Assessing the Influence of Child Sexual Behavior on Depression among Black SMM in the Southeastern United States

Donte Travon Boyd (), Gamji Rabiu Abu-Ba’are, Ashleigh LoVette, Darren L. Whitfield, Rodman E. Turpin, S. Raquel Ramos, Camille R. Quinn and DeMarc A. Hickson
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Donte Travon Boyd: College of Social Work, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Gamji Rabiu Abu-Ba’are: Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY 14642, USA
Ashleigh LoVette: Us Helping Us, People into Living, Inc., Washington, DC 20010, USA
Darren L. Whitfield: School of Social Work, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA
Rodman E. Turpin: Department of Global & Community Health, College of Health and Human Services, George Mason University, College Park, MD 20742, USA
S. Raquel Ramos: Us Helping Us, People into Living, Inc., Washington, DC 20010, USA
Camille R. Quinn: Center for Equitable Family and Community Well-Being, School of Social Work, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
DeMarc A. Hickson: Us Helping Us, People into Living, Inc., Washington, DC 20010, USA

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 21, 1-13

Abstract: Limited studies have examined the associations between child sexual abuse (CSA) and depression among Black sexual minority men (SMM) in the Southeastern United States (US). As, such, the current study examined the critical gap in understanding the impact of CSA on Black SMM’s mental health. Specifically, we tested the associations between contextual CSA factors and depression among a large population-based sample of Black SMM living in two cities in the Southern US. Data were obtained from the MARI Study, a sample of Black SMM ages 18–66 years, recruited from the Jackson, MS and Atlanta, GA metropolitan areas ( n = 507). Depression was assessed using the 9-item CES-D scale. We conducted multivariable regression analyses to examine the association between depression with history of CSA and other child sexual-related variables (i.e., age of perpetrator and age of sexual abuse), controlling for key confounders. Our results indicated that CSA (β = 0.14, p < 0.001) was positively associated with depression. Our results also indicated that Black SMM who reported being sexually abused at the ages of 6 to 10 (β = 0.30, p < 0.01) and 16 to 18 (β = 0.25, p < 0.05) were positively associated with depression. These findings suggest that there is a need to provide culturally and safe mental health services in the Southeastern US for CSA survivors.

Keywords: SMM; depression; US south; child sexual abuse; childhood maltreatment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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