Partners Blamed for Most Sexual Victimizations

Researchers report that 18 percent of young women say they have experience sexual victimization in the past two years and 66 percent of them were victimized by an intimate partner, not a stranger. The University of Buffalo survey of 927 women also found that sexual victimization of women by intimate partners and non-intimate partners are two completely separate phenomena, with two different sets of risk factors for victimization by two different types of perpetrators.

Victimization was defined as unwanted sexual contact, verbally coerced sex, rape or attempted rape. An intimate partner was defined as a boyfriend/dating partner, husband, ex-boyfriend or ex-husband.

"Because risk factors or predictors for the two different types of sexual victimization differ, considering them separately allowed us to see who is vulnerable to which type of experience," stated Maria Testa, Ph.D., lead investigator on the study in a press release. "It also has suggested the need for tailoring prevention strategies to each type of experience."

The Research Institute on Addictions study found:

• Predictors of intimate partner victimization included being married or living together, prior intimate partner victimization and difficulty refusing a partner's request for sex.

• A main predictor of victimization by a non-intimate perpetrator was binge drinking.

• Another predictor of victimization by a non-intimate perpetrator was engaging in sex with a greater number of sexual partners.

"One explanation for this may be that a perpetrator who is not intimately acquainted with a victim is more likely to take advantage of a woman's intoxication as a way to facilitate having sex with her," according to Testa. "Women who are heavy drinkers or binge drinkers typically drink outside the home and in the presence of others who are drinking, reflecting a lifestyle that poses greater risk from men they don't know."

Prevention Suggestions

The authors suggests that prevention strategies to reduce sexual victimization by non-intimate partners should be designed to reduce heavy drinking, as well as the number of sexual partnerships, especially in college students.

To prevent sexual victimization from intimate partners, they suggest assertiveness training for women about how to effectively refuse sexual advances and discouraging young women from entering or remaining in coercive relationships.

The research results were published in the February 2007 issue of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology.

More Information:

• Crime Victim's Rights and Resources
  
• Dating Violence
  
• Rape and Sexual Assault