“You Just Don’t Report That Kind of Stuff”: Investigating Teens’ Ambivalence Toward Peer-Perpetrated, Unwanted Sexual Incidents

An investigation of narratives from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) finds that one in three teenagers—12–18 years old—who experience an unwanted sexual incident perpetrated by another teen trivialize their incidents as minor, unimportant, or normal kid stuff. This study contextualizes these responses within a framework of ambivalence that highlights separately teens’ ambiguity of definitions, or uncertainty that incidents perpetrated by other teens (especially dating partners and schoolmates) are “real” crimes or offenses worth reporting, and adaptive indifference, a more tactical response to conflicting norms and allegiances that discourage teens from reporting their peers’ sexual misconduct to authorities. The context and consequences of teens’ ambivalence are discussed.