Max Smith, wtop.com
WASHINGTON – More than one in 10 girls in D.C. high schools say they have been forced to have sex when they did not want to, and many other high schoolers in the D.C. region say they’ve been victims of dating violence.
Nearly 13 percent of D.C. high school girls responding to the Centers for Disease Control Youth Risk Behavior Survey (PDF) released this week say they have been forced to have sex. The confidence interval puts the estimated actual number between 10.3 percent and 15.7 percent.
About half as many D.C. high school boys said they had been forced to have sex when they didn’t want to.
Maryland and Virginia excluded that question when administering the survey last year, but did ask students about dating violence.
In Maryland, 14.8 percent of girls and 17 percent of boys said they had been hit, slapped or physically hurt on purpose by their boyfriend or girlfriend during the 12 months before taking the survey. The confidence interval puts the actual numbers for girls likely in a range between 11.4 percent and 19 percent, and for boys between 13.5 percent and 21.2 percent.
In D.C., 15.5 percent of boys report being victims of dating violence, as do 13.6 percent of girls. The confidence interval puts the actual numbers for girls likely in a range between 10.8 percent and 17 percent, and for boys between 12.7 percent and 18.7 percent.
In Virginia, 13.4 percent of girls and 10.7 percent of boys said they had been victims of dating violence. The confidence interval puts the actual numbers for girls likely in a range between 10.8 percent and 16.4 percent, and for boys between 8 percent and 14 percent.
The overall number of students who reported being victims of dating violence in the survey is 12.1 percent in Virginia, 16 percent in Maryland, and 14.7 percent in D.C.
The CDC says victims of teen dating violence are more likely to struggle in school and to report binge drinking, suicide attempts or physical fighting.
Nationally, a higher percentage of black and Hispanic students who took the survey reported being victims of dating violence than white students.
Overall, about 9.4 percent of high school students report being victims of dating violence, and about 8 percent of students say they have been forced to have sex when they did not want to.
Nearly 12 percent of girls responding to the survey, and 4.5 percent of boys responding to the survey say they have been forced to have sex. The confidence interval puts the actual numbers for girls likely in a range between 10.6 percent and 13.0 percent, and for boys between 3.8 percent and 5.3 percent.
Follow WTOP on Twitter.
(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)
