Developmental patterns in unwanted early sexual experiences of Belgian and South African students

Abstract

This study examined the developmental patterns in unwanted early sexual experiences (UESE) of 3,689 fi rst year university students (South Africans = 1,081 and Belgians = 2,608). The Early Sexual Experience Checklist (ESEC) (Miller, Johnson & Johnson, 1991) was administered to all consenting first -year university students attending an orientationprogramme at a South African and a Belgian University. The data was processed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 15.0. The chi-square test was used to compare di fferences between groups and ANOVA was used to determine the UESE withregard to bothersomeness. Of the respondents 21% indicated that they had an UESE before their 16th birthday (39.2% South Africans and 13.5%Belgians). Of South African women, 31.3% (231) reported UESE compared to 14.2% (226) of Belgian women and of South African men; 56.4% (189) indicated that they had an UESE compared to 12.3% (125) of Belgian men. Of respondents indicating an UESE, 16.8% (130) reported that they had an UESE before the age of 12 years and 62.9% (485) reported an UESEbetween the ages of 12 and 16 years. Significant differences were found between the under-12- year old group and the 12-16-year old group forseverity, frequency and duration of UESE as well as the perpetrator relationship. Relatives were also disproportionately represented asperpetrators of younger children. The under-12- year old group reporting UESE was more bothered about the event at the time it occurred than the 12-16-year old group but not significant ly. When completing the checklist the under-12-year old group was significantly more bothered by the UESE than the 12-16-year old group. This was the first study to be undertakenamong the students of a South African and a Belgian University regarding the developmental patterns in UESE.