Original articleWomen’s vulnerability to sexual assault from adolescence to young adulthood
Section snippets
Methods
Two incoming undergraduate classes of a medium sized state-supported university in the southeastern region of the United States were invited to participate in a 5-year longitudinal study of social experiences. The university is located in a semi-urban environment within the 80th largest city in the nation.
Results
Three sets of analyses were performed. First, the percentages of women experiencing childhood sexual victimization and childhood family violence were calculated. In addition, the percentage of women experiencing no sexual victimization, as well as each type of sexual victimization during adolescence and during each year of college was determined. Chi-square analysis was used to determine the possible relationship between childhood and adolescent victimization. Second, survival analyses were
Discussion
The present analysis of the vulnerability of young women to sexual assault was limited to undergraduate students who entered the study immediately following high school graduation, approximately 90% of whom were residents of one state in the southeastern region of the United States. The findings of our longitudinal investigation of sexual assault of college women nonetheless show a clear pattern of victimization. The highest risk for first victimization occurs in adolescence and consistently
Acknowledgements
This research was funded by Grant MH45083 from the National Institute of Mental Health.
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