Journal article : Review
The prevalence of sexual assault among higher education students: a systematic review with meta-analyses
- Abstract:
- Sexual assault among higher education students has detrimental impacts on the health and educational outcomes of survivors. This systematic review aims to describe and synthesize the available quantitative evidence on sexual assault prevalence among this population. We searched Medline, EMBASE, Global Health, PsycINFO, Web of Science, ERIC, and CINAHL for studies published in English, French, Italian, and Spanish from database inception to August 2020 (updated May 2022). We screened studies using prespecified inclusion criteria for the population and context (registered higher education students), condition (self-reported sexual assault), and study design (quantitative survey). The Joanna Briggs Institute Critical Appraisal Checklist was used to assess study quality. Prevalence estimates disaggregated by type of sexual assault, gender identity, and world region were meta-analyzed using a random-effects model and reported following PRISMA guidance. We identified 131 articles, from 21 different countries. The meta-analyzed prevalence of sexual assault was 17.5% for women, 7.8% for men, and 18.1% for transgender and gender diverse people. Four types of sexual assault were identified: rape, attempted rape, forced sexual touching, and coercive sex. Forced sexual touching was the most common act experienced. The African Region had the highest prevalence estimates for women's sexual assault, and the Western Pacific region had the highest prevalence estimates for men's sexual assault. Higher education institutions, especially those outside of the United States, should commit to the implementation of surveys to monitor sexual assault prevalence and dedicate increased resources to supporting student survivors of sexual assault.
- Publication status:
- Published
- Peer review status:
- Peer reviewed
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(Preview, Version of record, pdf, 1.0MB, Terms of use)
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- Publisher copy:
- 10.1177/15248380231196119
Authors
+ Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
More from this funder
- Funder identifier:
- https://ror.org/04j5jqy92
- Publisher:
- SAGE Publications
- Journal:
- Trauma, Violence, and Abuse More from this journal
- Volume:
- 25
- Issue:
- 3
- Pages:
- 1885-1898
- Place of publication:
- United States
- Publication date:
- 2023-09-20
- DOI:
- EISSN:
-
1552-8324
- ISSN:
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1524-8380
- Pmid:
-
37728132
- Language:
-
English
- Keywords:
- Subtype:
-
Review
- Pubs id:
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1537318
- Local pid:
-
pubs:1537318
- Deposit date:
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2025-06-18
- ARK identifier:
Terms of use
- Copyright holder:
- Steele et al
- Copyright date:
- 2023
- Rights statement:
- © The Author(s) 2023. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).
- Licence:
- CC Attribution (CC BY)
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