September 12, 2008
 
Nearly One in Five Young Women Have Experienced Forced Intercourse
                                
New research from Child Trends finds that 18 percent of women age 18 to 24 report having experienced forced sexual intercourse at least once in their lives.  The research, summarized in a fact sheet entitled Forced Sexual Intercourse Among Young Adult Women, also shows:

• The most common types of force are verbal or physical pressure, and being physically held down.  More than half the women forced to have sexual intercourse report experiencing each of these types of force.  
  • Approximately a quarter of the women report being physically hurt.     

• Among these young adult women, those who are white, black, Hispanic, or of another race are equally likely to report having ever experienced forced sexual intercourse.  

Child Trends conducted this research for the Family Violence Prevention Fund's recently launched kNOw More initiative that examines the reproductive health consequences of sexual coercion and violence.  The analysis uses data from the 2002 National Survey of Family Growth, basing estimates of forced sexual intercourse on a sample of 1,833 females aged 18 to 24.