An estimated 19.3 percent of women and 1.7 percent of men in the United States have been raped in their lifetimes, a study released Friday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control said.
The study, conducted in 2011, also found much higher numbers of women and men had experienced other forms of sexual violence — like sexual coercion and unwanted sexual contact — during their lives, 43.9 percent and 23.4 percent, respectively.
"The results provided in this report indicate that the burden of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence is not distributed evenly in the U.S. population," the study reported. "Consistent with previous studies, the results suggest that women, in particular, are impacted heavily during their lifetimes. However, the results indicate that many men also experience sexual violence, stalking and, in particular, physical violence by an intimate partner."
Meanwhile, there was also a higher prevalence of rape and other sexual violence among multiracial and American Indian/Alaska Native women compared to other ethnic groups.
"In the United States, an estimated 32.3 percent of multiracial women, 27.5 percent of American Indian/Alaska Native women, 21.2 percent of non-Hispanic black women, 20.5 percent of non-Hispanic white women, and 13.6 percent of Hispanic women were raped during their lifetimes," the study concluded.
"Although previous research has suggested explanations for elevated rates of violence among American Indian/Alaska Native women (e.g., elevated poverty, social and geographic isolation, and a higher likelihood of alcohol use by the perpetrator), little is known about why multiracial women are at greater risk for these forms of violence," the report said.
A team of six researchers gathered the data from 12,727 phone interviews conducted between January and December 2011.