The prevalence of abuse, harassment and assault in young lives
- Estimates indicate that one-quarter of all children are abused before they turn 16 (ref 1).
- Of 800 Atlantic Canadian girls surveyed, 29% reported having experienced some form of dating violence. While 22% had experienced an incident of psychological or physical abuse, another 19% had experienced sexual coercion (ref 2).
- Boys 4 -7 years of age were 3 times more often the victims of sexual abuse than boys of other ages (ref 3).
- In Canada, 75% of Aboriginal girls under 18 have been sexually abused (ref 4).
- A study involving over 600 elite athletes found half had experienced some form of harassment, whether sexual, physical, racial or verbal (ref 5).
- In Canada, 8% of students reported being bullied at least once a week (ref 6). One major study in Toronto schools found that a bullying act took place every seven minutes, and teachers were aware of only 4% of these incidents (ref 7).
Prevention does work!
- A survey of 2000 youth concluded that those who participated in school-based abuse prevention programs had greater knowledge about abuse issues, and were more likely to demonstrate protective behaviors, to seek help, and to understand that the maltreatment they suffered was not their fault (ref 8).
- In another study involving young females, researchers found that those who had NOT participated in a school-based prevention program were nearly twice as likely to have experienced child sexual abuse as young women who had participated in such a program (ref 9).
