ArticleThe lancet. Psychiatry2022
The impact of sexual violence in mid-adolescence on mental health: a UK population-based longitudinal study.
Article in The lancet. Psychiatry, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Exploring the role of modifiable sex/gender-specific risk and protective factors for anxiety among young people in high income countries: a systematic narrative review.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Health effects associated with exposure to intimate partner violence against women and childhood sexual abuse: a burden of proof study.Nature medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled prevalence of depressive symptoms among medical students: an individual participant data meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of studies exploring prevalence of non-specific anxiety in undergraduate university students.BMC psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Cumulative effect of multiple health and social factors on adolescent mental well-being: a cross-sectional study in Catalonia.Child and adolescent mental health · 2026Article
- "Reclaiming the Narrative" of Sexual Violence Disclosures on Social Media: Social Reactions, Gender Norms, and Recovery.Journal of interpersonal violence · 2026Article
- Recent case exposure and perceived preparedness for responding to sexual violence in school health services: a cross-sectional survey of school nurses in Japan.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Identifying Adolescent Mental Health and Behavioral Risk Profiles: The Role of Childhood Adversities, Family Environment, and Peer Support.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Sexual, dating, and bullying-related forms of violence targeting LGBTQ+ youth among a population-based sample of California high school students.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- The Health-Related Consequences of Gender-Based Violence Against Women in South Africa.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Review
- Unacceptable Experiences Reported by Undergraduate Students and Their Associations With Mental Health, Well-Being and Academic Performance: U-Flourish Student Well-Being Research: Expériences inacceptables signalées par les étudiants de premier cycle et leurs liens avec la santé mentale, le bien-être et le rendement académique : Programme de recherche U-Flourish sur le bien-être des étudiants.Canadian journal of psychiatry. Revue canadienne de psychiatrie · 2026Article
- Developmental dynamics of emotional dysregulation among sexually abused adolescents: an embedded mixed-methods study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Mental health and substance use conditions among emerging adults in Australia 2020-2022: Prevalence, severity and psychosocial correlates within geographic regions.The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry · 2026Article
- The association between child sexual abuse and mental health in Chinese vocational high school students.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Adolescent girls' explanations of high rates of low mood and anxiety in their population: a co-produced qualitative study.BMC women's health · 2025Article
- The Relationship between Adolescent Dating Violence and Risky Health Behavioral Outcomes.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Quantifying Criminal Sexual Acts: The Illegal Sexual Exploitation Module of the Revised Sexual Experiences Survey-Victimization (SES-V) Measure.Journal of sex research · 2024Review
- Sexual violence in the workplace and associated health outcomes: a nationwide, cross-sectional analysis of women in Iceland.The Lancet. Public health · 2024Article
- School Connectedness and Risk for Sexual Intercourse and Nonconsensual Sex in Adolescence.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2024Article
- Commentary: Integrative, multi-level explanatory models are needed to understand recent trends in sex, gender, and internalizing conditions, reflections on Keyes and Platt (2023).Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundA large gender gap appears in internalising mental health conditions during adolescence, with higher rates in girls than boys. There is little high-quality longitudinal population-based research investigating the role of sexual violence experiences, which are disproportionately experienced by girls. We aimed to estimate the effects of sexual violence experienced in mid-adolescence on mental health outcomes.
methodsIn this study, we used data from the longitudinal UK Millennium Cohort Study, a large nationally representative cohort of children born in the UK in 2000-02, for participants with information available at age 17 years on sexual violence in the past year (eg, sexual assault or unwelcome sexual approach), mental health outcomes (eg, completion of the Kessler Psychological Distress K6 scale in the past 30 days, self-harm in the past year, and lifetime attempted suicide). Multivariable confounder adjusted regressions and propensity matching approaches were used, and population attributable fractions (PAFs) were calculated.
findingsWe included 5119 girls and 4852 boys (8063 [80·8%] of whom were White) in the full analysis sample. In the fully adjusted model, compared with no sexual violence, sexual violence was associated with greater mean psychological distress in girls (mean difference 2·09 [95% CI 1·51-2·68]) and boys (2·56 [1·59-3·53]), higher risk of high psychological distress in girls (risk ratio [RR] 1·65 [95% CI 1·37-2·00]) and boys (1·55 [1·00-2·40]), higher risk of self-harm in girls (RR 1·79 [1·52-2·10]) and boys (RR 2·16 [1·63-2·84]), and higher risk of attempted suicide in girls (RR 1·75 [1·26-2·41]) and boys (RR 2·73 [1·59-4·67]). PAF estimates suggest that, in a hypothetical scenario with no sexual violence, the prevalence of adverse mental health outcomes at age 17 years would be 3·7-10·5% lower in boys and 14·0-18·7% lower in girls than the prevalence in this cohort.
interpretationReductions in sexual violence via policy and societal changes would benefit the mental health of adolescents and might contribute to narrowing the gender gap in internalising mental ill health. Clinicians and others working to support adolescents should be aware that sexual violence has a widespread, gendered nature and an impact on mental health.
fundingUK Medical Research Council.
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