Prevalence and Risk Factors of Sexual Victimization: Findings From a National Representative Sample of Belgian Adults Aged 16-69

Abstract

Background: Sexual victimization is a major public health, judicial and societal concern worldwide. Prevalence studies on sexual victimization have mostly focused on female and student samples. Overall, nationally representative and comparable studies are still lacking.Methods:We applied a broad definition of sexual violence, including hands-off and hands-on victimization, and behaviorally specific questions to assess sexual victimization. Prevalence estimates were obtained after weighting the sample according to the population proportions of men and women in three age groups. The data provide nationally representative lifetime and 12-month prevalence estimates. We further conducted logistic regression to estimate adjusted odds ratios to examine the relationship between demographic, socioeconomic, and sexuality-related variables with the likelihood of being victimized.Results: These estimates indicate that 64.1% (95% CI: 61.9-66.1) of the general population in Belgium experienced some form of sexual victimization in their lives, and 44.1% (95% CI: 41.9-46.2) experienced some form of sexual victimization in the past 12 months. Logistic regression analysis shows that women are more than five times more likely to be victimized in their lifetimes than men (aOR = 4.96, 95% CI: 4.02-6.14), with an overall prevalence estimate of 80.8% (95% CI: 78.3-83.1). Young adults between 16 and 24 years are twice as likely to be victimized in their lifetimes (aOR = 2.13, 95% CI: 1.36-3.35) and more than three times more likely in the past 12 months (aOR = 3.52, 95% CI: 2.82-4.18) compared to adults aged 50 to 69 years. Prevalence estimates for all forms of sexual victimization are presented and compared to other national and international studies on sexual victimization.Conclusion: This comparison suggests that prevalence rates have been underestimated . The prevalence estimates obtained in this study demonstrate that all sexes and ages are affected by sexual victimization.

Sexual violence in older adults: a Belgian prevalence study

“…However, compared to an online study in the Belgian population aged 16 to 69 years using the same questionnaire, we found lower lifetime and past 12-months prevalence rates [34]. This decreased SV reporting with increasing age may adequately represent lower sexual victimisation rates in older adults or may be explained by several factors, such as reduced recall in general [35], reduced recall of negative events [36, 37], or higher mortality among people with a SV history [38, 39].…”

“…Although some studies reported physical force was more often used on older SV victims compared to younger victims, most studies did not report significant differences between younger and older victims regarding use of physical force as a coercion strategy [12]. Because our findings are similar to the coercion strategies identified by younger victims in Belgium [34], we assume that the coercion strategies used on older adults are similar to the ones used on younger victims and not as violent as believed [12].…”

‘Breaking the silence’: Sexual victimisation in an old age psychiatry patient population in Flanders

“…However, a recent SV prevalence study in the Belgium population aged 16-69 years contradicts this hypothesis. 30 Another reason could be the use of BSQ to assess SV in our study. Research has shown that the use of BSQ leads to increased detection of SV in both men and women, but the impact may be even greater in men.…”