10 November 2008

Young People and Sexual Assault: What Schools Can Do

 

School students who have experienced sexual violence are often reluctant to go to the police, but usually disclose their experience to friends or family, a research review by the Australian Institute of Family Studies has found.

Fourteen percent of girls aged between 12 and 20 have been sexually assaulted along with three percent of boys – the vast majority by people the students know.

“The abuse of young people by people in authority has been the focus of public concern. However sexual assault between young people at parties and in dating relationships is often still not acknowledged,” said Institute General Manager (Research) Dr Daryl Higgins.

Technology including mobile phones, digital imaging and the Internet are also contributing to situations difficult to define as assault by law.

“Within schools peer-to-peer sexual assaults have been unacknowledged because the assault has taken place outside school grounds or is interpreted as being part of the rough and tumble of high school life,” Dr Higgins said.

While only about 15 percent of sexual assaults are reported to police, around two-thirds of victims tell someone in their informal support network, with older teenagers aged between 14 and 17 more likely to tell someone.

“Young people may not disclose what’s happened because they know the perpetrator, fear they won’t be believed or may be blamed, or because they worry about the impact of this on others and are unsure about how to negotiate safe sexual relationships,” AIFS researcher Dr Antonia Quadara said.

Students should also be asked if they need to speak to someone of their own gender, the school counselor, be informed of their rights and told of support.

“School staff told about an assault need to support the young person, provide a safe, private environment, let the young person take their time and tell them as much or as little as they are comfortable with. Then they should be referred to the right services,” Dr Quadara said. “Clear disclosure tends to be the exception rather than the rule; schools have an important role to play as key sites of prevention”.

Information on the National Safe Schools Framework (NSSF)

 

Responding to young people disclosing sexual assault: A resource for schools, ACSSA Wrap No. 6, 2008. By Dr Antonia Quadara, Coordinator, Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault

 

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