Sexual violence among male sexual minority college students in Guangdong, China: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

This study aims to provide an estimate of lifetime sexual violence (SV) among male sexual minority college students with differing sexual orientations and contribute to the evidence base on the association between SV experience, stress, and depressive symptoms. The data stemmed from the 2019 Internet Survey on HIV/AIDS and Sexual Health in Colleges and Universities in Guangdong province, China. Lifetime SV victimisation (including non-sexual harassment, physical contact sexual harassment, and rape), level of stress, and depressive symptoms were examined among 1441 male sexual minority students from 37 colleges and universities in Guangdong province. Linear regression analyses were adopted to examine associations between independent variables and depressive symptoms. 23.4% (337/1441) of the participants reported lifetime non-contact harassment, while 8.8% (127/1441) and 2.4% (35/1441) of the participants reported physical contact sexual harassment and rape, respectively. Homosexual students reported the most physical contact sexual harassment (48/127, 37.8%) and bisexual students reported the most non-contact sexual harassment (102/337, 30.3%) and rape (10/35, 28.6%) among sexual minority participants; 85.6% participants reported high levels of stress. The experience of SV and the level of stress were significantly associated with depressive symptoms, and stress completely mediated the path from SV experiences to depressive symptoms. This study specifically showcases SV as a pervasive problem affecting Chinese male sexual minority college students and highlighting the severity of stress and depressive symptoms among this population. These findings emphasise the urgency of implementing effective practices and policies to address SV and depressive symptoms among male sexual minority college students in China.