MORE THAN 10 per cent of teenagers in the North have experienced sexual grooming and more than 75 per cent of them were under 16 years when it happened, a survey has found.
The annual survey of 16-year-olds across Northern Ireland is carried out by Ark – a joint initiative by Queen’s University and the University of Ulster.
The 2010 Young Life and Times survey is the first to include questions about sexual grooming and sexual exploitation. One in nine respondents said an adult had tried to groom them.
“Three-quarters of respondents were under 16 years of age when this happened. In almost half these cases the perpetrator was at least seven years older that the respondent. One in 20 had been offered something in return for taking part in sexual activity.”
It also found one in 15 had been given drugs or alcohol and were then taken advantage of sexually, and that two-thirds were under the age of 16 when it happened.
Dr Dirk Schubotz of the school of sociology at Queen’s said the sizeable proportion affected by sexual grooming and exploitation, mostly before the age of consent, underlined how vulnerable young people were.
“On a general level the survey reflects how the effects of the economic crisis are now felt by the great majority of young people.”
Just 5 per cent of respondents said the recession had had no effect on them, compared with 15 per cent in the 2009 survey.
One-quarter felt things had improved for young people under the current Executive, while 15 per cent felt things had become worse.
Deep annoyance is evident about how young people are perceived and portrayed.
More information on the survey is available at ark.ac.uk/ylt
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