Virginia Sánchez Jiménez
University of Sevilla, Spain
Sexual violence in adolescence and youth: nature, associated factors and intervention proposals.
Participants: Estrella Durán-Guerrero, Carlo Tramontano, Isabel Vicario-Molina, Virginia Sánchez Jiménez
Sexual violence against girls and women is an international public health problem of concern to political, social, educational and health organisations and institutions, and is considered a priority in the European Union's 2020-2025 Gender Equality Strategy. International studies show the complexity and heterogeneity of the phenomenon and confirm its presence in all societies and cultures.
The contributions presented in this symposium are a sample of national and international research on sexual violence at different evolutionary moments and in different contexts. Specifically, it reflects on the nature, extent and prevalence of online sexual harassment in adolescence. Sexual harassment in university contexts in Bolivian universities and its associated variables will be analysed, as well as the individual and interpersonal factors that explain the presence of sexual aggression in young adult relationships. It also delves into prevention and intervention, presenting the results of the effectiveness of a programme to prevent sexual harassment in adolescence. As a whole, the contributions of this symposium confirm the higher incidence of sexual violence among girls and women in different contexts and at different ages, and point out specific forms depending on the context in which they appear. They also conclude on the influence of individual, interpersonal and socio-cultural variables, variables that seem to be mitigated by the implementation of preventive interventions at an early age, thus reducing involvement in this form of violence.
Virginia Sánchez Jiménez is a lecturer in Developmental Psychology in the Department of Developmental and Educational Psychology at the University of Seville and a member of the IASED research group at the University of Seville. She has extensive experience in the study of interpersonal relationships in childhood and adolescence and has studied in depth the influence of emotional and moral competence on face-to-face and online social behaviour. She has designed, implemented and evaluated programmes for the prevention of violence in adolescent couples and bullying, such as the Dat-e Adolescence programme or the Prevent programme. Currently her research is focused on the study and prevention of sexual violence and other forms of violence in adolescence with a special emphasis on the analysis of the peer group as agents that maintain violence. In her research she is incorporating Virtual Reality as a tool for intervention, with the aim of sensitising viewers to sexual violence and encouraging their active behaviour.
