Violence and sexual abuse

7033 students in their last year of secondary school, from 67 schools all over the country, took part in the survey (response rate 77 %). Within regular school hours, the participants answered a comprehensive questionnaire, mainly about their experiences with violence and sexual abuse.

The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of three different offences against children and youth:

1. Violence from own parents (direct violence)
2. Experiences of violence against own parents (indirect violence), and 
3. Sexual abuse. In addition, the report focuses on risk factors for different kinds of offences and on consequences related to the three kinds of offences.

The report offers new knowledge about young people´s exposure to direct and indirect violence and sexual abuse. This is the first time the prevalence of direct and indirect violence has been assessed in a normal youth population of this size in Norway. It is also the first time sexual abuse and other violent offences are measured in the same survey.

Prevalence of sexual abuse, direct and indirect violence
The majority of the participants did not report any of the offences they were asked about. There is also great variety in the kinds of abusive and violent experiences the informants report. While relatively many informants had experienced at least one offence at some point in their lives, relatively few had experienced what we have defined as severe offences, and even fewer have experienced severe direct and indirect violence as well as severe sexual abuse.

Direct physical violence from parents 

• More than 80 % of the participants had never been hit intentionally by an adult member of their family. The majority of those having been hit by an adult family member had experienced such an event only once or a few times. Only 2 % reported frequent violence (hit more than 10 times).
• Mild violence (e.g. mild smacking, pushing, showing) from the mother was more frequent than mild violence from the father (19 and 13 %, respectively). 
• Using other measures, we found that 25 % of the participants reported at least one incident of physical violence from one of their parents. Physical violence from both parents was reported by 7 %. 
• The proportion that reported severe violence was considerably lower than the proportion that reported mild violence. 
• 8 % reported severe violence from at least one of the parents. Only 2 % of the informants reported severe violence from both parents. 
• More girls than boys reported mild violence from mothers than from fathers. For severe violence there was no such gender difference.

Sexual abuse 

• 22 % of the girls and 8 % of the boys reported having experienced less severe forms of sexual abuse. 
• More severe sexual offences were less common: 15 % of the girls and 7 % of the boys reported such experiences. 
• Almost all offended girls reported that their offenders were male. Half of the offended boys reported that their offenders were female.
• More girlsthanboys reported the use of physical force in the offence.
• The proportion reporting an intrafamilial offender was very low for both genders; the majority of sexual offences took place outside the close family. 
• About half of the offences were committed by a friend, boyfriend, girlfriend, or an acquaintance. About half of the offences took place between young people in their teens. 
• 9 % of the girls reported having experienced rape or attempted rape. Less than 1 % of the boys reported such experiences.
•  The proportion reporting more than one incident of sexual abuse was considerably higher among girls than among boys.

Multi-victimization 

• 16 % reported at least one severe offence (severe sexual abuse, severe direct violence from parents, or severe indirect violence). 
• 2 % reported at least one incident of severe sexual abuse, and at least one incident of severe direct or indirect violence. 0.5 % reported all three kinds of severe offences.

Risk factors: Living conditions and gender 
Poor family economy, alcohol problems among adult family members, and minority background were associated with an increased risk of experiencing direct violence from parents, indirect violence, and sexual abuse. More girls than boys reported sexual abuse and mild physical violence from mothers. More girls than boys also reported exposure to indirect violence (against their mother).

Read more

Contact the editors Svein Mossige and Kari Stefansen for more information

The report is written in Norwegian.