Physical Violence and Psychological Distress Among Asian and Pacific Islander Sexual Minority Men in the United States Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic.
LGBT Health
; 9(6): 418-425, 2022.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1908718
ABSTRACT
Purpose:
This study examined differences in self-reported physical violence and psychological distress among Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) sexual minority men (SMM) before and during the 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic (2019 vs. 2020).Methods:
We used data from 1127 AAPI SMM who completed the 2019 (August 2019-December 2019) and 2020 (August 2020-January 2021) cycles of the American Men's Internet Survey (AMIS). We assessed differences in experiencing physical violence and serious psychological distress by year of survey completion. We used Poisson regression with robust variance estimation to examine whether physical violence was associated with serious psychological distress before and during COVID-19. Multivariate analyses adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics and the interaction between year and violence.Results:
A greater percentage of AAPI SMM had serious psychological distress in 2020 during the pandemic relative to 2019 before the pandemic (56.6% vs. 35.64%, p < 0.001). AAPI SMM who experienced physical violence in the last 6 months were more likely to experience serious psychological distress than those who never experienced physical violence. The association between violence and psychological distress among AAPI SMM was not significantly different before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.Conclusions:
Violence against AAPI SMM in the United States is widespread. Although we did not find significant differences in exposure to physical violence among AAPI SMM before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the increase in serious psychological distress during the pandemic among AAPI SMM may indicate heightened need of mental health services.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Sexual and Gender Minorities
/
Psychological Distress
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Qualitative research
Limits:
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
LGBT Health
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Lgbt.2021.0418
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