{"id":1947412,"date":"2019-01-03T14:38:17","date_gmt":"2019-01-03T19:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/?p=1947412"},"modified":"2019-01-03T14:38:17","modified_gmt":"2019-01-03T19:38:17","slug":"sexual-violence-teen-partners-1947412-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.futurity.org\/sexual-violence-teen-partners-1947412-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Sexual partner violence against teens isn’t all the same"},"content":{"rendered":"
Young women who experience sexual partner violence in their first relationships don’t all experience it the same way, researchers say.<\/p>\n
The new study, which identifies the various risk factors linked to sexual violence, suggests predicting teen partner rape could be a step toward preventing it.<\/p>\n
“There’s this idea that sexual violence doesn’t happen in relationships\u2014certainly not in young women’s first relationships\u2014which is absolutely not the case,” says Angie Kennedy, associate professor of social work at Michigan State University.<\/p>\n
“We wanted to examine the most severe forms of sexual violence\u2014rape and attempted rape\u2014to better understand the specific risk factors linked to partner rape among young women. Our results can be used to inform prevention and intervention efforts aimed at reducing sexual violence among young people.”<\/p>\n
Kennedy and colleagues interviewed 148 college-aged women between the ages of 18 and 24 who experienced partner violence in at least one prior relationship. To get a diverse sample, they recruited participants from a university, a two-year college, and community sites serving low-income young women, including a county health clinic and a transitional living program.<\/p>\n
In the interviews, the researchers asked the young women to talk about all of their partner relationships, starting with their first relationship, which began when they were around 15 years old on average.<\/p>\n
The results showed consistent risk factors for partner rape across the three groups of women. During their first relationships, lower socioeconomic status, younger age, and higher levels of physical abuse and coercive control predicted sexual violence.<\/p>\n
Key risk factors across all of the young women’s relationships include a greater age difference between them and their partners, physical abuse, and coercive control.<\/p>\n