How Intimate Partner Violence Is Influenced by Social Identity Among Sexual Minority Men.

Sexual minority men (SMM) experience intimate partner violence (IPV) at disproportionately high rates. The objective of this article was to identify the experiences of SMM and health care providers on how social identity impacts IPV. SMM participants ( = 23) were recruited from online community settings and a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and others (LGBTQ+) organization in Los Angeles; providers ( = 10) were recruited from LGBTQ+ organizations. Semistructured interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. An applied thematic analysis approach was implemented to create memos, inductively generate a codebook, apply codes to the transcripts, and identify key themes in data. Three main themes were identified. The first theme was , which had three subthemes: (1) immigration status, race/ethnicity, and skin color, (2) threatening to "out" the partner's sexual orientation, and (3) abusing power inequity. Men who perpetrated IPV often used minority identities or undisclosed sexuality to leverage power over their partner. The second theme was , by exerting power over the more "feminine" partner. The third theme was , which details how internalized homophobia was often expressed in violent outbursts toward partners. These findings highlight how IPV among SMM can be influenced by social and sexual identity. Future research must consider socially constructed power structures and the multiple identities of SMM when developing interventions to address IPV in this population.