Table 1.
Weighted Prevalence Estimates of Adverse Childhood Experiences Based on Sexual Orientation
| Women | Men | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lesbian (n = 265) | Bisexual (n = 422) | Not sure (n = 130) | Discordant heterosexuala (n = 1294) | Concordant heterosexualb (n = 17,845) | Gay (n = 321) | Bisexual (n = 144) | Not sure (n = 69) | Discordant heterosexuala (n = 782) | Concordant Heterosexualb (n = 14,228) | |
| % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | % (95% CI) | |
| ACEs | ||||||||||
| Physical abuse | 45.5 (38.2, 53.1) | 47.5 (41.0, 54.0) | 51.6 (39.8, 63.2) | 42.1 (38.9, 45.4) | 32.9 (41.6, 34.3) | 48.9 (42.2, 55.6) | 50.5 (41.8, 59.2) | 54.5 (37.6, 70.5) | 39.8 (35.0, 44.8) | 39.0 (37.1, 40.2) |
| Sexual abuse | 28.2 (22.2, 35.1) | 35.1 (29.8, 40.9) | 28.9 (19.7, 40.2) | 20.9 (18.1, 23.9) | 15.3 (14.5, 16.1) | 15.9 (11.7, 21.1) | 21.9 (14.4, 31.8) | 25.2 (13.6, 41.9) | 13.5 (10.7, 17.0) | 5.3 (4.8, 5.8) |
| Psychological abuse | 55.0 (48.2, 61.5) | 63.7 (57.6, 69.4) | 61.6 (51.3, 70.9) | 52.0 (48.1, 56.0) | 41.6 (40.2, 43.1) | 58.5 (51.6, 65.2) | 56.4 (47.2, 65.3) | 66.7 (50.5, 79.7) | 46.8 (42.2, 51.5) | 46.1 (44.7, 47.5) |
| Emotional neglect | 10.8 (7.7, 15.0) | 15.3 (11.6, 19.9) | 25.2 (17.0, 35.5) | 10.8 (8.7, 13.3) | 8.5 (7.9, 9.0) | 7.5 (4.8, 11.4) | 12.7 (6.6, 23.0) | 14.9 (8.3, 25.4) | 9.2 (7.2, 11.9) | 6.8 (6.4, 7.4) |
| Physical neglect | 38.6 (32.0, 45.6) | 46.8 (40.2, 53.5) | 53.2 (40.9, 65.1) | 41.0 (37.4, 44.8) | 30.6 (29.6, 31.6) | 38.2 (31.9, 45.0) | 45.5 (36.0, 55.4) | 65.5 (51.1, 77.5) | 41.6 (37.2, 46.1) | 37.8 (36.6, 39.0) |
| Domestic violence | 24.0 (18.9, 29.9) | 28.7 (23.3, 34.8) | 28.2 (19.9, 38.2) | 25.4 (22.4, 28.6) | 18.9 (18.0, 19.7) | 25.2 (20.1, 31.1) | 26.4 (18.5, 36.2) | 21.0 (11.5, 35.3) | 19.5 (16.0, 23.6) | 16.1 (15.2, 17.0) |
| Substance use problems | 34.7 (27.7, 42.4) | 34.0 (27.4, 41.3) | 37.1 (28.0, 47.2) | 29.9 (26.9, 33.1) | 26.0 (24.9, 27.0) | 32.1 (27.0, 37.7) | 34.8 (25.7, 45.2) | 28.6 (16.8, 44.3) | 24.3 (21.0, 27.9) | 22.7 (21.8, 23.6) |
| Mental illness | 10.2 (6.9, 14.7) | 14.0 (10.7, 18.0) | 9.2 (5.7, 14.5) | 10.2 (8.2, 12.6) | 7.6 (7.2, 8.2) | 8.2 (5.0, 13.1) | 9.7 (4.8, 18.7) | 10.4 (4.0, 24.5) | 7.8 (5.8, 10.5) | 5.7 (5.3, 6.1) |
| Incarceration | 13.1 (9.4, 17.8) | 17.1 (13.6, 21.4) | 22.6 (15.5, 31.7) | 11.2 (9.3, 13.4) | 7.6 (7.1, 8.1) | 11.1 (7.4, 16.2) | 12.7 (5.9, 25.0) | 8.8 (4.0, 18.5) | 7.6 (5.7, 10.1) | 7.1 (6.6, 7.7) |
| Divorce/separation | 26.3 (20.8, 32.7) | 29.4 (24.4, 35.0) | 15.9 (9.5, 25.2) | 24.2 (21.5, 27.1) | 20.0 (19.2, 20.8) | 22.6 (17.6, 28.6) | 26.4 (17.0, 38.5) | 18.4 (8.4, 35.5) | 21.1 (17.9, 24.7) | 19.6 (18.7, 20.6) |
| Mean ACEs (0–10) | 2.8 (2.5, 3.1) | 3.3 (2.9, 3.6) | 3.4 (2.9, 3.8) | 2.6 (2.5, 2.8) | 2.1 (2.0, 2.1) | 2.7 (2.4, 2.9) | 3.0 (2.5, 3.4) | 3.0 (2.5, 3.6) | 2.3 (2.1, 2.5) | 2.0 (2.0, 2.1) |
| Number of ACEs | ||||||||||
| No experiences | 18.4 (13.2, 25.1) | 16.1 (11.9, 21.4) | 11.5 (6.4, 19.7) | 23.7 (20.4, 27.3) | 29.8 (28.7, 30.9) | 17.6 (12.7, 23.9) | 22.2 (15.0, 31.7) | 7.2 (2.8, 17.2) | 23.4 (19.4, 27.9) | 26.3 (25.1, 27.2) |
| 1 experience | 16.0 (11.5, 21.8) | 16.0 (12.1, 20.8) | 16.9 (9.6, 28.0) |
17.6 (15.3, 20.3) | 21.1 (20.3 22.0) | 19.5 (13.8, 26.9) | 15.0 (9.4, 23.1) | 13.2 (6.2, 26.1) | 23.2 (19.6, 27.1) | 21.2 (20.4, 22.0) |
| 2–3 experiences | 31.6 (25.0, 38.9) | 24.2 (19.1, 30.1) | 25.6 (16.8, 37.1) | 25.1 (22.0, 28.4) | 26.5 (25.6, 27.4) | 31.7 (25.1, 39.2) | 21.1 (14.3, 30.0) | 43.8 (31.1, 57.3) | 27.4 (23.6, 31.5) | 32.0 (21.0, 33.1) |
| 4+ experiences | 34.1 (27.7, 41.0) | 43.8 (36.3, 51.6) | 46.0 (36.3, 56.0) | 33.7 (30.1, 37.5) | 22.6 (21.7, 23.6) | 31.1 (25.1, 37.9) | 41.7 (32.5, 51.5) | 35.8 (22.3, 30.3) | 26.1 (22.3, 30.3) | 20.5 (19.6, 21.5) |
a
Discordant heterosexual refers to individuals who identified as heterosexual with same-sex attraction and/or same-sex behavior.
b
Concordant heterosexual refers to individuals who identified as heterosexual without same-sex attraction or same-sex behavior. Notes: No shading denotes association of P < .001; Light gray shading denotes association of P < .01; Medium gray shading denotes no association.
Abbreviations: SE = standard error, Adverse childhood experiences = ACEs, CI= Confidence Interval