Sexual Violence Survey 2022 – Childhood Experiences

Overall sexual violence experienced as a child

This chapter examines the details relating to the unwanted sexual violence experienced as a child. This 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.

Sexual violence as a child is defined as a range of unwanted experiences from non-contact experiences to contact experiences. 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. These experiences are not described as “non-consensual” as these individuals were under the age of consent at the time, hence the use of the term “unwanted”. See the Background Notes for further details.

Please note that 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.

Please also note that data on whether sexual violence was experienced as a child-only or as both as an adult and a child is provided in the Overall Prevalence chapter in the Sexual Violence Survey 2022 - Main Results publication. Further data on whether the experience was non-contact-only, contact-only or both non-contact and contact is available in the Childhood Experiences chapter in the Sexual Violence Survey 2022 - Main Results publication.

The demographic breakdowns provided are based on the information given by the respondent when the survey was collected, and so may not necessarily accord with their demographic profile when the sexual violence took place (for example, they may have had a lower educational level when the sexual violence occurred but have a higher educational level now when engaging with the survey).

Overall, in terms of those who experienced sexual violence as a child, younger people reported higher levels of experiencing sexual violence, with 41% of those aged 18-24 experiencing sexual violence as a child compared with 22% of those aged 65 and over. Women reported experiencing sexual violence as a child at a higher rate (36%) than men (22%). Certain cohorts of the population reported higher levels of sexual violence experienced as a child. These include amongst others, people with a third level education, persons with a disability and bisexual people. For example, adults with a disability reported experiencing sexual violence as a child (35%) at a higher level than those without a disability (26%).

Almost three in 10 adults experienced sexual violence as a child

Key findings for childhood experience of sexual violence by sociodemographic variables:

• Almost three in 10 adults (29%) experienced sexual violence as a child. Women experienced it (36%) at a higher level than men (22%). See Table 3.1.
• In general, younger people reported experiencing sexual violence as a child at a higher rate than older people. Over four in 10 (41%) younger people aged 18-24 experienced sexual violence as a child compared with just over two in 10 (22%) aged 65 and over. See Figure 3.1.
• People with a third level education reported experiencing sexual violence as a child at over twice the rate (33%) than those with a primary level of education only or below (14%).
• Adults with a disability reported experiencing non-contact sexual violence as a child (35%) at a higher level than those without a disability (26%).
• Those who were students were more likely to have reported experiencing sexual violence as a child (45%) compared with those who were employed (29%) or those retired (22%).
• Those who were divorced/legally separated reported experiencing sexual violence as a child (36%) at a higher level than those who were married (27%) or widowed (17%).
• Those who were “White - Irish Traveller/Roma/other white background” were more likely to have reported experiencing sexual violence as a child (33%) than those who were “Asian or Asian Irish” (20%).
• Bisexual people reported over double the level (58%) of sexual violence as a child compared with heterosexual/straight people (28%). The equivalent rate for gay/lesbian people was 39%.