(PS4-21) Examining Relationship Satisfaction as a Moderator of the Associations Between PTSD, Gender-Based Rejection, and Intimate Partner Violence in Transgender Adults

Abstract Text: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a significant public health concern and transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals are at a disproportionately higher risk of IPV, ranging from 31-54% (e.g., Kattari et al., 2022). Previous research has identified PTSD and minority stressors, such as gender-based rejection, as risk factors for IPV perpetration. Existing research shows that relationship satisfaction is associated with reduced IPV perpetration (Dardis et al., 2020). However, little is known about whether relationship satisfaction buffers the impact of PTSD and gender-based rejection on IPV perpetration and the present study aimed to investigate that. We hypothesized that the relationship of PTSD and gender-based rejection with physical and sexual IPV perpetration would be moderated by relationship satisfaction, such that these relationships would be weakened at high levels of relationship satisfaction.

A sample of 137 TGD individuals aged 18-58 (age M= 29 SD= 8.59) completed a baseline assessment as part of a larger study. Participants self-identified as TGD (67.9% non-binary, 55.5% transgender, 24.1% men, 14.6% women, 5.8% agender; participants could endorse multiple gender identities) and most identified as White (78.8%). Sexual and physical IPV perpetration was measured using the Sexual and Gender Minority-Conflict Tactic Scale-2 (Dyar et al., 2021), PTSD was assessed using the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (Weathers et al., 2013), relationship satisfaction was assessed using the Satisfaction subscale of the Investment Model Scale (Rusbult et al., 1998) and gender-based rejection was measured using the Gender Minority Stress and Resilience Scale (Tessa et al., 2015).

The analysis employed a Pearson's correlation and a negative binomial regression model. Relationship Satisfaction was significantly correlated with both Physical (r= 0.199) and Sexual IPV (-0.277). Contrary to the hypothesis, results demonstrated that relationship satisfaction did not moderate the relationship between PTSD and gender-based rejection and physical and sexual IPV perpetration. A potential reason for these findings may be that all prior research that associated relationship satisfaction with reduced IPV is predominantly conducted with cis-gender, heterosexual couples. It is likely that risk and protective factors for IPV among TGD people may be different from cisgender individuals. Another limitation that may have impacted the results is that only 26 out of the 137 participants endorsed IPV perpetration, which may have provided insufficient power to detect significant moderation effects. Future research should explore risk and protective factors for IPV among TGD adults, an instrumental step to inform IPV interventions suited to this population.

Keywords: Physical IPV Perpetration, Sexual IPV Perpetration, Relationship Satisfaction, Gender-based Rejection, PTSD, Transgender and Gender Diverse