Patterns of Violence and Mental Health Outcomes Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Characterizing Vulnerability in Sexual and Gender Minority College Students

Abstract Background . Lockdown measures and remote learning during the COVID-19 pandemic have had a large impact on the physical and mental health of college students, especially those with minority identities. Sexual and gender minority (SGM) students are especially at risk for sexual violence and subsequent adverse mental health outcomes on campus. It is worth examining how pandemic-related changes on campus may pose differential types of threat to SGM college students. The present study aimed to juxtapose patterns of violence among college students before and during the pandemic, and explore the risks and consequences of violence/assaults among minority groups. Methods . The study utilizes the 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 Healthy Minds Study (HMS) datasets. The HMS is a web-based survey data focuses on mental health, health behavior, campus climates and related issues among a nationally representative sample of undergraduate and graduate students from 60 U.S. campuses. Results . Results demonstrated that violence committed by strangers/acquaintances decreased during the pandemic for all college students, while sexual assaults by ex or current partners remained unchanged.Further, SGM students experienced increased sexual violence and adverse mental health outcomes during the pandemic. Limitations . While the two cohorts in comparison were collected before and during the pandemic, they were not based on the same sample. Future research should collect longitudinal data to understand the impacts of sexual violence over time. Conclusions. The present study serves as a starting point to understand the sexual violence and heightened mental health risk experienced by sexual and gender minority college students.