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Sexual
Assault &
Intimate Partner Violence
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Reduce
sexual assault.
Developmental
Objective, baseline data to be collected in 2001.
Reduce
the rate of physical abuse by current or former intimate partners.
Developmental
Objective, baseline data to be collected in 2001.
Increase
the number of sexual assault victims seeking and receiving services.
Target:
6,793 victims of sexual assault will receive services.
Baseline, July 1998-June 1999: 5,434 victims of sexual
assault received services from Rape Crises Centers.
Target Setting Method: 25 percent increase.
Increase
the number of victims of intimate partner violence seeking and receiving
services.
Target:
49,336 victims of intimate partner abuse will receive services.
Baseline, July 1998-June 1999: 39,469 victims of intimate partner
abuse received services from Battered Women Shelters.
Target Setting Method: 25 percent increase.
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Injury
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Sexual Assault & Intimate Partner Violence
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Sexual assault
Sexual
assault is any unwanted sexual contact or attention achieved by force,
threat, bribe, manipulation, pressure, trickery, or violence. Sexual
assault may be physical or non-physical and includes rape and attempted
rape, child molestation and incest, and sexual harassment. Acquaintances,
friends, or relatives commit sexual assault more often than strangers.
Sexual assault is a widespread problem that
affects mainly women. About one in eight women (14.8 percent) report
being victims of forcible rape sometime in their lifetime, resulting
in 12.1 million victims in the United States. Rape and sexual assault
affect the victim’s mental and physical wellbeing for years beyond
the occurrence. Mental health consequences for victims of sexual assault
include increased risk of depression, sexual dysfunction, posttraumatic
stress disorder, anxiety, suicide, substance abuse, and relationship
problems. According to the 1997 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance
System, 18.5 percent of adult women in North Carolina have been sexually
assaulted at least once in their lives, and 73 percent of these were
forced into sexual intercourse. About 6.2 percent of adult men have
been sexually assaulted, and about 39 percent of these were raped.
Alcohol and substance abuse is often a contributing factor in sexual
assault. |
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Intimate Partner
Violence
Intimate
partner violence is aggressive or controlling behavior by a person
toward a partner in order to have power over that person’s
actions. It may be physical, sexual, or psychological/emotional
abuse. It encompasses all forms of violence that occur in any type
of intimate relationship: spouses, ex-spouses, current or former
boyfriends and girlfriends, and current or former dating partners.
Many terms are used to describe intimate partner violence including
domestic violence, spouse abuse, battering, date rape, and marital
rape.
North Carolina magistrates handle about
200,000 cases of domestic violence each year; that is about one
case for every 13.5 adult women in the state. Nationally, 37 percent
of the females seen in hospital emergency departments for violence-related
injuries were there for injuries inflicted by spouses, ex-spouses,
or non-marital partners. Slightly more than half the female victims
of intimate violence live in households with children under the
age of 12. About half of the incidents of intimate violence experienced
by women are reported to the police. About one in five incidents
reported to the police resulted in an arrest at the scene. Nearly
one-half the female homicide victims were murdered by a husband,
ex-husband, or boyfriend. A North Carolina study of femicide found
that more than half the women studied were killed
by current or former intimate
partners and at least two-thirds of those deaths were preceded by
domestic violence. Intimate partner violence increases with the
abuse of drugs and alcohol.
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Disparities
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Sexual assault
Sexual
assault victims are disproportionately adolescents and young adults.
The National Victim’s Center study found that 54 percent of all
sexual assault victims were assaulted between the ages of 11 and 24,
and an additional 29 percent prior to age 11. About 90 percent of
sexual assault victims are females. A longitudinal study of North
Carolina college students found that almost 50 percent of the females
had been sexually victimized as adolescents; 20.4 percent had been
victims of rape or attempted rape; 15 percent had been verbally coerced
into sexual intercourse; and 14 percent had been coerced into other
unwanted sexual contact. About 20 percent were victimized during college.
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Intimate Partner
Violence
More
women experience partner violence than men. The National Violence
Against Women survey found that 25 percent of surveyed women had
been raped or physically assaulted by an intimate partner at some
time in their lives. In contrast, only 8 percent of surveyed men
reported such an experience. Intimate partner violence is more lethal
for women. Data from the FBI show that in 1996, an intimate partner
murdered 30 percent of all female homicide victims. In contrast,
only 3 percent of all male murder victims were killed by wives,
ex-wives, or girlfriends.
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Determinants/Risk
factors
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Sexual assault
- Individual factors: Prior victimization,
family history of assault, traditional sex role beliefs that support
assault, acceptance of violence
- Situational factors: Isolated location,
disinhibitors (alcohol, drugs), presence of sexual stimuli
- Environmental factors: Social norms
supporting male control/domination of women, peer group acceptance
of violence
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Intimate Partner
Abuse
Relationship characterized by a pattern of coercive control and
increasing entrapment; single, separated, or divorced women; pregnancy;
youth; alcohol and substance abuse
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| Injury
- Sexual Assault & Intimate Partner Violence |
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