Sexual minority college students are at greater risk of being drugged than heterosexuals

What is it about?

"Drugging" is when someone is given a drug without their knowledge or consent. Since sexual minorities (lesbian, gay, and bisexual people) report (on average) greater risks for drugging risk factors, such as alcohol use, we thought that this population might report greater rates of being drugged. We used data from about 6,000 college students in the United States. We found that male sexual minorities were drugged much more often than heterosexual males (9.4% of sexual minority and 3.7% of heterosexual males reported being drugged), and this difference was statistically significant. Female participants reported similar rates by sexual orientation: 9.8% of heterosexual women and 10% of sexual minority women. This is also the first study to show that voluntary drug use is also a risk factor for being drugged.

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Why is it important?

Our results show that female college students (regardless of sexual orientation) and sexual minority men are at heightened risk for being drugged. This is the first study to test differences in drugging between sexual minorities and heterosexuals. This is important because drugging victimization often results in serious consequences, and determining what places people at risk for drugging is necessary to figure out how to prevent it.

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