• Physical and Sexual Harassment
  • • 32% of college students report being a victim of physical harassment.
    • 8.5% of college students carry a weapon such as a gun, knife or club (within 30 days; not for job reasons).
    • 13.2% have participated in a physical fight within 12 months.
    • 62% of college students experience sexual harassment.

    In a representative survey of 2036 undergraduates at US colleges/universities, 41% admitted to sexually harassing another student.

  • Sexual Abuse
  • • By age 18, 1 in 3 girls and 1 in 6 boys will be sexually abused by someone they love or should be able to trust.
    • 87.2% of the 247,730 sexual assault reports in 2002 are by women.
    • About 1 in 4 women during their college years, and 1 in 33 men, experiences an attempted or completed rape.
    • Completed rape is more common than attempted rape, with women.

    According to a national survey of high school students, approximately 9% reported having been forced to have sexual intercourse against their will.


    January 24, 2006, Sex harassment affects most college students

    Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (1997, November). National college health risk behavior survey (NCHRBS): MMWR, 46(SS-6).
    Ibid.
    January 24, 2006, Sex harassment affects most college students
    Ibid.

    Finkelhor D., Hotaling, G., Lewis, I. A., and Smith, C., (1990). Sexual abuse in a national survey of adult men and women: Prevalence, characteristics, and risk factors, Child Abuse & Neglect, 14(19-28).; Bagley C., (1990). Development of a measure of unwanted sexual contact in childhood, for use in Community mental health surveys, Psychological Reports, 66(401-2).
    National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, (2005, April) Sexual Violence: Fact Sheet

    Ibid.
    U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2005). Women’s Health USA 2004: Health Resources and Services Administration, (accessed May 2005 from mchb.hrsa.gov/whusa04/pages/intro.htm: Author.
    National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, (2005, April) Sexual Violence: Fact Sheet, accessed from http://www.cdc.gov