Table 3.
Prevalence of physical punishment and sexual abuse in rural South African youth
| Never | Women Sometimes |
Often/v.often | Never | Men Sometimes |
Often/v.often | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | |
| Physical punishment | ||||||
| Any form of physical abuse | 152 (10.7%) | 219 (15.5%) | 1004 (73.8%) | 76 (5.6%) | 130 (9.5%) | 1161 (84.9%) |
| I was punished at home by being beaten | 201 (14.2%) | 1024 (72.4%) | 190 (13.4%) | 121 (8.9%) | 1038 (76.0%) | 207 (15.1%) |
| I was punished at home by being beaten every day or every week |
943 (66.6%) | 400 (28.3%) | 72 (5.1%) | 994 (72.7%) | 350 (25.6%) | 23 (1.7%) |
| I was beaten at home with a belt or stick or whip or something else which was hard |
436 (30.8%) | 912 (64.5%) | 66 (4.7%) | 210 (15.4%) | 1091 (79.9%) | 65 (4.7%) |
| I was beaten so hard at home that it left a mark or bruise |
1056 (74.7%) | 297 (21.0%) | 61 (4.3%) | 1055 (77.2%) | 271 (19.8%) | 41 (3.0%) |
| Sexual abuse | ||||||
| Any form of sexual abuse | 862 (60.9%) | 338 (23.9%) | 215 (15.2%) | 1139 (83.3%) | 175 (12.8%) | 53 (3.9%) |
| Someone touched my thighs, buttocks, breasts or genitals when I did not want him to or made me touch his private parts when I did not want to* |
1196 (84.5%) | 194 (13.7%) | 25 (1.8%) | 1261 (92.2%) | 89 (6.5%) | 17 (1.3%) |
| I had sex with a (wo)man who was more than 5 years older than me# |
1067 (75.5%) | 295 (20.9%) | 52 (3.7%) | 1238 (90.6%) | 114 (8.4%) | 14 (1.0%) |
| I had sex with someone who was not my (girl)boyfriend because I was threatened or frightened or forced |
1368 (96.7%) | 43 (3.0%) | 4 (0.3%) | 1335 (97.7%) | 26 (1.9%) | 6 (0.4%) |
| I was forced to have sex against my will by a boyfriend** |
1237 (87.4%) | 158 (11.2%) | 20 (1.4%) | n/a | n/a | n/a |
*
Wording for males: Someone touched my thighs, buttocks or genitals or made me touch them when I did not want to
**
only asked for females