Sexual violence is a widespread problem in the USA that strikes the majority of its victims early in life, according to a major government study released Wednesday.
Nearly 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men report being raped in their lifetime, says the study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The study is the first to examine the prevalence of rape, sexual violence other than rape, stalking and intimate partner violence, and to report the damaging health consequences that last a lifetime. It calls for prevention efforts "that should start early."
Among female victims, 30% reported being first raped when they were between 11 and 17 years old; 12% were 10 or younger. Among males, 28% of male victims were first raped when they were 10 or younger.
"The finding of this happening at an early age has huge policy implications," says Howard Spivak, director of the CDC's division of violence prevention. "We need to focus on children, not (just) teens or adults. There's already a significant number of individuals affected by the time they are teens or adults."
Coming in the wake of the child abuse charges against former Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky, the study "shows what a staggering problem there is in the USA," says Lisa James, director of health for Futures Without Violence, a non-profit group dedicated to ending violence. "It is quite alarming and shows we need to start helping people earlier and earlier."
More than one-third of women (about 42.4 million) have experienced rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner. One in 10 women has been raped by an intimate partner. Approximately 80% experienced their first rape before the age of 25.
Among the male victims, 52.4% reported being raped by an acquaintance and 15.1% by a stranger.
Both male and female victims reported their attackers were predominately male.
"The numbers surprise us," says Linda Degutis, the leading author of the report and the CDC's director for National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. "All of this underscores that sexual violence is widespread and an important health problem in this country."
Other findings:
•Nearly half of all women and men have experienced psychological aggression by an intimate partner in their lifetime.
•Nearly 1 in 2 women (44.6%) and 1 in 5 men (22.2%) experienced sexual violence other than rape at some point in their lives.
9,086 women and 7,421 men participated in The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey conducted over the telephone. The 2010 survey is the first year of the study and will be used to track trends. Respondents were asked about their lifetime experiences. Approximately 1.3 million women reported being raped in the 12 months prior to taking the survey.
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