(PS1-D92) Anti-bisexual Discrimination and Incapacitated Rape Victimization Among Bi+ Individuals: The Mediating Roles of Internalized Binegativity and Alcohol Use

Bi+ individuals, or people attracted to more than one gender, are at an elevated risk of sexual victimization compared to other sexual minorities (Walters et al., 2013). Greater frequency of heavy drinking among bisexual individuals has been identified as a risk factor for incapacitated rape victimization (IR; Jaffe et al., 2019). Minority stress is one factor proposed to contribute to the alcohol use and sexual victimization link among bisexual individuals. Indeed, research has found that a history of childhood sexual abuse is associated with adult rape victimization through alcohol use at mean and high levels of anti-bisexual prejudice, one form of minority stress (McConnell & Messman-Moore, 2019). Preliminary support for a link between minority stress, hazardous alcohol use, and sexual victimization has been provided (McConnell and Messman-Moore, 2019), although this has been limited to examination of distal minority stress. It is unclear how experiences of proximal minority stress, such as internalized binegativity, may also explain the association between anti-bisexual discrimination and sexual victimization. This was the goal of the present study.

Participants were 61 (recruitment ongoing) bi+ young adults recruited from an online research panel and psychology department participant pool. Participants completed an online survey including the Anti-Bisexual Experiences Scale (Dyar et al., 2019), the Bisexual Identity Inventory (Paul et al., 2014), the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (Saunders et al., 1993), and the Sexual Experiences Survey-Victimization Version Revised (Canan et al., 2019).

Preliminary analyses indicate significant bivariate correlations between each variable (ps < .011) except the correlation between anti-bisexual discrimination and alcohol use, which showed a trend (r = .23, p = .07). The association of the predictor variable (anti-bisexual discrimination) with the criterion variable (past year IR) was examined serially through two proposed mediators: internalized binegativity and alcohol use. Analysis was conducted using model 6 in PROCESS Version 4.0 (Hayes, 2022) for SPSS Version 28. Results indicated a significant overall model, Nagelkerke’s R² = .54, p < .0001. Anti-bisexual discrimination significantly predicted past year IR through the serial effect of internalized binegativity and alcohol use (indirect effect = 0.29, CI₉₅ [0.02, 1.27]). There was no significant indirect effect found when examining internalized binegativity (indirect effect = 0.17, CI₉₅ [-0.30, 1.07]) or alcohol use (indirect effect = 0.09, CI₉₅ [-0.46, 0.82] as single mediators. Research and clinical implications will be discussed as they pertain to work with bisexual survivors.