Tekijät

• Sariola, Heikki (Central Union for Child Welfare)

Asiasanat

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

Sisällön kuvaus

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.