Study title

Child Victim Survey 1988

Dataset ID Number

FSD2406

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2406
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd2406

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Sariola, Heikki (Central Union for Child Welfare)

Abstract

The survey charted the upbringing and punishment of ninth-graders, as well as their sexual experiences with adults. Over 7,000 students from over 360 classes all over continental Finland responded to this survey studying sexual abuse of and violence against children and young people.

After providing background information, the respondents were asked about how their parents reacted to poor school marks or to respondents doing housework (praised, awarded or did not pay attention), and whether their parents took enough care of them. Some questions charted arguments between children and parents, and how parents solve disputes (e.g. by being flexible, giving up, sulking, scolding, threatening with violence, pushing, pulling children's hair, punching with the fist, whipping, or kicking).

The respondents' experiences of sexual intimacies or intercourse with persons at least five years older than them were explored with the help of several questions. They were asked what happened (proposing, caressing, showing or touching genitals, imitating sexual intercourse, sexual intercourse, etc.), who did it (stranger, friend, cousin, uncle, aunt, father, mother, brother, sister, etc.), at what age, and during how long a period of time. Further questions investigated who initiated the sexual activity, whether the other parties had forced, bribed, or used violence against the respondents in order to get them to do what they wanted to, and whether the parties had been under the influence of alcohol. The feelings of the respondents who had experienced sexual harassment were canvassed, both at the time of the incident and afterwards, as well as whom, if anyone, the respondents had told about the incident.

Opinions on violence and corporal punishment of children were charted in several questions. The respondents were asked to list the three most important reasons for punishing children. In addition, they were asked whether they considered corporal punishment inevitable, and what kind of consequences they thought it has on children. Finally, the respondents were asked whether they were going to use corporal punishment when raising their own children in the future, if they will have any.

Background variables included the respondent's gender, household composition, municipality type, degree of urbanisation, province of residence, mother tongue, parents' economic activity and occupational status, and the number of pupils in R's class at school.

Keywords

adolescents; adults; assault; child sexual abuse; children; corporal punishment; domestic violence; parental role; parents; sexual behaviour; upbringing

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Youth (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Children (CESSDA Topic Classification)
• Social behaviour and attitudes (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Child Victim Surveys

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Central Union for Child Welfare

Data Producers

• Central Union for Child Welfare

Time Period Covered

1987 – 1988

Collection Dates

1987-11 – 1988-05

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Universe

Ninth grades (with both Finnish and Swedish as languages of teaching) in Finnish schools (excluding the Åland Islands)

Time Method

Longitudinal: Trend/Repeated cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Probability: Cluster: Stratified random

A representative sample of eighth grades in terms of province, language of teaching in the class, students' gender, and class type was selected from the 1986 school register of the Finnish State Computer Centre (VTKK). The analysis unit used was class, and altogether 409 classes were included in the sample. 376 of them were Finnish-speaking and 33 Swedish-speaking. The objective was to receive responses from 10,000 students, but the class sizes were smaller than expected. Altogether 363 classes and over 7,300 students responded. A few medium-sized cities and a few small municipalities were left out of the survey. There were two classes with disabled students in the sample which did not respond. Classes offering special needs, disability, or adjusted teaching responded less frequently than other classes. School nurses were responsible for data collection in schools. The students were supposed to be given the chance to fill in the questionnaires alone in a separate room, and then return them in closed envelopes to school nurses. However, 10% of the students who responded filled in the questionnaire in classes because of lack of space.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

88.8

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: Finnish.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Data Version

1.0

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Sariola, Heikki (Central Union for Child Welfare): Child Victim Survey 1988 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2009-01-15). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2406

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

Related Publications

Sariola, Heikki & Uutela, Antti (1994). The prevalence of child sexual abuse in Finland. Child Abuse & Neglect 18(10), 827-835.

Sariola, Heikki & Uutela, Antti (1996). The prevalence and context of incest abuse in Finland. Child Abuse & Neglect 20(9), 843-850.

Sariola, Heikki (1990). Lasten väkivalta- ja seksuaalikokemukset. Kotona koettu väkivalta ja seksuaalikokemukset aikuisten kanssa. Tutkimus suomalaisista peruskoulun 9.-luokkalaisista vuonna 1988. Helsinki: Lastensuojelun keskusliitto. Julkaisu; 85.

Ellonen, Noora & Kääriäinen, Juha & Salmi, Venla & Sariola, Heikki (2008). Lasten ja nuorten väkivaltakokemukset. Tutkimus peruskoulun 6. ja 9. luokan oppilaiden kokemasta väkivallasta. Tampere: Poliisiammattikorkeakoulun raportteja; 71. Helsinki: Oikeuspoliittisen tutkimuslaitoksen tutkimustiedonantoja; 87.

Heinonen, Anna (2011). Lasten ja nuorten kokema kuritusväkivalta perheissä. Turku: Turun yliopisto, oikeustieteellinen tiedekunta. Pro gradu -tutkielma.

Älä lyö lasta! Kansallinen lapsiin kohdistuvan kuritusväkivallan vähentämisen toimintaohjelma 2010-2015. Helsinki: Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriö. Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriön julkaisuja 2010:7

Seppälä, Mire (2017). Korvapuusteista kasvatuskeskusteluihin. Vanhempien kuritusväkivalta-asenteiden ja lasten kuritusväkivaltakokemusten muutos 1981-2014. Jyväskylä: Jyväskylän avoin yliopisto. Sosiaalityön kandidaatintutkielma.

Rind, B. (2022). Reactions to Minor-Older and Minor-Peer Sex as a Function of Personal and Situational Variables in a Finnish Nationally Representative Student Sample. Archives of Sexual Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02224-0.

Mielityinen, L., Hautamäki, S., Hakala, V., Fagerlund, M. & Ellonen N. 2023. Lasten ja nuorten väkivaltakokemukset 2022: Määrät, piirteet ja niiden muutokset 1988-2022. Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriön julkaisuja 2023:5.