Factors associated with an increased risk of being sexually assaulted during adulthood

An update of this section is due in 2025.

Risk factors for sexual assault are conditions, circumstances or characteristics associated with an individual or his or her environment that increase the likelihood of the individual becoming a perpetrator or a victim of sexual assault. The presence of one or more risk factors is not a cause of sexual assault, but it can increase the risk that sexual assault will occur.1

  • Anyone can be sexually assaulted during his or her lifetime. However, adults with certain characteristics account for a larger share of sexual assault victims.
  • The risk factors associated with being sexually assaulted during adulthood have been studied primarily for female victims and are related to a wide range of sexual assault situations, including intimate partner sexual assault in a conjugal context.
  • The community and societal factors identified as being associated with an increased risk of being sexually assaulted as an adult show that sexual assault is a social phenomenon that concerns the population as a whole.
  • Identifying factors that are associated with an increased risk of being sexually assaulted as an adult helps to better plan preventive interventions in the area of sexual assault by making it possible to target higher-risk groups and act on the risk factors concerned.

Individual factors2,3,4

Certain individual factors have been associated with an increased likelihood of being sexually assaulted as an adult. The most consistently reported factors include: being a woman, being young, having been maltreated in childhood, having already been a victim of sexual assault, using drugs or alcohol, and working in the sex trade.

Relationship/family factors2,3,4

Few relationship factors have been associated with an increased risk of being sexually assaulted as an adult. However, having multiple sexual partners has been mentioned as a factor that can contribute to the risk.

Community factors2,3

Community factors associated with an increased likelihood of being sexually assaulted as an adult have been studied to only a limited extent thus far. However, some studies suggest that tolerance of sexual assault and weak sanctions against sexual assault within a community play a role in raising the risk.

Societal factors2,3

Various societal factors have been associated with an increased risk of being sexually assaulted as an adult, in particular: traditional norms regarding gender roles, the presence of an ideology of male sexual entitlement, weak legal sanctions against sexual assault, and social norms that support sexual assault.

References

  1. Baril, K. and Tourigny, M. (2009). La violence sexuelle envers les enfants. In M.E. Clément and S. Dufour, eds., La violence à l’égard des enfants en milieu familial (pp.145-160). Anjou: Éditions CEC. (Available in French only)
  2. World Health Organization (WHO), London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. (2010). Preventing intimate partner and sexual violence against women. Taking action and generating evidence. Geneva: World Health Organization.
  3. Jewkes, R., Sen, P. and Garcia-Moreno, C. (2002). Sexual violence. In E.G. Krug, L.L. Dahlberg, J.A. Mercy, A. Zwi and R. Lozano-Ascencio, eds., World report on violence and health (pp. 147-181). Geneva: World Health Organization.
  4. Söchting, I., Fairbrother, N. and Koch, W.J. (2004). Sexual Assault of Women: Prevention Efforts and Risk Factors, Violence Against Women, 10(1), 73-93.