The Relationship Between Intimate Partner Violence, Anxiety, and Marijuana Use Among Sexual Minority Men

Sexual minority men (SMM) disproportionately experience intimate partner violence (IPV) compared to heterosexual couples. This stressful situation intersects with the minority stress inevitably faced by SMM, leading to negative mental and behavioral consequences. Therefore, the aims of this study are to (1) characterize the IPV experience among SMM, (2) identify the relationship between IPV and marijuana use, and (3) explore the path from SMM’s IPV experience to marijuana use through anxiety (i.e., social phobia, generalized anxiety). This study included 160 SMM who were recruited in June 2020 through geospatial networking applications and who responded to all questions in the study model. A parallel mediation model was used to test the indirect effects of social phobia and generalized anxiety on the relationship between IPV victimization and marijuana use. Our study confirmed the high experience rate of overall IPV, along with the high rate of the type of IPV specific to SMM. The results of the study model identified that the level of IPV experiences is positively associated with social phobia, generalized anxiety, and marijuana use. In addition, generalized anxiety may partially mediate the relationship between IPV and marijuana use. While the health consequences of marijuana use are still being investigated, our model focused on this outcome as a type of disengagement coping strategy. These findings further suggest future research to help us better understand IPV experience and marijuana use in SMM, and build evidence for the need for tailored interventions to mitigate the relationship between SMM’s IPV experience and marijuana use.