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Global Study Reveals High Rates of Sexual Violence Against Children

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Jan 15, 2025.

TUESDAY, Jan. 14, 2025 -- Lifetime sexual harassment has a pooled rate of 11.4 percent among children, while contact sexual violence has a rate of 8.7 percent, according to a review published online Jan. 13 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Antonio Piolanti, Ph.D., from the University of Klagenfurt in Austria, and colleagues conducted a systematic review to estimate the global prevalence of sexual violence among children. A total of 165 studies, with 958,182 children from 80 countries, were included; most data (58.2 percent) focused on girls.

The researchers found that the most prevalent outcome was lifetime sexual harassment, with a pooled rate of 11.4 percent, followed by any contact sexual violence, which had a rate of 8.7 percent. Overall, 6.1 and 1.3 percent of children reported experiencing completed forced sexual intercourse in their lifetime and in the previous year, respectively. The rates of lifetime completed forced sexual intercourse were higher among girls than boys (6.8 versus 3.3 percent), similar to past-year violence (2.3 versus 0.6 percent, respectively). The reported prevalence of sexual violence varied considerably across regions and countries. In some exploratory analyses, older age of children, lower national income levels, and use of school-based surveys were associated with higher rates of sexual violence reporting.

"The findings highlight the need for prioritizing sexual violence against both boys and girls in research and policy," the authors write.

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Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

© 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

Posted January 2025

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