Prevalence and Characteristics of Sexual Violence Against Men with Disabilities

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Few studies have examined lifetime and past-year sexual violence against men with disabilities and the types of perpetrator-survivor relationships among men with disabilities. The purpose of this study is to document the prevalence of lifetime and past-year sexual violence against men with disabilities in the U.S., compare these estimates with those of men without disabilities and women with and without disabilities, and examine the gender and relationship of the perpetrator of sexual violence against men with disabilities relative to perpetrator characteristics identified in incidents against other adults. METHODS: Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 2005-2007 data were analyzed in 2014 using domain analysis and multivariate logistic regression. RESULTS: Men with a disability were more likely than men without a disability to report lifetime sexual violence (8.8% vs 6.0%). They were also more likely than men without a disability to report lifetime experience of attempted or completed nonconsensual sex (5.8% and 2.3% vs 4.1% and 1.4%, respectively). There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups of men's reports of their relationship to the perpetrator of the most recent incident of sexual violence or perpetrator gender. CONCLUSIONS: Men with disabilities are at heightened risk for lifetime and current sexual violence compared with men without disabilities. Given the relatively high prevalence of sexual violence among people with disabilities of both genders, sexual assault screening, prevention, and response efforts need to be inclusive and attentive to all people with disabilities.