More men than women experienced childhood physical violence by parents, relatives

More men between the ages of 18 and 24 experienced childhood violence as opposed to women within the same age bracket, a new report has revealed.

The Violence Against Children Survey Report released by Labour Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui on Thursday measured the prevalence, nature, and consequences of physical, emotional, and sexual violence against children and youth.

According to the survey, 56.1 per cent of males and 45.9 of females underwent physical violence in their childhood.

Out of this, it added, 37.9% of the males experienced the violence at the hands of parents, caregivers, and adult relatives in comparison to 28.9% of females.

Slightly above 15% of females however experienced childhood sexual violence, from which about 62% experienced multiple incidents before age 18.

“For females, intimate partners are the most common perpetrators of childhood sexual violence, comprising 44.4% of first incidents,” it stated.

“Only two out of five females who experienced childhood sexual violence (41.3%) told someone about an incident of sexual violence.”

The report alleged that 53.6% of females did not report cases of childhood sexual violence because they “did not think it was a problem.”

It added that 12.5% of females who experienced sexual violence sought services but only 10.7% were actually successful.

However, 3.2% of the 34.2% who experienced sexual violence sought services and all of them successfully received the services.

Two out of five males – 40.6% – who experienced physical violence knew where to go for services, 8.5% actually did but only 6.4% successfully received help.

“Females are more likely than males to have had multiple sex partners in the past year (females, 94.9%; males, 69.3%). Males were more likely to infrequently or never use condoms in the past year (males, 39.9%; females, 30.4%),” added the survey.

“Females who experienced childhood violence are more likely to experience mental distress (77.4%) and suicidal ideation (40.7%) compared to females who did not experience childhood violence.”

The report cited various form of what it described as sexual violence including; unwanted sexual touching, unwanted attempted sex, pressured or coerced sex, physically forced sex as well as alcohol-facilitated forced sex.

Among the perpetrators of physical violence, as stated by the report, include current or previous intimate partners, peers, parents, adult caregivers, or other adult relatives.