Rape more common than smoking in the US
The United States is experiencing an epidemic of sexual violence. New findings from the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS), a study launched by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2010, report that nearly 1 in 5 women are estimated to have been the victims of rape, defined as unwanted completed or attempted sexual penetration, including victims who did not have the capacity to give consent (owing to intoxication, for example). In almost all cases, the perpetrator was someone the victim knew (91.9%) and more than half of the time was their own partner. Young adulthood was the period of highest risk for first sexual victimization. For 80% of female victims, first rape occurred before age 25; for 42%, before age 18.
Although the lifetime prevalence of stalking was surprisingly less than the prevalence of non-consensual sexual contact, incidence estimates for the past year suggest that this trend could be changing as new communication technologies introduce new opportunities for sexual harassment. In 2010, the study estimates that 1.27 million American woman were raped--equivalent to one woman every 29 seconds--and 5.1 million were stalked--equivalent to one woman every 7 seconds.
These are a few of the key findings from the first annual report of what will be an ongoing, nationally representative survey of sexual violence in the US. The NISVS will be a great resource to public health researchers. Using the data collected by the NISVS, investigators will be able to monitor national and state-specific trends in the prevalence of sexual violence and stalking for the first time, to characterize the type of individuals who are at the highest risk of being a victim or a perpetrator of a sexual crime (whether physical or psychological), and to investigate the health consequences of sexual victimization.
The first NISVS report has already made national headlines because of the high prevalence of forced sex that was found. To give some perspective, the study's figures, if true, indicate that number of American women who have been raped is greater than the number who are current smokers. Skeptics might question whether such statistics could be for real. After all, some surveys have been made famous for getting it wrong, like the 1948 polls that were made the laughingstock of newly elected President Harry S. Truman after they predicted that Thomas E. Dewey would win the election. A survey that makes predictions risks being ridiculed (often very publicly) but it benefits from the opportunity of self-correction. Surveys that only intend to provide a snapshot of a population never get such feedback. As a consequence, the study designers can never know whether they have managed to avoid distortion.
For survey research, coverage and response are the most important ingredients to getting an accurate picture of the population of interest. Surveys with good coverage give every member of the target population a chance to participate. Convenience samples, like polls conducted at shopping malls, are notoriously poor at coverage. When random digit dialing was introduced in the 1970s, it was a breakthrough for survey research because it largely solved the coverage problem. At that time, 90% of the US population had a landline telephone. So, with RDD and phone interviews, the question was no longer how to get a sample with good coverage for almost any region of the States but how to do it in a cost-effective way.
With the increasing popularity of new communication technologies in the 21st centruy, there is a growing number of Americans who will never be reached through a landline. The challenge that cell phone use in particular poses for survey research has been a focus of the work of Paul J. Lavrakas, former Chief Research Methodologist for Nielsen and contributing author to Advances in Telephone Survey Methodology. In a Public Opinion Quarterly article summarizing the outcomes of several gatherings of expert panels between 2003 and 2008, Larakas and colleagues conclude that "...surveying persons reached on cell phone numbers in the United States currently is a very complex undertaking if one wants to do it 'right,' i.e. to do it legally, ethically, and in ways that optimally allocate one's finite resources to gather the highest quality data, and to analyze and interpret those data accurately.'' Though daunting, to avoid non-coverage bias, it is an undertaking that has to be faced. The Pew Research Center estimates that for 25% of current households the only phone service used is a mobile phone.
The 2010 NISVS was a telephone survey. A strength of the design is that both landline and cell phones were included. Of the 16,507 completed interviews, 9,046 of the participants were on a cell phone and 7,461 were on a landline.
Response is the more concerning piece of the NISVS methodology. Using the American Association for Public Opinion Research Response Rate 4 formula, response rate is defined as the number of fully and partially completed interviews over all eligible cases, which is the sum total of cases with completed interviews, refusals, non-contacts, other spoken language than that used for the survey, and a correction factor for cases of unknown eligibility. The NISVS response rate was an underwhelming 27.5%. The majority of non-response was due to non-contacts. Although this rate is actually better than average for national telephone surveys, it still raises that question of whether the experience of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence is different among those Americans in the 72.5% of the sample who were either away from their phone or who looked at the unknown number coming in and chose not to answer.
If non-participation were a random event (a doubtful but much hoped for circumstance for survey researchers), then the NISVS participants would still provide a nationally representative sample of Americans. However, there is evidence that chance was not entirely indiscriminate when selecting the 27.5% of responders when one compares the NISVS sample and the US population on several socio-economic characteristics. In contrast to the US population, participants in the NISVS were more likely to have a college or advanced degree (36.4% versus 29.6%), more likely to be divorced (12.9% versus 10.3%), more likely to never have been married (30.2% and 26.1%), and more likely to have an annual household income that was below the federal poverty level (19.6% versus 12.1%).
The NISVS has an important public health message but it is unclear to which public it applies.
Comment on this article
Skip to Main Site Navigation / Login
Comments
Cleonice
I believe we are all very clear that the big iputcre the final iputcre, the end product is murder, yes! But that came last.But what led there is the rape, the initial intent of this person was rape, it started with the idea of rape , the attempt to rape was the main cause that lead to the murder of this young woman who fought courageously till her last breath.I was born and raised in Lebanon, and I only have one thing to say, why are we protecting lebanese rapists molesters?Any objectors don't even get me started! Ohhh don't even get me counting!Why is it that women are so afraid to come out and say this F**KING basterd raped me, tried to rape me. WHY ARE WE NOT ANGRY AGOUT IT!With the older generation of women standing by not saying anything, you are only teaching your daughters that rape is ok, it happens, we don't talk about it, and that's ok! ENOUGH IS ENOUGHand I want to add a filthy pig is a filthy pig, they will attempt at you day or night, people or no people, on the street, in a taxi, on the bus, even if you are in your own car, and they can't see anything but your face!We need do something to protect the women and especially, especially the children are little ones,pure of heart they should be educated and know what is acceptable and what is not acceptable behavior to expect from any person, no matter what the age!If a survey needs to be done then let's do it, let's go out on the streets and get people to fill out form, anonymous drop them in black boxes, let's find out, and show them what the percentages are and what the ages are of the people affected by rape in Lebanon! I will come back there just for this! My condolences to the family of Myriam Achkar,, revenge is not the answer is all I can say to the family. If so then you are only putting yourself at the same level as the filthy low life that murdered your daughter, I do hope that he gets caught and put to justice, and rots in jail for the rest of his miserable life !
reply to this comment
AvaM
Quote:
You are correct - statistics can be manipulated to support the views of the author, or for that matter, anyone who is looking to support their own private agenda. This is similar to what you just did. You manipulated the words to serve your own purpose and your own preconceived notion that the author is a man-hating feminist. Did you ever consider that possibly this writer's agenda had something to do with their own moral values? Rape is wrong...whether it be man on woman, woman and woman, woman on child, etc...it'swrong. End of story. I suggest you search out the author prior to judging her.
Also...most women who are raped do not go screaming all over town every day...it's a silent struggle that many never even voice to their most intimate friends/partners. I know because I have been raped and I am a volunteer advocate for ANYONE who has been raped - man, woman, child...it's an act of violence that is often gender-blind.
Sit in the emergency room with a rape victim while they go through the horrible process of a forensic exam...then you'll know first hand why a victim of rape doesn't go around town yelling and screaming...it also becomes quite evident why a large percentage of victims never report the rape. Please, do not comment so harshly on such an emotional subject until you have done all of your background work.
One last thought I will share...the man who raped me was not a bad man...he was a man with a lot of confusion in his life and a man who was seeking power and a man who made a very bad...VERY bad mistake.
reply to this comment
sarot
Oh please! if that 's the case then I should see women screaming all over town every day. i live in the south where smoking is common. This is just another feminst article to make all men out to be bad guys. I abhor violence and rape or anything like that. These comments are just totally off base. It seems there is a war on men and it also seems like women are going out of their way to make up false claims. They are always looking behind every bush for a boogey man to get them. Even professional psychological articles are now filled with misandirc comments by radical feminsits who hate men. I don't deny rate happens, but not as often as this article claims. Statsitcs can be manipulated however you like.
reply to this comment
PGM
Quote:
reply to this comment
AMT
In response to KP's comment - yeah it's pretty absurd, but you are right about that being the case. I was date raped at age 20, but did not consider it to be a rape until discussing the incident with a male friend. After telling him what happened I was shocked to hear him exclaim, "Don't you see? He raped you." Now a couple years later it seems bizarre to me that I initially deluded myself into thinking otherwise.
reply to this comment
KP
What I find the most disturbing is how many young women don't consider being screwed while drunk/unconscious to be rape. I can think of 3 friends off the top of my head who have casually mentioned such experiences to me off hand as if they were perfectly normal. They seem to be protecting their own psyche more than anything. It's tough to admit you've been victimized. By downplaying it or acting like they were fine with it, they're maintaining their feeling of control, which is what rape is really all about. The psychology of rape is extremely complex, both of victim and perpetrator.
reply to this comment
Ricky Livingston
Great article for the comparison and especially the topic
Thanks
reply to this comment
G Peacock
The headline appears, to a non-statistician, to be unjustified, meaningless, scare-mongering, statistically-illiterate nonsense. Am I wrong? If not, what does the head-line mean?
It is hard to believe this is supported by the ASA or RSS. Advancing the science and application of statistics, and promoting use and awareness for public benefit? I don't think so.
reply to this comment
Michael Kaufman
Thanks for the article. As a writer and educator focused on ending men's violence against women, it's critical we have accurate statistics and statistically sound estimates based on rigorous surveys.
I have one tiny quibble: I'm not so sure the comparison to smoking rates was useful for the simple reason that anyone can pick holes in it because it compares the life-time incidence of sexual assault vs. the current rate of smoking. It's dramatic and eye-catching, but why set ourselves up to be picked apart? The study and figures on their own are dramatic (and terrible) enough.
As an educator, I often use the most conservative statistics: Even these will highlight horrible levels of abuse (including sexual assault). And I avoid any estimates or stats that are not backed by rigorous research that I can footnote. Why? By using the most conservative stats (or showing a range of stats or estimates from various studies) we can give the most realistic and, thus, irrefutable examples of the problems of sexual, physical and emotional violence faced by far too many women.
And by doing so, those of us who are men can make a strong case why men must speak out against the violence being committed by some of our brothers.
Thanks again for your work and reporting this important study!
Michael Kaufman
reply to this comment
Jo
Not weird at all. The only man in my life I've told about being raped is my current partner. Not my brother, father, or male friends. And very few female friends. Not because I'm hiding something from them or I'm ashamed, just because it's a painful thing to talk about; much more painful than many other "brutally honest" topics.
And by the way, arguing that your friends would be more likely than others to have been raped because they've "allowed themselves into many a hairy situation" suggests a tendency towards victim-blaming that sure as hell wouldn't encourage me to open up to you if you were an acquaintance of mine.
reply to this comment