Media release

From: University of Auckland

Embargoed: One in eight teens experience sexual violence

Sexual violence remains widespread among teenagers in Aotearoa, New Zealand with one in eight (12.4 percent) reporting unwanted sexual experiences.

The research, led by Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland and published today in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, reviewed answers about unwanted sexual experiences from a representative sample of 7,374 schoolchildren aged 12 to 19 years from the Youth19 survey.

“It is incredibly concerning that 12.4 percent of our secondary school students are reporting some type of sexual violence, and we know there are some groups who are more vulnerable,” says Professor Terryann Clark (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Wai, Ngāti Whātua ki Kaipara), Cure Kids Professorial Chair in Child and Adolescent Mental Health based in the School of Nursing at Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland.

In 2019, 19 percent of girls, compared with 5.7 percent of boys, agreed with the question, “Have you ever been touched in a sexual way or made to do sexual things you didn’t want to do (including sexual abuse or rape)?”.

Sexual violence doesn’t discriminate, but some groups are more exposed and targeted. Teenagers in the poorest schools are about 60 percent more likely to experience sexual violence than those in the wealthiest schools – 15.3 percent compared with 9.4 percent.

Around 15 percent of Māori and Pacific students experienced sexual violence in 2019, compared with about 11 percent of European students and roughly 10 percent of Asian and other ethnicities.

For nonbinary and transgender students, the figure was 31.9 percent in 2019, compared with 18.6 percent for cisgender females (identifying with assigned gender) and 5.5 percent for cisgender males.

“It is one of those issues that’s really, really difficult to talk about and disclose,” Clark says.

“We know that, from our research, Māori, Pacific and sexually diverse young people, and poor young people, have the hardest time getting the services they need. They are also less likely to be believed or feel like people will do something.

“So, the combination of those factors means those young people are often not disclosing what has happened to them and they aren’t getting the support, treatment and care they need.”

The overall figure of 12.4 percent in 2019 is up from 9.5 percent in 2012 and 10.8 percent in 2007, but down from 17 percent in 2001.

The research was funded partly by MEDSAC (Medical Sexual Assault Clinicians Aotearoa) to inform sexual violence prevention and response.

Lead researcher Dr Rachel Roskvist, who is also a Specialist GP and Forensic Medical Examiner for people who have experienced sexual violence, says the increase between 2012 and 2019 may indicate a real rise or greater willingness to disclose.

More granular and up-to-date information is urgently needed, she says.

“The rise in sexual violence between 2012 and 2019 is worrying, and we need to know if that trend is continuing and if so, what is driving it,” Roskvist says.

“What’s even more concerning is recent the erosion of sexuality education in the curriculum, which taught consent and healthy relationships,” says Clark.

“Cutting this content leaves young people – especially Rainbow and gender-diverse youth – without vital tools and feeling invisible.”

Our previously published Y19 research found that fewer teenagers are having sex, are delaying when they have sex, and our teen pregnancy and abortion rates are significantly lower – young people are making active and considered choices. But the persistence of sexual violence is concerning.

It is vital to find out what the situation in schools is now, post Covid-19, and following erosion of sexuality education curricula, they say.

“I’m particularly concerned about technology-assisted sexual violence, which wasn’t explicitly covered in this research but is increasingly a problem,” Roskvist says.

“We need to understand what’s happening for young people now – where are we in 2025, and how tech-related harm is impacting young people”

Holding digital platforms accountable and creating safer digital environments that allow young people to connect and socialise online – but protects them from predatory behaviour and facilitates access to help, are among some of the priority recommendations.