Nearly 10 percent people, aged 21 years or younger, committed some type of forced sexual violence during their lifetime, and perpetrators reported more exposure to violent X-rated material, a new study has revealed.
Michele L. Ybarra, M.P.H., Ph.D., of the Center for Innovative Public Health Research, San Clemente, Calif., and Kimberly J. Mitchell, Ph.D., of the University of New Hampshire, Durham, N.H., estimated adolescent sexual violence perpetration and reported details of the experience after analyzing data for 1,058 young people between the ages of 14 and 21 years in the Growing Up with Media study.
Nine percent of youths (n=108) reported perpetrating some type of sexual violence in their lifetime: 8 percent (n=84) kissed, touched or made someone else do something sexual knowing the other person did not want to (forced contact); 3 percent (n=33) got someone to have sex when they knew the other person did not want to (coercive sex); 3 percent (n=43) attempted but were not able to force someone to have sex (attempted rape); and 2 percent (n=18) forced someone to have sex (completed rape).
The most common age at the first perpetration of sexual violence was 16 years old, and males were overwhelmingly more likely to have their first episode at 15 years of age or younger.
Perpetrators of sexual violence also tended to report more frequently being exposed to media that depicted sexual and violent situations, although the results were not always statistically significant, according to the study.
The study has been published in JAMA Pediatrics.
