Causes of violence against young women in public places

Abstract

This project was designed to develop a clearer understanding of the victimization of young women in public places. In particular, the aims were to investigate specific factors which contribute to this kind of aggression, and to highlight areas in which there is a need for theoretical development. To achieve these aims, three studies were conducted.The first study was designed to determine the relative importance of a number of risk factors in the victimization of young women in public places, across a range of types of violence, including serious violence (physical and sexual violence), and street harassment. Street harassment included verbal abuse, sexual street harassment (including indecent exposure, wolf-whistling, and inappropriate sexual comments), and being followed.Questionnaires assessed risk factors and victimization experiences over the 12 months prior to the study. These were completed by 243 undergraduate women, all under 25 years of age (mean age was 18.9 years). Using logistic regression analyses, results revealed that childhood sexual abuse, frequent dating, and time spent in bars and nightclubs were each significant in the unique prediction of serious victimization. Risk factors predicting street harassment included relationship status (being in a relationship), childhood sexual abuse, frequent dating, behavioral risk taking, alcohol use, time spent alone in public places, and walking or using public transport as one's primary mode of transport. These results demonstrate that a range of variables interact to increase the vulnerability of young women to public place victimization. Apart from childhood sexual abuse, these variables appear to reflect lifestyles and behaviors prominent in the life phase of adolescence. It is suggested that the robust finding that young women are more vulnerable to victimization than older women may be explained in terms of these lifestyle and life phase differences.The second study had similar aims to the first study, but was prospective in design, used a broader demographic sample than Study 1, and assessed only assault victimization (physical and sexual). Risk factors assessed in this study included previous victimization, delinquency, sexual experiences, dating behavior, risk taking, alcohol and drug use, and going out behavior. Questionnaires were administered 3 to 4 years apart to 369 adolescent women. Participants were between the ages 12 and 18 years at Time 1 (mean age was 14.5 years). At Time 1, questionnaires assessed risk factors, and at Time 2, questionnaires assessed victimization experiences during the previous 12 months.Using t-test and chi-square analyses, results revealed that alcohol and drug use, delinquency, and risk taking (to a lesser extent) at Time 1 were each associated with public place assault victimization at Time 2. These findings underline the importance of alcohol as a risk factor in the serious victimization of young women in public places, and also suggest that delinquency may play a causal role in assault victimization. Further research is required to determine the precise role played by risk taking.Study 3 was designed to investigate how the experiences of young (under 20 years) female assault victims differ from older female victims and from male victims. Using data from the 1991 Queensland Crime Victim Survey (Government Statistician's Office, 1992), which contained information concerning personal crime victimization from 6,315 Queensland households, this study investigated the relationships among assault victimization, assault location, victim-offender relationship, and offender gender.n n