Sexual Violence As Both Predictor and Consequence of Housing Instability Among Sexual Minority Adolescents: Longitudinal Evidence from the Adolescent Stress Experiences over Time Study (ASETS)

Background & Purpose: Research shows that sexual minority adolescents (SMA) are 3-13 times more likely to experience housing instability and more than twice as likely to experience sexual violence than their heterosexual peers. The relationship between housing instability and sexual violence is complex, with research positing mutually reinforcing cycles between housing and violence, with childhood sexual abuse (and other home violence) suggested as a predictor of housing instability, and housing instability putting adolescents at risk for additional sexual violence. However, extant research is cross-sectional and longitudinal research is needed to explore and confirm the hypothesized temporal relationships between housing stability and sexual violence for SMA. Using longitudinal data from the Adolescent Stress Experiences Over Time Study (ASETS), these analyses explore causal relationships between housing stability and sexual violence, with the goal of making recommendations for targeted interventions and prevention programs to protect these marginalized and vulnerable adolescents.

Methods: SMA ages 14-17 years were recruited through a hybrid social media and respondent-driven sampling approach and completed surveys every 6 months for 3 years as part of a larger longitudinal study on behavioral health and minority stress (baseline/wave 1 n=1,076; 36-month/wave 7 n=863). Sexual violence was measured with two separate items, sexual abuse (being forced to do sexual things that you did not want to do) and forced sex (being physically forced to have sexual intercourse when you did not want to). Sexual violence and housing instability items asked about lifetime incidence at baseline and prior 6 months in each subsequent survey. Longitudinal relationships between housing instability and sexual violence were examined using a generalized structural equation cross-lagged panel model with adjustment for demographic covariates (age, sex, sexual orientation, race/ethnicity, and urbanicity).

Results: Housing instability and sexual violence items had strong internal consistency over time in the generalized cross-lagged panel models (i.e., incidence of each at prior waves was strongly associated with incidence of the same item at subsequent waves). After adjusting for demographic covariates, prior sexual abuse was associated with higher odds of later housing instability (OR=2.43), and prior housing instability was associated with increased odds of forced sex at later waves (OR=1.99). Prior forced sex was not statistically significantly associated with later housing instability.

Conclusions & Implications: These first-of-their-kind longitudinal results with SMA support existing research findings of a mutually reinforcing pathway between sexual violence and housing instability, with the addition of key distinctions between the two types of sexual violence measured: sexual abuse predicted later housing instability, while housing instability predicted later forced sex. In other words, sex abuse occurring at younger ages may be a predictor of housing instability for adolescents, while housing instability itself is likely associated with escalating exposure to sexual violence. These causal pathways reinforce the compounded vulnerability experienced by SMA, likely shaped by both minority stress experiences and structural/political disadvantage. There is urgent need for structural supports to improve housing security for this population, as well as interventions that integrate adapted, SMA-specific sexual violence supports within housing services for families and adolescents.