One in five women and one in seven men globally are survivors of child sexual violence. This is concluded by a new study published in The Lancet which has estimated, from a data review, the prevalence of sexual aggressions against children and adolescents worldwide. The data, which refer to 204 countries, reveal that 18.9% of women and 14.8% of men over 20 suffered this type of violence in their childhood. In Spain, the figures suggest that 10.8% of girls and 12.2% of the boys have suffered in their childhood this type of aggressions, among which their online forms are not included because “they are usually measured separately,” justifies the study.
The work, carried out by the Institute of Health and Evaluation Metrics (IHME) of the University of Washington, has reviewed three global epidemiological databases managed by the Institute for the Metric and Health Evaluation, the World Health Organization and the UN from which it has obtained surveys conducted from 1990 to 2023. After synthesizing 460 different sources, the researchers made the investigators Sexual towards childhood “remains highly prevalent, permeating children’s lives in all places, socio -economic status, ages and sexes.” The prevalence has remained practically unchanged since 1990.
In the Spanish case, the proportion is invested and they are the ones who present the highest incidence. However, the findings “probably underestimate the true prevalence” of child sexual violence, warn the authors. The report does not analyze what link they had aggressor and victim, although the studies to date suggest that the vast majority of perpetrators are men in the environment, many of them family.
Differences between countries
Even so, there are significant differences between countries. Among the 204 countries analyzed – for the rest there are no data available -, the highest women for women were found in Solomon Islands (43%), Ivory Coast (33%), Chile (31%) and Costa Rica and India, where 30%of them have been victims. Among the lowest, Montenegro (6.9%) or Vietnam and Romania, with 7%. In the case of men, the greatest proportions are given in Ivory Coast (28%), Bangladesh and Botsuana (27%), and Haiti (26%), while on the other side of the table are Mongolia (4%) and Georgia and Armenia (7%).
Los resultados “son consistentes con metaanálisis previos que también han mostrado diferencias geográficas sustanciales”, esgrime el estudio, que señala que “es difícil” desentrañar si estas se deben a “diferencias reales” o son producto de la llamada divulgación diferencial de las encuestas, es decir, a la falta de enfoque integral de las preguntas para llegar a un mayor porcentaje de población como, por ejemplo, la que está en exclusión.
Even so, the analysis makes an “adjustment” to try to alleviate as much as possible the effect of this factor. “As far as we know, this is the first study that present the estimates for all locations, ages, sexes and years at the same time that the patterns of differential dissemination take into account,” he assumes.
Regarding geographical variability, work puts on the table some factors that indicate that “they could be the underlying cause” of differences because they enhance or hinder both the perpetration of violence and the disposition to break the silence: among them, the levels of gender equality, the “conceptualization of masculinity”, the socio -economic conditions, the situation of the youth or the laws of the youth or the laws of the youth.
70%, before 18
The study also estimates at what age there was sexual assault or the beginning of them in case of being continued, which revealed that a good part of sexual violence “usually happens” for the first time during childhood and adolescence. And it is that of the almost 20,000 people – 84% women – between 13 and 24 years old who identified the analysis that had once suffered sexual violence in their life, most (67% of them and 72% of them) were before the age of 18. In addition, 8% of women and 14% of men reported having been sexually assaulted before 12 years and 42% and 48%, respectively, before 16.
“These findings underline that childhood and adolescence are key intervention windows to prevent sexual violence,” concludes conclude, who describe as “moral imperative” protect children and adolescents and “mitigate” the consequences of sexual violence “throughout their lives.”
The professor of the Institute of Health and Evaluation Metrics at the University of Washington and principal researcher of the study, Emmanuela Gakidou, underlines “the urgency of addressing this generalized problem” and in this sense the research calls to improve and expand prevention programs and public policies against sexual violence towards childhood. In addition, it demands the establishment of standard measurement practices and points to the current data collection methods “have significant gaps”, especially in middle and low income countries.
The analysis also indicates several limitations, among them, that in those countries in which there were data for both women and men, in 70% of cases there were more data on them, which reflects “a substantial compositional bias.” On the other hand, the authors recognize that “trans people and not satisfied with gender” suffer “a high risk of child sexual abuse”, but gender identity is usually not taken into account in surveys. In addition, these are usually affected “by memory biases” that can impact the results. “For example, older people could be less prone to precisely reporting sexual violence,” they say.
“The authors point out that sexual violence against childhood is usually infrarreported, so the real figures could be much greater, and there is an urgent need for resources and financing to develop health systems that support surveillance in all countries,” he says in statements collected by Science Media Center Jaya Dantas, Professor of International Health in the School of Population Health of the University of Population Health of the University of Population Health of the University of Population Health. Pilar Matud, a professor at the University of La Laguna, coincides and highlights the “importance and need” of work because sexual violence “has traditionally remained hidden.”
Source: www.eldiario.es
