene was needed for long-term stress to produce a loss of interest in activities that were once rewarding or pleasurable – often called anhedonia. However, the gene did not play a role in other common depressive-like symptoms, such as social avoidance and increased anxiety-like behavior. The team reported its findings recently in eLife. The study was led by neuroscientists Makoto Taniguchi, Ph.D., and Christopher Cowan, Ph.D., and also ...

Lonely people’s divergent thought processes may contribute to feeling “alone in a crowded room”

2023-04-07

Common wisdom suggests that a core difference between solitude and loneliness is choice. Whereas a person who appreciates solitude might choose to enjoy a quiet night in or a solo trip abroad, a lonely person may feel disconnected from other people even in a crowded room. New research published in Psychological Science supports this notion, suggesting that lonely people may think differently regardless of the size of their social networks. “We found that lonely individuals are exceptionally dissimilar to their peers in the way that they process the world around them … ...

New research: Policies that aim to increase the supply of teachers may also lower teacher pay, thereby perpetuating the cycle of teacher shortages

2023-04-07

Context and Background Teaching has historically been a licensed profession in which a limited number of schools of education were typically housed in universities and offered a traditional path to certification (Kleiner, 2000). However, 30 years of documented teacher shortages in the United States resulted in federal and state policies that reduce barriers to teacher licensure (Cross, 2017). The goal of these policies is to create a larger pool of new teachers in less time than it typically takes schools of education to produce ...

COVID-19 pandemic increased the frequency of intimate partner violence

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: