Age, Marital Status, and Risk of Sexual Victimization: Similarities and Differences across Victim-Offender Relationships

• In Event: New Advancements in Research on the Links between Age, Crime & Victimization

Abstract

By now, age and marital status are well-established correlates of criminal victimization, including sexual victimization. For adult women, numerous studies have found that younger women and single women experience higher risk of sexual victimization as compared to older women and married women. Few studies, however, have examined the relationship between these demographic characteristics and risk of victimization across different situational contexts of sexual victimization. The current study uses a case-control sampling methodology and data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) to examine whether the relationship between these demographic characteristics and risk of sexual victimization varies across three victim-offender relationships: stranger, acquaintance, and intimate partner. The findings indicate both similarities and differences in the relationship between age, marital status, and risk of victimization across the three victim-offender relationships. As expected, both age and marital status were significant predictors of victimization in all models; however, younger women’s increased risk of victimization was more pronounced for acquaintance and intimate partner victimization experiences as compared to stranger experiences and separated women were at highest risk of both intimate partner and acquaintance victimization experiences as compared to never married or divorced women. Implications for theories of sexual violence and victimization are discussed.

Author

• Julie Siddique, William Paterson University