6 facts about sexual assault among youths
Christine Blasey Ford’s account of allegedly being sexually assaulted by Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when they were teenagers is provoking both informed and uninformed comment from politicians. Still more private conversations about the subject are happening in homes and offices around the country.
There is a large body of social science research about what are called “peer sexual assaults” that is relevant to these discussions. We are experts on violence, including sex offenses against children and youth, and our research focuses on surveys to document those realities and track the trends.
Here are six basic facts about sexual assault among adolescents. What does research say?
1. Assaults among people under the age of 18 are common: 18 percent of girls and 3 percent of boys say that by age 17 they have been victims of a sexual assault or abuse at the hands of another adolescent.
This estimate, and those in the next three points, come from a national survey on violence of more than 6,000 youths ages 10 to 17, conducted between 2008 and 2014. Peer sexual assault was defined by affirmative answers to either of two questions: 1. At any time in your life, did another child or teen make you do sexual things? 2. At any time in your life, did anyone try to force you to have sex, that is, sexual intercourse of any kind, even if it did not happen?
In addition, to be counted, all offenses required physical contact and a juvenile perpetrator.
2. Most assaults between adolescents do not involve sexual intercourse. Penetration occurs only in 15 percent of cases.
3. Failure to disclose or report the assault is common. Most – 66 percent – of adolescent victims did not tell a parent or any other adult about the assault. Only 19 percent reported the assault to the police.
https://www.heraldnet.com/opinion/commentary-6-facts-about-sexual-assault-among-youths/
