Abstract
Current research on asexual youth is limited, especially in understanding the impact of their outness and the intersection of sexual orientation with gender minority identities. This study investigates the influence of outness on experiences of harassment, discrimination, violence, and the risk of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among asexual youth, with a focus on those with transgender and non-binary identities. Data for this study were obtained from the 2021 Ace Community Survey, an international online survey designed to assess the needs and health status of the Ace community, targeting respondents aged 13 and older. The analysis involved a subsample of 5574 respondents aged 13 to 24 (mean age = 19.28), including 2361 cisgender (mean age = 19.65), 1,195 transgender (mean age = 18.80), and 2,018 non-binary individuals (mean age = 19.13). The results revealed that experienceds of sexual violence, verbal aggression, and physical harassment and bullying not only correlated with but also completely mediated the relationship between outness and NSSI. Asexual transgender youth experienced heightened levels of discrimination and NSSI but demonstrated notable resilience against the negative effects of identity disclosure, highlighting complex dynamics of vulnerability and protection within these communities.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Antonsen, A. N., Zdaniuk, B., Yule, M., & Brotto, L. A. (2020). Ace and Aro: understanding differences in romantic attractions among persons identifying as asexual. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49(5), 1615–1630. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01600-1.
Bogart, L. M., Wagner, G. J., Galvan, F. H., Landrine, H., Klein, D. J., & Sticklor, L. A. (2011). Perceived discrimination and mental health symptoms among Black men with HIV. Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17(3), 295–302. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0024056.
Boot-Haury, J. W. (2023). Minority stress and psychological distress among asexual transgender and gender nonconforming individuals. Psi Chi Journal of Psychological Research, 28(2), 132–141. https://doi.org/10.24839/2325-7342.JN28.2.132.
Bowleg, L. (2008). When black + lesbian + woman ≠ black lesbian woman: the methodological challenges of qualitative and quantitative intersectionality research. Sex Roles, 59(5-6), 312–325. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9400-z.
Brotto, L. A., & Yule, M. (2017). Asexuality: sexual orientation, paraphilia, sexual dysfunction, or none of the above? Archives of Sexual Behavior, 46(3), 619–627. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-016-0802-7.
Caba, A. E., Mallory, A. B., Simon, K. A., Rathus, T., & Watson, R. J. (2022). Complex outness patterns among sexual minority youth: a latent class analysis. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 51(4), 746–765. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-022-01580-x.
Camacho, G., Reinka, M. A., & Quinn, D. M. (2020). Disclosure and concealment of stigmatized identities. Current Opinion in Psychology, 31, 28–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.07.031.
Carastathis, A. (2014). The Concept of intersectionality in feminist theory. Philosophy Compass, 9(5), 304–314. https://doi.org/10.1111/phc3.12129.
Carvalho, A. C., & Rodrigues, D. L. (2022). Sexuality, sexual behavior, and relationships of asexual individuals: differences between aromantic and romantic orientation. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 51(4), 2159–2168. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02187-2.
Cass, V. C. (1979). Homosexual identity formation: a theoretical model. Journal of Homosexuality, 4(3), 219–235. https://doi.org/10.1300/J082v04n03_01.
Catri, F. (2021). Defining asexuality as a sexual identity: lack/little sexual attraction, desire, interest and fantasies. Sexuality & Culture, 25(4), 1529–1539. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-021-09833-w.
Chan, R. C. H., & Leung, J. S. Y. (2023). Experiences of minority stress and their impact on suicidality among asexual individuals. Journal of Affective Disorders, 325, 794–803. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.01.025.
Clay, A. M. (2018). From Patient-Centered Care to Person-Centered Care: Intersectionalities, Disparities, and Holistic Care [ProQuest Dissertations Publishing].
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). L. Erlbaum Associates.
Deutsch, T. (2017). Asexual People’s Experience with Microaggressions [ProQuest Dissertations Publishing].
Else-Quest, N. M., & Hyde, J. S. (2016). Intersectionality in quantitative psychological research: I. Theoretical and epistemological issues. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 40(2), 155–170. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684316629797.
Feinstein, B. A., Dyar, C., Li, D. H., Whitton, S. W., Newcomb, M. E., & Mustanski, B. (2019). The longitudinal associations between outness and health outcomes among gay/lesbian versus bisexual emerging adults. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 48(4), 1111–1126. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-018-1221-8.
Feinstein, B. A., Mereish, E. H., Mamey, M. R., Chang, C. J., & Goldbach, J. T. (2023). Age differences in the associations between outness and suicidality among LGBTQ+ youth. Archives of Suicide Research, 27(2), 734–748. https://doi.org/10.1080/13811118.2022.2066493.
Foster, A. B., Eklund, A., Brewster, M. E., Walker, A. D., & Candon, E. (2019). Personal agency disavowed: identity construction in asexual women of color. Psychology of sexual orientation and gender diversity, 6(2), 127–137. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000310.
Foster, A. M., Rivas-Koehl, M. M., Le, T. H., Crane, P. R., Weiser, D. A., & Talley, A. E. (2023). Exploring sexual minority adults’ pathway to suicidal ideation: a moderated serial mediation model. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Mental Health, 27(4), 503–521. https://doi.org/10.1080/19359705.2022.2036665.
Goertz, G., & Mazur, A. (2008). Politics, Gender, and Concepts: Theory and Methodology. Cambridge University Press.
Goffman, E. (1986). Stigma: Notes on the Management of Spoiled Identity (1st Touchstone ed.). Simon & Schuster.
Gupta, K. (2017). “And now I’m just different, but there’s nothing actually wrong with me”: asexual marginalization and resistance. Journal of Homosexuality, 64(8), 991–1013. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2016.1236590.
Hammack, P. L., Hughes, S. D., Atwood, J. M., Cohen, E. M., & Clark, R. C. (2022). Gender and sexual identity in adolescence: A mixed-methods study of labeling in diverse community settings. Journal of Adolescent Research, 37(2), 167–220. https://doi.org/10.1177/07435584211000315.
Hamza, C. A., Stewart, S. L., & Willoughby, T. (2012). Examining the link between nonsuicidal self-injury and suicidal behavior: a review of the literature and an integrated model. Clinical Psychology Review, 32(6), 482–495. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2012.05.003.
Hayes, A. F. (2022). Introduction to Mediation, Moderation, and Conditional Process Analysis: A Regression-Based Approach (3rd ed.). Guilford Publications
Hill, A. O., Lyons, A., Power, J., Amos, N., Ferlatte, O., Jones, J., Carman, M., & Bourne, A. (2022). Suicidal ideation and suicide attempts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual,queer, and asexual youth: differential impacts of sexual orientation, verbal, physical, or sexual harassment or assault, conversion practices, family or household religiosity, and school experience. LGBT Health, 9(5), 313–324. https://doi.org/10.1089/lgbt.2021.0270.
Huang, Y. T. (2023). Parental acceptance of lesbian, gay, and bisexual children in Taiwan: Towards relationship‐based practice. Family Relations, 72(1), 159–175. https://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12675.
Jackson, S. D., Mohr, J. J., Sarno, E. L., Kindahl, A. M., & Jones, I. L. (2020). Intersectional experiences, stigma-related stress, and psychological health among Black LGBQ individuals. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 88(5), 416–428. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000489.
Kelleher, S., Murphy, M., & Su, X. (2023). Asexual identity development and internalisation: a scoping review of quantitative and qualitative evidence. Psychology and Sexuality, 14(1), 45–72. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2022.2057867.
Kimberly, C. (1989). Demarginalizing the intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Anti‐Discrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Anti‐Racist Politics. The University of Chicago Legal Forum.
Little, R. J. A. (1988). A test of missing completely at random for multivariate data with missing values. Journal of the American Statistical Association, 83(404), 1198–1202. https://doi.org/10.1080/01621459.1988.10478722.
MacNeela, P., & Murphy, A. (2015). Freedom, invisibility, and community: a qualitative study of self-identification with asexuality. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 44(3), 799–812. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0458-0.
Marchi, M., Arcolin, E., Fiore, G., Travascio, A., Uberti, D., Amaddeo, F., Converti, M., Fiorillo, A., Mirandola, M., Pinna, F., Ventriglio, A., & Galeazzi, G. M. (2022). Self-harm and suicidality among LGBTIQ people: a systematic review and meta-analysis. International Review of Psychiatry, 34(3-4), 240–256. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540261.2022.2053070.
Marzetti, H., McDaid, L., & O’Connor, R. (2022). Am I really alive?”: understanding the role of homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in young LGBT+ people’s suicidal distress. Social Science & Medicine, 298, 114860–114860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114860.
McInroy, L. B., Beaujolais, B., Craig, S. L., & Eaton, A. D. (2021). The self-fdentification, LGBTQ+ identity development, and attraction and behavior of asexual youth: Potential implications for sexual health and Internet-based service provision. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 50(8), 3853–3863. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02064-y.
McInroy, L. B., Beaujolais, B., Leung, V. W. Y., Craig, S. L., Eaton, A. D., & Austin, A. (2022). Comparing asexual and non-asexual sexual minority adolescents and young adults: stressors, suicidality and mental and behavioural health risk outcomes. Psychology and Sexuality, 13(2), 387–403. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2020.1806103.
Mendoza-Denton, R., Downey, G., Purdie, V. J., Davis, A., & Pietrzak, J. (2002). Sensitivity to status-based rejection: implications for African American students’ college experience. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(4), 896–918. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.4.896.
Meyer, I. H. (2003). Prejudice, social stress, and mental health in lesbian, gay, and bisexual populations: conceptual issues and research evidence. Psychological Bulletin, 129(5), 674–697. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.129.5.674.
Mitchell, H., & Hunnicutt, G. (2019). Challenging accepted scripts of sexual “normality”: asexual narratives of non-normative identity and experience. Sexuality & Culture, 23(2), 507–524. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-018-9567-6.
Mollet, A. L. (2023). It’s easier just to say I’m queer”: Asexual college students’ strategic identity management. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 16(1), 13–25. https://doi.org/10.1037/dhe0000210.
Mollet, A. L., & Black, W. (2021). A-nother perspective: an analysis of asexual college students’ experiences with sexual violence. Journal of College Student Development, 62(5), 526–546. https://doi.org/10.1353/csd.2021.0058.
Mollet, A. L., & Lackman, B. (2021). Allonormativity and compulsory sexuality. In Encyclopedia of Queer Studies in Education (pp. 26-30). Brill.
Morand, E., Blais, M., Côté, I., Chamberland, L., Baiocco, M., & Samoilenko, M. (2023). Disclosing one’s non-heterosexual sexual orientation at work in 2020: a survey of Quebec LGBQ workers. Journal of Homosexuality, ahead-of-print, 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2022.2160941.
Morandini, J. S., Blaszczynski, A., & Dar-Nimrod, I. (2017). Who adopts queer and pansexual sexual identities? The Journal of Sex Research, 54(7), 911–922. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2016.1249332.
Pachankis, J. E., Mahon, C. P., Jackson, S. D., Fetzner, B. K., & Bränström, R. (2020). Sexual orientation concealment and mental health: a conceptual and meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 146(10), 831–871. https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000271.
Paechter, C., Toft, A., & Carlile, A. (2021). Non-binary young people and schools: Pedagogical insights from a small-scale interview study. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 29(5), 695–713. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2021.1912160.
Parent, M. C., & Ferriter, K. P. (2018). The co-occurrence of asexuality and self-reported post-traumatic stress disorder diagnosis and sexual trauma within the past 12 months among U.S. college students. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 47(4), 1277–1282. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-018-1171-1.
Pitcher, K. J., Smith, R. L., & Watson, R. J. (2023). Outness and social-emotional adjustment among asexual and demisexual adolescents. Journal of LGBT Youth, ahead-of-print, 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/19361653.2023.2200385.
Poteat, V. P., Watson, R. J., & Fish, J. N. (2021). Teacher support moderates associations among sexual orientation identity outness, victimization, and academic performance among LGBQ+ youth. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 50(8), 1634–1648. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01455-7.
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2008). Asymptotic and resampling strategies for assessing and comparing indirect effects in multiple mediator models. Behavior Research Methods, 40(3), 879–891. https://doi.org/10.3758/BRM.40.3.879.
Purdie-Vaughns, V., & Eibach, R. P. (2008). Intersectional invisibility: the distinctive advantages and disadvantages of multiple subordinate-group identities. Sex Roles, 59(5-6), 377–391. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-008-9424-4.
Remedios, J. D., & Snyder, S. H. (2018). Intersectional oppression: multiple stigmatized identities and perceptions of invisibility, discrimination, and stereotyping. Journal of Social Issues, 74(2), 265–281. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12268.
Rentería, R., Benjet, C., Gutierrez-Garcia, R. A., Ábrego Ramírez, A., Albor, Y., Borges, G., Covarrubias Díaz Couder, M. A., Durán, M. D. S., González González, R., Guzmán Saldaña, R., Hermosillo De la Torre, A. E., Martínez-Jerez, A. M., Martinez Martinez, K. I., Medina-Mora, M. E., Martínez Ruiz, S., Paz Pérez, M. A., Pérez Tarango, G., Zavala Berbena, M. A., Méndez, E., & Mortier, P. (2021). Suicide thought and behaviors, non-suicidal self-injury, and perceived life stress among sexual minority Mexican college students. Journal of Affective Disorders, 281, 891–898. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.11.038.
Robbins, N. K., Low, K. G., & Query, A. N. (2016). A qualitative exploration of the “coming out” process for asexual individuals. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45(3), 751–760. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-015-0561-x.
Rosario, M., Schrimshaw, E. W., Hunter, J., & Braun, L. (2006). Sexual identity development among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youths: consistency and change over time. The Journal of Sex Research, 43(1), 46–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224490609552298.
Serafini, G., Aguglia, A., Amerio, A., Canepa, G., Adavastro, G., Conigliaro, C., Nebbia, J., Franchi, L., Flouri, E., & Amore, M. (2023). The relationship between bullying victimization and perpetration and non-suicidal self-injury: a systematic review. Child Psychiatry and Human Development, 54(1), 154–175. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01231-5.
Shepherd, B. F., Chang, C. J., Dyar, C., Brochu, P. M., Selby, E. A., & Feinstein, B. A. (2022). Out of the closet, but not out of the woods: The longitudinal associations between identity disclosure, discrimination, and nonsuicidal self-injury among sexual minoritized young adults. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000597.
Simon, K. A., Hawthorne, H. M., Clark, A. N., Renley, B. M., Farr, R. H., Eaton, L. A., & Watson, R. J. (2022). Contextualizing the well-being of asexual youth: evidence of differences in family, health, and school outcomes. Journal of Youth and adolescence, 51(1), 128–140. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-021-01500-5.
Thabane, L., Mbuagbaw, L., Zhang, S., Samaan, Z., Marcucci, M., Ye, C., Thabane, M., Giangregorio, L., Dennis, B., Kosa, D., Borg Debono, V., Dillenburg, R., Fruci, V., Bawor, M., Lee, J., Wells, G., & Goldsmith, C. H. (2013). A tutorial on sensitivity analyses in clinical trials: The what, why, when and how. BMC Medical Research Methodology, 13(1), 92–92. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2288-13-92.
United Nations. (2020). World Youth Report. https://social.desa.un.org/publications/world-youth-report-2020.
Wong, D., & Guo, X. (2020). Constructions of asexual identity in China: intersections of class, gender, region of residence, and asexuality. Feminist Formations, 32(3), 75–99. https://doi.org/10.1353/ff.2020.0041.
Xu, Y., Ma, Y., & Rahman, Q. (2023). Comparing asexual with heterosexual, bisexual, and gay/lesbian individuals in common mental health problems: A multivariate meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 105, 102334–102334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2023.102334.
Yule, M. A., Brotto, L. A., & Gorzalka, B. B. (2017). Sexual fantasy and masturbation among asexual individuals: an in-depth exploration. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 46(1), 311–328. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-016-0870-8.
Acknowledgements
We thank the ACE Community Survey for providing the data and Professor Eric Blyth for his assistance in editing and proofreading this article.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
ZL conceived of the study, participated in its design and coordination and drafted the manuscript; YC participated in the design and coordination of the study, performed statistical analysis and helped draft the manuscript. Both authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Data Sharing Declaration
The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available in the Ace Community Survey 2021 repository, The Ace Community Survey | An annual survey by and for the ace community.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors report no conflict of interests. The study was approved by the Department of Sociology, Zhejiang University. All subjects who participated in the study were provided with and signed an informed consent form. All relevant ethical safeguards have been met.
Ethical approval
The analysis of secondary data in this study was exempt from ethical review.
Informed Consent
Taking part in the Ace Community Survey is completely voluntary and the participants have consent to participate in the survey.
Additional information
Declaration of Generative AI and AI-Assisted Technologies in the Writing Process
This work was produced without the use of generative AI and AI-assisted technologies.
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Liang, Z., Chen, Y. An Intersectional Exploration of Outness, Encountered Discrimination and Violence, and Non-Suicidal Self-Injury among Asexual Youth across Gender Identities. J. Youth Adolescence (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-024-01999-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-024-01999-4