Prevalence and Characteristics of Sexual Violence against Men with Disabilities

INTRODUCTION:

Few studies have examined lifetime and past-year sexual violence against men with disabilities and the types of perpetrator-survivor relationships among men with disabilities. The purpose of this study is to document the prevalence of lifetime and past-year sexual violence against men with disabilities in the U.S., compare these estimates with those of men without disabilities and women with and without disabilities, and examine the gender and relationship of the perpetrator of sexual violence against men with disabilities relative to perpetrator characteristics identified in incidents against other adults.

METHODS:

Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 2005-2007 data were analyzed in 2014 using domain analysis and multivariate logistic regression.

RESULTS:

Men with a disability were more likely than men without a disability to report lifetime sexual violence (8.8% vs 6.0%). They were also more likely than men without a disability to report lifetime experience of attempted or completed nonconsensual sex (5.8% and 2.3% vs 4.1% and 1.4%, respectively). There were no statistically significant differences between the two groups of men's reports of their relationship to the perpetrator of the most recent incident of sexual violence or perpetrator gender.

CONCLUSIONS:

Men with disabilities are at heightened risk for lifetime and current sexual violence compared with men without disabilities. Given the relatively high prevalence of sexual violence among people with disabilities of both genders, sexual assault screening, prevention, and response efforts need to be inclusive and attentive to all people with disabilities.

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By:  Mitra M1, Mouradian VE2, Fox MH3, Pratt C4.

• 1University of Massachusetts Medical School, Center for Health Policy and Research, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. Electronic address: monika.mitra@umassmed.edu.
• 2Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
• 3Division of Human Development and Disability, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, CDC, Atlanta, Georgia.
• 4University of Massachusetts Medical School, Center for Health Policy and Research, Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. 

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Risk Factors for Concurrent Use of Benzodiazepines & Opioids among Individuals Under Community Corrections Supervision

The use of heroin and prescription opioids has increased over the past decade. The concurrent use of opioids with other depressants such as benzodiazepines increases the risk of overdose death compared with use of either drug alone. This study examined factors associated with concurrent use of opioids and benzodiazepines in a criminal justice sample in the state of Alabama.

• Concurrent use was detected in 11.5% of the sample. 
• Concurrent use of opioids and benzodiazepines or use of either drug alone was associated with being White, female, married, prescribed psychiatric medications, having seen a physician in the past two years, cannabis use, and having a drug-related offense. 
• Concurrent users were more likely to be unemployed or disabled and have received counseling, and less likely to have completed college, live with relatives or friends, have a history of hallucinations, or have an offense against a person relative to nonusers.

While significant overlap of risk factors exists between individuals with concurrent use versus sole use of opioids or benzodiazepines, individuals with concurrent use generally have more social dysfunction than individ

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By: Cropsey KL1, Stevens EN2, Valera P3, Brendan Clark C2, Bulls HW4, Nair P2, Lane PS2.

• 1University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, 1720 7th Ave S., Birmingham, AL 35294-0017, United States
• 2University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neurobiology, 1720 7th Ave S., Birmingham, AL 35294-0017, United States.
• 3Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, 722 W. 168th St., New York, N.Y. 10032, United States.
• 4University of Alabama at Birmingham, Department of Psychology, 1720 2nd Ave S., Birmingham AL 35233, United States.
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