Survey: One in Five US Women Victims of Sexual Assault

A CDC official said Wednesday new research shows an “astounding” prevalence of intimate partner violence in the United States. “It’s the first time we’ve had this kind of estimate,” said Linda Degutis, director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, who oversaw the randomized telephone survey of roughly 9,000 women and 7,400 men.

Of the women, one in four said they were violently attacked by either a husband or boyfriend. One in five women said they were the victims of rape or attempted rape; about one-half of those reports involved intimate partners.

As many as one in three women experienced rape, stalking or physical violence -including choking, beating, stabbing, shooting, punching, hair pulling or being pushed into something - by an intimate partner in their lifetime, compared to one in 10 men; these women and men reported more health problems.

When broken out by state, the data show higher reports of rapes or attempted rapes of women in Alaska, Oregon, and Nevada; Virginia and Tennessee had some of the lowest.

Linda James, health director for the San Francisco-based Futures Without Violence advocacy organization, said rape is “a major problem that often is underestimated and overlooked.”

The CDC survey did not verify the reports, which were made anonymously. Several figures are higher than those of other sources, but Bureau of Justice Statistics statistician Shannan Catalano said this may be due to how the surveys are done, who participates, and how “rape” and other types of assault are defined or interpreted. “It’s an evolving field, and everyone is striving to get a handle on what’s the best estimate,” she said.

The survey marks the beginning of a new annual CDC study on females who report abuse. For more information, visit: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/nisvs/.

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