Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency, experiences and correlates of sexual violence among female adolescents in Riyadh city, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was conducted in 2 schools in Riyadh city for adolescent females starting from January 2008 for 3 months. Five classes with 25 students in each were randomly selected from intermediate and secondary grade of each school. Four hundred and nineteen students were included. A self-answering questionnaire was distributed and collected after 15 minutes by 3 research assistants.
RESULTS: Forty-two adolescent students (10%) were exposed to sexual violence. Only 31% of the students were taught how to react to sexual violence. Students whose order was >/=5th among siblings and who had unsupportive parents in discussing sexual issues were more exposed to sexual violence (x2=4.02, p=0.044, x2=4.24, p=0.039).
CONCLUSION: Being >/=5th in order among siblings and having unsupportive parents in discussing sexual issues were correlates for exposure to sexual violence. Being >/=5th in order among siblings and having unsupportive parents in discussing sexual issues were correlates for exposure to sexual violence.
- Copyright: © Saudi Medical Journal
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
