Evaluation of State-Level Sexual and Gender Minority Laws for the Primary Prevention of Sexual and Intimate Partner Violence Among Sexual and Gender Minority Youth in the U.S.

Summary

The goal of this observational study is to learn how state-level laws related to sexual and gender minority (SGM) youth affect the risk of sexual violence (SV) and intimate partner violence (IPV) among sexual minority (SM) youth in the United States. The study looks at both supportive laws (such as bans on conversion therapy and anti-bullying protections) and restrictive laws (such as limits on gender-affirming care) passed between 2017 and 2025. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Part 1:

* Do supportive SGM laws lower the risk of SV/IPV among SM youth?
* Do restrictive SGM laws raise the risk of SV/IPV among SM youth?
* Does the social climate in a state (such as levels of stigma toward SGM people) change how these laws affect SM youth?

Part 2:

-How do SGM youth themselves describe the ways that laws and social climates affect their safety and wellbeing?

Part 1 - Quantitative analysis: Researchers will use existing, publicly available survey data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) to compare changes in SV/IPV risk among SM youth across states that adopted different types of SGM laws over the period of 2017-2025. No participants are enrolled for this part.

Part 2 - Qualitative interviews: Researchers will conduct one-on-one interviews with approximately 30 SGM youth ages 13-18 living across U.S. states with varying levels of adoption of supportive SGM laws. Each youth will take part in one 60-minute interview. Youth will be asked about their views on how laws and social climates affect safety, stigma, and access to resources. Youth will not be asked to share personal experiences of violence.

Conditions

• Sexual Violence
• Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

Interventions

OTHER

Enumerated anti-bullying state legislation

The interventions in this study are being studied as a natural experiment and are not assigned or implemented by the study. In any given cohort year, some states are exposed to the legislation of interest and others are not, as assessed using data from LawAtlas.org and categorized by the research team. Enumerated anti-bullying state legislation is state-level legislation that prohibits bullying in educational settings and that explicitly includes sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes.

OTHER

Conversion therapy state legislation

The interventions in this study are being studied as a natural experiment and are not assigned or implemented by the study. In any given cohort year, some states are exposed to the legislation of interest and others are not, as assessed using data from LawAtlas.org and categorized by the research team. Conversion therapy state legislation is state-level legislation that prohibits the practice of conversion therapy, a practice that attempts to change a person/client's sexual orientation or gender identity to conform to prevailing cisgender and/or heterosexual norms.

OTHER

Gender-affirming care state legislation

The interventions in this study are being studied as a natural experiment and are not assigned or implemented by the study. In any given cohort year, some states are exposed to the legislation of interest and others are not, as assessed using data from LawAtlas.org and categorized by the research team. Gender-affirming care state legislation is state-level legislation regarding the use of healthcare tailored to support the patient's gender identity (may prohibit or protect the right to use this type of healthcare)

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Michigan

  collaborator OTHER

• Tulane University

  collaborator OTHER

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

  collaborator FED

• University of California, Berkeley

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Sabrina C Boyce, PhD · University of California, Berkeley

Eligibility

Min Age

13 Years

Max Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2026-08-31

Primary Completion

2027-09-30

Completion

2029-09-30

Countries

• United States

Study Locations