Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

More than 20 percent of middle school students experience inappropriate touching, study says

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – More than one in five youth in middle school has experienced physical sexual violence such as being inappropriately touched against their will while at school, a new study suggests.

More than 1,300 students participated in the study, which was conducted at four middle schools in the Midwest. Children ages 10-15 years who were surveyed for the study reported a wide range of sexual violence/harassment experiences, including 21 percent who said they were physically touched when they did not want to be.

Large numbers of students also had been the target of sexual rumors or sexual commentary (19 percent and 18 percent, respectively) and homophobic name-calling (about 18 percent).

The study is among the first youth surveys to explore the prevalence of sexual harassment and sexual violence among middle school youth as well as the locations where these behaviors occur.

Students completed surveys that measured how frequently they had experienced unwanted sexual behaviors at school within the past year, and were asked to share the most upsetting thing that had happened to them and where it occurred.

Presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association in Philadelphia, the research was led by bullying and youth violence expert Dorothy Espelage. The meeting ends Tuesday (April 8).

Espelage is a professor in the department of educational psychology at the University of Illinois. The department is a unit within the College of Education.

Sexual harassment most often occurred in schools’ hallways (more than 22 percent), followed closely by classrooms (slightly more than 21 percent), gymnasiums (13 percent) and locker rooms (9 percent).

However, students reported occurrences in nearly all types of locations inside or outside their school buildings, including cafeterias and bathrooms, and indicated that victimization also occurred during school activities and by means of electronic devices.

The finding that the classroom is the second most common location where sexual harassment occurs raises some interesting and perhaps troubling questions, because classrooms are presumably one of the most organized and monitored spaces within schools, Espelage said.

“Teachers cannot always hear and see everything that is happening in the classroom, but we have to make them aware of our findings and develop strategies to reduce these behaviors,” Espelage said.

Another troubling aspect of the findings was that a significant number of the victims – more than 8 percent – denied being sexually harassed, or they normalized or dismissed the behaviors as simply peers joking around with them or seeking attention. Victims downplayed these incidents by saying that the events were “not that bad or serious” or that such behaviors no longer upset them.

“It’s rather concerning that at such young ages youth are dismissive of behaviors that are clearly distressing to them, whether it’s forced kissing or touching or their peers spreading rumors about their sexual orientation or activity,” Espelage said. “This dismissive attitude seems to be indicative of a broader societal force to normalize or legitimize sexually violent acts.”

Having dismissive attitudes toward sexual violence and engaging in sexually harassing behavior at a younger age significantly increases girls’ likelihood of perpetrating sexual harassment when they are older, Espelage and co-author Lisa De La Rue found in a study published in 2013.

Dismissiveness of sexual violence/harassment could be the result of schools’ lack of programming that addresses these behaviors, and treating it as a trivial aspect of students’ lives perpetuates a cycle of sexual aggression.

Themes of dismissiveness, homophobia and the locations where sexual victimization occurs are important for researchers to explore to help schools identify problems and develop interventions, the researchers concluded.

Other co-authors on the study were Namrata Doshi and Sarah Rinehart, both students at Illinois.

To contact To reach Dorothy Espelage, call 217-766-6413; email espelage@illinois.edu.

The paper, “Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence Experiences Among Middle School Youth” is available from The American Education Research Association.

Read Next

Life sciences Portrait of the research team posing together.

Minecraft players can now explore whole cells and their contents

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists have translated nanoscale experimental and computational data into precise 3D representations of bacteria, yeast and human epithelial, breast and breast cancer cells in Minecraft, a video game that allows players to explore, build and manipulate structures in three dimensions. The innovation will allow researchers and students of all ages to navigate […]

Arts Photo of seven dancers onstage wearing blue tops and orange or yellow flowing skirts. The backdrop is a Persian design.

February Dance includes works experimenting with live music, technology and a ‘sneaker ballet’

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The dance department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will present February Dance 2025: Fast Forward this week at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. February Dance will be one of the first performances in the newly renovated Colwell Playhouse Theatre since its reopening. The performances are Jan. 30-Feb. 1. Dance professor […]

Honors portraits of four Illinois researchers

Four Illinois researchers receive Presidential Early Career Award

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Four researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were named recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. The winners this year are health and kinesiology professor Marni Boppart, physics professor Barry Bradlyn, chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Ying […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010