Gender-Based and Sexual Violence in French Students: Trajectories and Predictors – A Cohort Study

Background

Gender-based and sexual violence (GBSV) is prevalent among university students, yet most studies rely on cross-sectional designs and fail to capture victimization patterns over time. For the first time, we examined victimization trajectories and identified their predictors among university students using longitudinal data.

Methods

Participants (n = 563, 76.9% female; mean age=20.8 years, SD = 2.09) from EtuV2S, a prospective cohort at a French university (2024-2025), were followed over nine months across four waves. Five GBSV types were assessed at each wave. Victimization status was categorized as non-victim, single-type victimization, or polyvictimization. Trajectories were analyzed using continuous-time multi-state Markov models, and predictors were identified using mixed-effects multinomial logistic regression.

Results

At baseline, 51.7% of participants reported having experienced GBSV since starting university; 49.9% experienced at least one incident during the follow-up. Among GBSV types, sexist comments/behaviors and comments with sexual connotations showed the highest persistence (transition probabilities: 0.30 and 0.34, respectively). Single-type victims were five times more likely to transition to polyvictimization than non-victims (transition probabilities: 0.10 vs. 0.02). Polyvictims showed high persistence at subsequent waves (transition probability: 0.80). Prior victimization was the strongest predictor of subsequent exposure (AOR=4.2; 95%CI: 2.9–5.8 for single-type victimization; AOR=6.4; 95%CI: 3.5–11.7 for polyvictimization). Being female (AOR=4.1; 95%CI: 2.2–7.4), LGBTQ + (AOR=1.7; 95%CI: 1.3–2.5), or living with family (AOR=1.9; 95%CI: 1.3–2.7) were significant independent risk factors for polyvictimization.

Conclusions

This prospective cohort revealed persistent victimization and a high risk of escalation to polyvictimization among university students.

Key messages

• Persistent and escalating patterns of gender-based and sexual violence were observed among university students in this prospective cohort (n = 563).

• Prior victimization was the strongest predictor of repeat exposure, supporting early, trajectory-sensitive prevention strategies targeting the most vulnerable students.