Women victims of assault: age differences in victim-aggressor relationship and location.

• Jurisdiction: Australia
• Author: Burrows, Tamara
• Date: 01 August 2003

This article presents the findings from a secondary analysis of the 1991 Queensland Crime Victim Survey. Although now more than 10 years old, this survey still has validity as it remains the largest of its kind conducted in Queensland, and it is a rich source of information about the experiences of victims of violence. The study investigated how the experiences of younger female assault victims differ from older female victims in terms of their relationship with their aggressor and the assault location. The following factors were examined: whether or not the assault occurred (a) at the hands of a partner or former partner, (b) in a private dwelling, (c) in a public place, and (d) in a leisure venue away from home. Results pointed to important differences between younger and older women in terms of their experiences of violence. Teenage women reported significantly more assaults in public places compared with older women, and were less likely to be assaulted in their own dwelling. Also, trends in the data suggested that compared to older women, teenage women were more likely to be assaulted in leisure venues away from home, and were less likely to be assaulted by partners or former partners. Considering that young women are at a much higher risk than older women of being assaulted, consideration of these age differences may be helpful in the design of violence prevention strategies. In particular, more attention should be paid to the public place prevention of violence against young women.

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Violence against young women is very common. The phenomenon is not well understood by researchers, and prevention strategies to combat the problem have not been well-elucidated. Young women are particularly vulnerable to experiencing violence. In fact, women aged between 15 and 25 years face the highest risks of all women (Australian Bureau of Statistics [ABS], 1994; Coumarelos & Allen, 1998; Egger, 1997; Mayhew, Maung, & Mirrlees-Black, 1993; Moran, 1993; Salmelainen & Coumarelos, 1993). In a study of around 5000 sexual assault incidents reported to the New South Wales police between 1989 and 1991 (Salmelainen & Coumarelos, 1993), the youngest age group, 16-20 years, had a risk that was about three times the average annual risk (113 victims per 100,000 population). The next youngest age group, 21-25 years, also had a higher than average risk (58 victims per 100,000 population). The risk for all age groups over 40 years was very low. Similarly, Moran (1993) in her study of 450 Queensland rapes and attempted rapes reported to police between 1991 and 1992, found that 83% of victims were aged 25 years or younger.

In addition to being at a high risk of sexual assault, young women are more at risk of being the victim of a physical assault than are older women. Stewart and Homel (1995) found that in the 1991 Queensland Crime Victim Survey (Government Statistician's Office [GSO], 1992), of all women, those in the 15-19 age group were at the highest risk of being physically assaulted. By the time a woman had reached 25, this risk had levelled out. Similarly, according to the 1993 Crime and Safety Survey (ABS, 1994), around 44% of all female victims of assault (non-sexual) were aged 15-24. Coumarelos and Allen (1998), in their secondary analysis of the 1996 Women's Safety Survey (ABS, 1996), found that, controlling for other factors, younger women had a higher risk of all forms of victimisation than did older women. For example, 16.1% of 18- to 24-year-olds had experienced physical violence in the 12 months prior to the study, whereas only 8.4% of 25- to 34-year-olds experienced it. These percentages were even lower for age groups over 34 years. Similar age patterns were evident for sexual violence and emotional abuse.

Although it is now well established that young, especially teenage women are the most vulnerable of all age groups of women, little research to date has differentiated the nature of the violent experiences of teenage women from those of older women. For example, little data is available which disaggregates victim age, location, and offender-aggressor relationship (Egger, 1997). The problem with the lack of attention to age differences in assault patterns is that overall patterns are assumed to hold for all age groups of women, and prevention strategies tend to be designed without taking into account women's specific age group differences. An examination of how the assault experiences of teenage women differ from older women's experiences is extremely important in developing prevention approaches tailored to preventing violence against young women, and women in general.

Currently, most Australian prevention efforts aimed at reducing violence against women, including young women, have involved large scale community education campaigns that emphasise the private, intimate nature of violence against women (for a review, see Egger, 1997). It is now very well documented that the largest proportion of violent acts against women in general occur in residential dwellings (Gardner, 1994; Koss, 1993; Moran, 1993; Salmelainen & Coumarelos, 1993) by someone with whom they are in an intimate relationship, usually a partner or former partner (Bachman & Saltzman, 1995; Egger, 1997; Gardner, 1994; Stewart & Homel, 1995). Estimates suggest variously that between 50% to 75% of all physical and sexual assaults against women occur in domestic contexts, with lower percentages generally thought to reflect the underreporting of domestic violence.

As a consequence of these findings, Australian prevention approaches to date have usually involved national education campaigns that denounce violence against women and which emphasise the private, intimate violence perpetrated in the home (Egger, 1997). Such strategies are reflected in the most prominent Australian prevention programs, including the work of the National Committee on Violence (1989, 1990) and the National Committee on Violence Against Women (1992). In these campaigns, the role of public places are very much de-emphasised, and the role of domestic contexts are emphasised.

Although the intimate and private nature of violence against women is well documented for women as a whole, whether or not these risks are evenly spread across all age groups of women is not as well understood. It may be reasonable to suggest that there are differences in the experiences of violence between older and younger women. In particular, considering the lifestyle characteristics of the developmental phase of adolescence and young adulthood, there may be differences between older and younger women in terms of the types of situations and relationships out of which violence arises.

First, victim-aggressor relationship patterns may be somewhat different for teenage women than for older women. Specifically, as teenage women are less likely than older women to be partnered (NYARS and ABS, 1993), they may be relatively less likely to experience violence at the hands of partners or former partners compared with older women. It is likely that young women, because of the more changeable and dynamic friendship and relationship networks during this life phase, may experience more violence at the hands of a range of different types of known men. For example, young women may experience aggression at the hands of boyfriends, relatives, male and female friends, men they have just met that day, acquaintances, neighbours, strangers and lesbian partners.

This is not to suggest that young women are not at risk of experiencing violence at the hands of partners or former partners. Nor is it to suggest that they are not experiencing a high proportion of violence from those closest to them. Rather, it is to suggest that, relatively speaking, young women may experience less victimisation from partners and former partners than older women, and more victimisation from a range of other known men. Surprisingly, however, this possibility has not been adequately examined to date. Although age differences in levels of violence against women has been researched in depth (e.g., Salmelainen & Coumarelos, 1993; Stewart & Homel, 1995), and victim-offender relationships have been extensively investigated (e.g., ABS, 1996; Bachman & Saltzman, 1995; Gardner, 1994; Strang, 1993), little research exists into how age and victim-aggressor relationships interact (Egger, 1997).

Another way young women may experience violence differently from older women has to do with where they experience violence. Women, especially young women, are routinely making more use of public space than previous generations (Franck & Paxson, 1989). For example, most young women spend a large amount of their time in education and employment activities, often combining them. Around 60% of single 15- to 24-year-old women are engaged in education (ABS, 1995). Of these, around 50% of 15- to 19-year-olds are also employed, and around 70% of all 20- to 24-year-olds are also employed in paid work (ABS, 1999). In addition, recent Australian data show that young Australian women spend around 20 hours each week socialising with friends in leisure activities outside the home (ABS, 1995). Young people spend a high proportion of their free time with friends and groups of friends in places such as schools, campuses, friends' homes, coffee shops, shopping malls, at the local swimming pool, and so forth. As they get older, these places often give way to other leisure venues such as bars and nightclubs.

Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that young women, as a result of common social activities during this life phase, may experience relatively more violence in public or semi-public locations, such as schools, workplaces, streets, parties and leisure venues (such as nightclubs) compared with older women. In fact, their friendship and relationship dynamics (out of which violence is most likely to emerge) are likely to be played out in these types of public settings.

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