The Association Between Financial Strain, Mental Health, Job Loss, and Intimate Partner Violence for LGBTQ + Adults During COVID-19

The current study examines the impact of COVID-19 for a sample of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning, and other emerging sexual (and gender) identities (LGBTQ+) adults. We hypothesized that financial strain, mental health, job loss, and physical COVID-19 symptoms would be positively related to intimate partner violence (IPV). Data were collected through recruitment using Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk) from May to September 2020. Respondents were 18+ years old, identified as a member of the LGBTQ + community, and resided in the United States. Participant ages ranged from 18-90 years old, and most of the sample identified as White (53.9%), bisexual (47.6%), and transgender (32.6%). The final sample consisted of 1,249 participants. All types of perpetration violence were significantly associated with COVID-19 symptoms. Both physical perpetration and psychological victimization were significantly associated with financial strain. All types of perpetration violence were significantly associated with COVID-19 symptoms. Both physical perpetration and psychological victimization were significantly associated with financial strain. Results highlight the increased need for access to IPV prevention resources for LGBTQ + adults, especially during national public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic.