The study found that teenagers and teenagers under the age of 18 make up one in five of women attending national sexual violence treatment centers over the past seven years.
Among 14 or 15-year-olds, three in ten have been attacked by strangers or someone they have just met, but almost a quarter were attacked by a ‘friend’ and another quarter were attacked by an acquaintance.
One of the largest surveys of its kind in Ireland shows that almost one in six victims believe they were under the influence of drugs before the attack.
Of the nearly 6,000 women attending sexual violence treatment centers between 2017 and 2023, nearly four in 10 said their attacker was a stranger or someone they had recently met (within the last 24 hours).
The study showed that the 18-24 age category was most represented among participants (38%), followed by people aged 25-34 (22%).
People under 18 years of age accounted for 20.5% of victims, including:
- 628 aged 16-17 (11%);
- 479 aged 14-15 (8%);
- 108 (2%) under the age of 14.
The study was carried out by a team of medical experts from the Royal College of Surgeons’ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the sexual violence units at the Rotunda Hospitals in Dublin and Galway.
It said sexual assault is “common” in modern society, with Irish figures showing that half of women will experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime.
Of the 5,942 women who attended six units over seven years, 38% were full-time students and 22% were unemployed.
The attackers were men in 92% of the cases, and in 7% of the incidents there were multiple attackers (435 attacks).
About 16% of victims believed they were under the influence of drugs before the attack, including 14% of those aged 16-17 and 20% of those aged 18-44.
The study showed that 38.5% of women had been attacked by strangers or someone they had just met (acquaintance within the last 24 hours), including 47% of women aged 18-24, 40% of people aged 16-17 and 40% of people aged 25–34.
A “friend” was the perpetrator in 23% of cases among 14-15-year-olds, 17% among 16-17-year-olds and 12% among under-14s.
Acquaintance longer than one day was responsible for 26% of attacks among 14-15-year-olds, 22% among 16-17-year-olds and 21% among 18-24-year-olds.
A family member was responsible for 42% of attacks among people under 14 years of age.
More than seven in ten admitted they had been drinking in the 24 hours before the attack. Nearly 60% of 18- to 24-year-olds said they had had more than six standard drinks (three pints of beer or six small glasses of wine).
In the 16-17 age group, this percentage was 37%. Among people aged 14–15, it was 29% and 13% under 14.