Prevalence and Variations of Sexual Violence Victimization Among US-Based Latino Adults and Adolescents: A Systematic Literature Review

ABSTRACT

Sexual violence victimization (SVV) is a significant public health concern. SVV research often focuses on college-attending White women’s experiences, resulting in a knowledge gap regarding the experiences of ethnic minority groups, including the Latino community – the largest minority group in the US. To develop more culturally sensitive SV prevention efforts, the current study reviewed research focused on the prevalence rates of SVV among Latino people. The authors searched for published articles in PubMed, PsycINFO, and the reference sections of relevant articles published from 2011 to 2022. Articles were deemed eligible if they presented SVV prevalence rates for Latino participants; 39 articles were included in the review. The most frequently assessed aspect of SVV among Latino people was whether they had ever been victimized. The average prevalence rate across articles was 16.0%. Additionally, researchers examined the prevalence rates of unwanted touching, sexual coercion, and completed rape among Latino individuals. Few articles examined SVV prevalence rates among sexual and gender minority Latinos; those that did found higher SVV rates among those groups. SVV is a prevalent issue within the Latino community, with women and sexual minorities facing an even greater risk. Moving forward, studying the contextual factors of SVV among Latino people and developing culturally sensitive interventions tailored to this population are needed.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Award Number [L30AA031129] (Marcantonio) and [T32AA007583] (Wiseblatt).