Ignore Peer Pressure Don't act older than you are

A young woman from the north of England is urging young people to ‘be careful and stay safe’ after she was the victim of an attempted sexual assault by an older boy at a drunken and drug-fuelled party on her 12th birthday, where couples were also openly having sex.

She believes there is intense pressure for young people to act older than they are and she’s calling on children and early teens not to take risks and to ‘act their age.’

14-year old 'Sarah' says she was already mixing with a group of friends who were two or three years her senior when she invited them to celebrate her birthday at her home.

Several older boys turned up, some of whom were not invited. Despite her mother’s protests and attempts to keep things under control, the older teens were drinking, smoking cannabis and listening to loud music deep into the night.

Sarah admits that she took the side of her ‘friends’ and did not listen to her mother.

Eventually the party-goers fell asleep and, in the early hours, when Sarah decided to go the toilet, an older boy attempted to sexually assault her.

Sarah says she shouted, struggled and got away … but her friends did not intervene, and she was left shaken, shocked and confused.

In the morning she discovered that a favourite item of jewellery was missing and she believes that it was taken by her attacker who later mocked her on social media when accused.

Sarah says he was interviewed by the police about both incidents, and his home searched, but they found nothing and had to drop the investigation through lack of evidence.

Clinical Child and Family Psychologist, Rhiannon Cobner, says there is huge pressure on young people to act older than their age, often in a sexual way.

‘Young people live in media saturated environments now, and we’re seeing sexual imagery where-ever we look (…) and these are people that children are looking to as role models and that’s influencing how they think they should be’.