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Abstract
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Background: Acute sexual assault is a serious and underreported crime with the potential to cause grave physical and emotional harm to victims. Despite its relatively high prevalence in adolescents, there is limited information detailing the experience in younger adolescents.
Methods: We analyzed the emergency department records of 137 adolescent assault victims grouped with a similar adult population. We extracted demographic characteristics and details of the sexual assault as well as information about treatment and aftercare.
Results: The circumstances of an assault were significantly different for adolescents than for adults. Adolescents were more likely than adults to know their assailant (65% versus 35%, P<0.01), to be assaulted during daytime hours (18% versus 16%, P <0.05), and to be assaulted in a residence. During the time of the assault, the majority of adolescents were not in situations where there was adult supervision. Adolescents were significantly less likely to sustain physical injury (37% versus 12%, P <0.01), to have a weapon used against them, or to be forced into multiple sexual acts. Follow-up rates were poor for assault victims, with adolescents having a higher rate of medical follow-up. Adolescents were less likely to receive rape-centered counseling referrals than were adults, (48% versus 58%, P <0.01), even when controlling for the violence of assault, race, or insurance status.
Conclusion: Adolescent sexual assault appears to be less violent, typically occurring in familiar settings. Adolescents are more compliant with medical follow-up, but are less likely to be offered rape-centered counseling. |