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Patterns of violence and mental health outcomes characterizing vulnerability in SGM college students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Nature Mental Health volume 1, pages 564–572 (2023)Cite this article

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Abstract

Lockdown measures and remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic have had a large impact on the mental health of college students. Sexual and gender minority (SGM) students are especially at risk for sexual violence and subsequent adverse mental health outcomes. This study aimed to juxtapose patterns of violence among college students before and during the pandemic, and explore the mental health consequences of it among minority groups. We used the 2018–2019 and 2020–2021 Healthy Minds Study datasets and applied adjusted, multivariable logistic regression to examine the associations between mental health (depression and anxiety) and its correlates. We further stratified the associations by pre- and during COVID-19 pandemic years (2018–2019 and 2020–2021). Of the estimated 217,552 college population, about 0.12% were transgender women, 0.21% were transgender men and 1.97% were gender-diverse individuals. The prevalence of depression and anxiety was significantly higher in 2020–2021 compared with 2018–2019. Further, gender minority identity, Hispanic-identified, sexual minority orientation and types of violence were associated with increased depressive symptoms during the pandemic. Similar results were found for anxiety symptoms. The present study helps to understand the sexual violence and heightened mental health risk experienced by SGM students.

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Data availability

The data used in this paper are publicly available at https://healthymindsnetwork.org/hms/.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Healthy Minds Network research team, especially S. Lipson for making this work possible. The authors received no specific funding for this work.

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Wisteria Deng, Hui Xie.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Wisteria Deng & Mackenzie Creighton

  2. Zilber College of Public Health, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Hui Xie

  3. Carilion Mental Health, Carilion Clinic–Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, Roanoke, VA, USA

    Binx Yezhe Lin

Authors
  1. Wisteria Deng
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  2. Hui Xie
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  3. Mackenzie Creighton
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  4. Binx Yezhe Lin
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Contributions

W.D., H.X. and Y.L. contributed to the study conceptualization. W.D. and H.X. contributed to the writing of the paper. H.X. conducted the data analysis. W.D. and Y.L. provided feedback on the data analysis. All authors were involved in the editing of the paper. All authors reviewed the final copy of the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wisteria Deng.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Peer review

Peer review information

Nature Mental Health thanks Monica Malta and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Extended data

Extended Data Table 1 Weighted sexual assault by gender minority identity in college students, HMS 2018-2019 and 2020-2021
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Extended Data Table 2 Weighted sexual assault by sexual orientation in college students, HMS 2018-2019 and 2020-2021
Full size table
Extended Data Table 3 Weighted sexual assault by race/ethnicity in college students, HMS 2018-2019 and 2020-2021
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Extended Data Table 4 Weighted multivariable logistic regressions of depression with interaction term between gender identity and race/ethnicity, HMS 2018-2019 and 2020-2021
Full size table
Extended Data Table 5 Weighted multivariable logistic regressions of anxiety with interaction term between gender identity and race/ethnicity, HMS 2018-2019 and 2020-2021
Full size table

Supplementary information

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Deng, W., Xie, H., Creighton, M. et al. Patterns of violence and mental health outcomes characterizing vulnerability in SGM college students before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nat. Mental Health 1, 564–572 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-023-00097-x

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