KEY POINTS:
A university study indicates as many as one in four New Zealand women were sexually abused as children.
The University of Auckland study shows 23 per cent of women in urban areas and 28 per cent in rural areas suffered some form of sexual abuse when under 15
years-old.
In most cases one perpetrator was involved, usually a male family member, and around half of the women had experienced the abuse on more than one occasion.
The average age of the victim at the start of the abuse was nine, with the average age of the abuser being 30.
Janet Fanslow, from the university's Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, said the initial response to such statistics was shock and horror, but the trick was to move beyond that and think about what can be done to prevent it happening.
The figures showed there was an urgent need for the implementation of programmes for the primary prevention of child sexual abuse, and provision of support and treatment for those affected, she said.
Maori women were more likely to report child sexual abuse compared with women from other ethnic groups, highlighting the need for culturally appropriate services.
Dr Fanslow said the results of the study were consistent with smaller, historic studies in New Zealand.
There were low levels of reporting to police and often the shame felt by victims meant reporting was either flagged altogether or delayed for a long time.
While it was hoped the results of the study could encourage improvement in that area, the key was to get provisions in place based around prevention.
"We need to now recognise that this is a problem and think about ways we might want to organise our world differently so this doesn't happen," Dr Fanslow said.
The New Zealand Violence Against Women study, funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand, was a replication of the World Health Organisation Multi-Country Study on Women's Health and Domestic Violence against Women.
The New Zealand study involved face to face interviews with nearly 3000 women aged 18 to 64 from the Auckland and Waikato regions about their experiences of violence prior to and after 15 years of age.
The results have been published in Child Abuse & Neglect: the international journal.
- NZPA