Study title

Child Sexual Abuse in Finland 1983-1984: Public Authority Survey

Dataset ID Number

FSD2621

Persistent identifiers

https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2621
https://doi.org/10.60686/t-fsd2621

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Sariola, Heikki (Central Union for Child Welfare)

Abstract

The survey investigated child sexual abuse cases that had come to the attention of the Finnish authorities in 1983-1984. The postal survey was sent to social workers throughout Finland. A total of 354 confirmed and suspected cases of child sexual abuse were reported.

Relating to suspected cases of sexual abuse, the respondents were asked what the reasons for their suspicions were. Relating to certain and confirmed cases the respondents were asked the gender of the child who had been the victim of abuse, information pertaining to the child's residence, other children in the child's family, whether any of the siblings had become a victim of sexual abuse, where the child had lived when abused and whether the child was physically or mentally disabled. Information was charted on the family in which the child had lived when abused, including the number of months the father and mother of the family had been consistently away from home, domestic violence in the family, the family's social interaction, the characteristics of the family, the father and mother of the family, and the family's lifestyle (regular, irregular or chaotic).

The section on the sexual abuser covered the abuser's relationship to the abused child, previous sexual offences committed, whether the abuser had confessed their actions, admitted to causing the child harm or attempted to defend their actions as well as the characteristics describing the abuser. Relating to the sexual abuse case in question, the respondents were asked when and how the abuse case came to light, whether any of the family members knew about the abuse before it became known to authorities, how long sexual abuse had continued, whether coitus, physical violence and use of alcohol was involved, who had been notified of the case, which actions had been taken and what kind of symptoms the child had had.

Background variables included, among others, the respondent's job and unit; type of municipality, province, degree of urbanisation, number of habitants in the municipality; the child's age and family composition, education and economic activity of the child's parents; the sexual abuser's gender, age, economic activity and education.

Keywords

adolescents; adults; child abuse; child neglect; child sexual abuse; children; sexual harassment; sexual offences; social workers

Topic Classification

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

Series

Individual datasets

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

1983-01-01 – 1984-12-31

Collection Dates

1984-12-05 – 1985-01-01

Nation

Finland

Geographical Coverage

Finland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Individual

Event/Process/Activity

Universe

Known child sexual abuse cases in Finland in 1983-1984, where the abuser was an adult or a person more than five years the child's senior and previously known to the child. (excluding cases/children in institutions)

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

The survey was sent to child protection authorities, maternity and child health clinics, school social workers and psychologists, health centres, mental health centres and hospitals throughout Finland.

Response rates for different groups were: 87% for child protection authorities, 86% for maternity and child health clinics, 82% for school social workers, 79% for school psychologists, 87% for health centres, 62% for mental health centres and 84% for hospitals. All returned questionnaires counted toward the response rate, even if no child sexual abuse cases were reported. The response rate mentioned in the Response rate field (81%) is the mean of all different response rates.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Paper

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Response Rate

81

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

2.0

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

The variables for questions 4, 71, 73, 88, 89 and 90 are not included in the data. Responses to the open-ended questions 5, 68, 72 and 73 are not included in the data, but the researcher has categorised them.

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 Sexual Abuse in Finland 1983-1984: Public Authority Survey [dataset]. Version 2.0 (2018-07-20). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD2621

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 (1985). Lasten seksuaalinen hyväksikäyttö Suomessa. Selvitys viranomaisten tietoon vuosina 1983-1984 tulleista lapsiin kohdistuneista hyväksikäyttötapauksista. Helsinki: Lastensuojelun keskusliitto.

Sariola, Heikki (1987). Insesti Suomessa: tutkimus viranomaisten tietoon vuosina 1983-1984 tulleista isä-tytär- ja isäpuoli-tytär-insestitapauksista. Helsinki: Helsingin yliopisto. Sosiaalipsykologian Pro gradu -tutkielma.