About one in every 10 teens in the U.S have admitted to committing sexual violence by forcing to kiss, touch or have sex with another person unwilling to do so.
A new study discovered that about one in every 10 teens or about nine percent of U.S teens have involved themselves to sexual violence. These actions involve forcing another person to kiss, touch or have sex with them without their consent.
Michele Ybarra, lead author of the study and president director of Internet Solution for Kids, and her colleagues conducted an online survey to about 1,000 teens and young American adults, between age 14 and 21, from 2010 to 2011.
There were studies before that had found sexual violators actually start doing so when they were young. However, these researchers hardly estimate how many commit sexually violent acts.
Their findings reveal that nine percent of the survey participants admitted to have attempted or was able to force someone to do sexual activity or have sex with them. About four percent of them had tried or was able to force someone to do sexual activity or have sex with them. On the other hand, around eight percent said they kissed or touched another person without their consent. Around three percent have used coercion to have sex with an unwilling person.
The youngest who had done sexual violence was 16. Males have higher tendencies to do sexually violent acts as early as 15. However once teens reach 18 to 19, women and men have the same tendencies to commit them.
The new study is very significant in finding out how prevalent sexual violence is among teenagers. According to Ybarra, it is also imperative that further research be done to confirm their findings.
"Hopefully it really does start a conversation about sexual violence in adolescents," Ybarra told Reuters.
The study was published in the Oct. 7 issue of JAMA Pediatrics.
