Sexual violence is associated with several risk and protective factors. Risk for sexual violence perpetration is influenced by a range of factors, including characteristics of the
individual and their social and physical environments. These factors interact
with one another to increase or decrease risk for sexual violence over time and within
specific contexts. Examples of key risk factors for sexual violence perpetration include a
history of child physical abuse, exposure to parental violence, involvement in
delinquent behavior, acceptance of violence, hyper-masculinity, traditional
gender role norms, excessive alcohol use, early sexual initiation and sexual
risk-taking behavior (e.g., sex without a condom), and association with
sexually-aggressive peer groups. Poverty or low socioeconomic status,
gender inequality,
exposure to community crime and violence, social norms
supportive of sexual violence and male sexual entitlement, and weak laws and policies
related to sexual violence are also risk factors for sexual violence perpetration. Less is known about
protective factors—that is, factors that decrease or buffer the risk for sexual violence.
However, the evidence suggests that greater empathy, emotional health
and connectedness, academic achievement, and having parents who use
reasoning to resolve family conflicts are associated with a lower risk of sexual violence
perpetration.

Sexual violence is connected to other forms of violence. Research has demonstrated that experiences with sexual violence are related to
experiencing other types of violence. For example, girls who have been sexually abused are more likely to suffer
physical violence and sexual violence re-victimization, and be a victim of intimate partner violence later in life. In
addition, perpetrating bullying in early middle school is associated with subsequent sexual harassment perpetration.
Adolescents who have experienced forced intercourse at some point in their life are more likely than those who have
not been forced to have intercourse to have thoughts of suicide. The overlap and co-occurrence of sexual violence and other
types of violence may reflect the presence of shared risk factors across the multiple violent behaviors and experiences.
As such, approaches that address multiple forms of violence and/or risk factors that are shared across the types of
violence may be an effective and efficient way to prevent violence.