Sexual Violence Survey 2022 – Main Results

Experience of sexual violence as a child

This chapter focuses on sexual violence experienced by children in Ireland. It covers experiences which occurred under the age of consent in Ireland (under 17 years) and is based on replies from those aged 18 and over.

This chapter looks at child sexual violence experienced in the past by adults currently in Ireland – it does not provide insights on current levels of child sexual violence. It does not cover experiences between children which include any sexual experiences that they were comfortable with, for example, with a boyfriend or girlfriend who was a similar age to them at the time. Unwanted sexual non-contact experiences include being shown pornographic material, being asked to pose in a sexually suggestive manner for photographs, having someone expose themselves or someone masturbating in front of a child. Unwanted sexual contact experiences include sexual touching (where the respondent as a child was touched in a sexual way or made to touch somebody else in a sexual way), unwanted sexual intercourse, unwanted attempted sexual intercourse or another not-specified sexual contact that was attempted. Further information is available in the Background Notes.

This chapter will highlight that women reported higher levels of child sexual violence than men across all violence types. The youngest women (aged 18-24) reported the highest levels across all violence types. See Figure 5.1.

Women reported experiencing three times the level of unwanted sexual intercourse as a child than men

• Unwanted sexual intercourse as a child was experienced by 7% of women compared with 2% of men. Women were also more likely to have experienced attempted unwanted sexual intercourse as a child at 8% compared with 3% of men. See Figure 5.1 and Table 5.1.
• Young women (aged 18 to 24) reported the highest prevalence of unwanted sexual intercourse as a child at 10%, compared with 6% of women aged 65 and over. See Figure 5.2.
• Women were nearly three times more likely to have experienced attempted unwanted sexual intercourse (8%) than men (3%), while 10% of the youngest females (aged 18-24) experienced attempted unwanted sexual intercourse.

Almost a quarter of women reported experiencing unwanted sexual touching as a child

• Unwanted sexual touching as a child was experienced by 24% of women compared with 11% of men. Sexual touching in this survey includes instances where a person ever had their breasts and/or genitals touched by a someone without consent or were made to touch someone else’s breasts and/or genitals without their consent. See Table 5.1.
• The level for unwanted sexual touching as a child was 28% for young women aged 18-24 compared with 19% of those aged 65 and over.
• The rate of unwanted sexual touching as a child among young women aged 18-24 was 28%, which was twice as high as the comparable rate for men in the same age category (12%).

Young adults aged 18-24 reported the highest levels for unwanted sexual non-contact experiences as a child

• Unwanted sexual non-contact as a child was experienced by 33% of adults aged 18-24, over twice the rate of 14% for those aged 65 and over. See Table 5.1. Unwanted sexual non-contact experiences include being shown pornographic material, being asked to pose in a sexually suggestive manner for photographs, having someone expose themselves or someone masturbating in front of a child. A more detailed definition is available in the Background Notes. 
• Unwanted sexual non-contact experiences as a child decreased with age. The highest rate of unwanted sexual non-contact among women was 40% for those aged 18-24, compared with about 23% for women aged 25-34 and 19% for those aged 65 and over.
• For men, the highest rate of unwanted sexual non-contact as a child was 28 % for those aged 18-24, compared with 15 % for those aged 45-54 and 8% for those aged 65 and over.

One in ten adults experienced both contact and non-contact sexual violence as a child

Key findings for those who experienced sexual violence as a child by the type of experience:

• One in ten adults (11%) experienced both contact and non-contact sexual violence as a child. There were higher rates among women (16%) than among men (6%). See Table 5.2.
• One in five adults experienced unwanted non-contact sexual violence as a child (20%). This consists of the 9% of adults who experienced unwanted sexual violence which was non-contact-only, and 11% of adults who experienced both contact and non-contact sexual violence as a child. Also, one in five adults experienced unwanted contact sexual violence as a child (19%). This consists of the 8% of adults who experienced unwanted sexual violence as a child which was contact-only, and 11% of adults who experienced both contact and non-contact sexual violence as a child.
• Young people (18-24) reported the highest levels of both contact and non-contact sexual violence experienced as a child (16%) compared with those aged 65 and over (9%). Young adults also experienced the highest rate of non-contact-only sexual violence at 17% compared with 5% of adults aged 65 and over. See Figure 5.4.
• Both contact and non-contact sexual violence as a child was experienced by 25% of women aged 18-24 compared with 12% of women aged 65 and over.
• Similar proportions of young men aged 18-24 (8%) and older men aged 65 and over (5%) had experienced both contact and non-contact sexual violence as a child.
• Men aged 18-24 experienced non-contact-only sexual violence (19%) at a rate six times higher than men aged 65 and over (3%).