06. tbl. 102. árg. 2016
The prevalence of sexual abuse and sexual assault against Icelandic adolescents
Algengi kynferðislegrar áreitni og ofbeldis gegn íslenskum unglingum
Introduction: Sexual abuse and sexual assaults against children and adolescents is one of the most significant threats to their health. The aim of the current study was to investigate its prevalence and effects on Icelandic teenagers in the 10th grade.
Material and methods: The study is based on data collected for the Icelandic part of the HBSC-project (Health and behaviour of school- aged children). Standardized questionnaires were sent to all students in 10th grade in Iceland of which 3,618 participated. The students experience of sexual abuse or assaults was assessed by asking them how often they had been against their will a) touched in a sexual way, b) made to touch someone else in a sexual way, c) the subject of an attempted rape or d) subjected to rape.
Results: The results showed that 14.6% (527) participants had experienced sexual abuse or assault. Of these, 4.5% (162) had one such experience but 10.1% had either suffered certain type of abuse or assault more than once, or had experienced more than one kind. About 1% of participants (35) said that they had suffered many times from many forms of abuse and assaults. The prevalence of poor mental well-being and risk behaviour was much higher amongst those that had experienced sexual abuse or assault.
Conclusion: Although the results show that the prevalence of sexual abuse and assault against Icelandic adolescents is similar to other Western countries, we find it to be higher than a previous study a decade ago.
Ársæll Már Arnarsson1, Kristín Heba Gísladóttir1, Stefán Hrafn Jónsson2
1School of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Akureyri, 2School of Social Sciences,University of Iceland.
Tables
I. table
| The Prevalence of Sexual Abuse and Sexual Assault against Icelandic Adolescents | ||
| Boys | Girls | |
| Did someone touch or fondle you in a sexual way when you did not want them to? | ||
| I refuse to answer | 3.9% (64) | 4.2% (67) |
| Never | 89.8% (1460) | 78.9% (1258) |
| Once | 2.4% (39) | 9.4% (150) |
| A few times | 1.9% (31) | 5.4% (86) |
| Many times | 1.9% (31) | 2.1% (33) |
| Did someone make you touch their body in a sexual way when you did not want them to? | ||
| I refuse to answer | 3.6% (59) | 2.6% (41) |
| Never | 92.4% (1501) | 89.2% (1423) |
| Once | 1.8% (30) | 5.3% (84) |
| A few times | 1.2% (19) | 1.9% (31) |
| Many times | 0.9% (15) | 1.1% (17) |
| Did someone attempt oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse with you when you did not want them to? | ||
| I refuse to answer | 3.0% (49) | 3.3% (52) |
| Never | 90.9% (1474) | 84.5% (1345) |
| Once | 2.7% (43) | 7.2% (114) |
| A few times | 2.0% (32) | 3.8% (60) |
| Many times | 1.5% (24) | 1.3% (21) |
| Did someone actually have oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse with you when you did not want them to? | ||
| I refuse to answer | 3.3% (54) | 3.1% (50) |
| Never | 92.7% (1504) | 90.3% (1437) |
| Once | 1.5% (24) | 4.0% (63) |
| A few times | 1.3% (21) | 1.4% (22) |
| Many times | 1.2% (19) | 1.2% (19) |
II. table
Associations between different types of sexual abuse or assault and poor well-being and risk behaviour
| IIa | Did someone touch or fondle you in a sexual way when you did not want them to? | ||||
| Never | Once | A few times | Many times | I refuse to answer | |
| Smokes daily | 1.3% (35) | 5.8% (11) | 6.8% (8) | 31.4% (22) | 9.3% (13) |
| Been drunk more than 10 times | 0.9% (26) | 5.8% (11) | 6.7% (8) | 31.9% (22) | 7.1% (10) |
| Tried cannabis | 5.0% (138) | 16.8% (32) | 15.1% (18) | 42.6% (29) | 11.3% (16) |
| Headache about every day | 4.3% (120) | 11.5% (22) | 17.5% (21) | 36.2% (25) | 11.2% (16) |
| Stomach-ache about every day | 3.4% (95) | 7.4% (14) | 5.8% (7) | 25.7% (18) | 7.1% (10) |
| Backache about every day | 8.6% (238) | 18.8% (36) | 18.3% (22) | 28.6% (20) | 17.7% (25) |
| Feeling low about every day | 6.3% (173) | 23.7% (45) | 31.1% (37) | 33.8% (24) | 20.0% (28) |
| Irritability or bad mood about every day | 7.8% (214) | 20.9% (40) | 29.2% (35) | 35.7% (25) | 14.2% (20) |
| Feeling nervous about every day | 6.8% (188) | 18.0% (34) | 30.0% (36) | 36.8% (25) | 20.0% (28) |
| Difficulties in getting to sleep about every night | 8.7% (240) | 22.5% (43) | 24.2% (29) | 34.8% (24) | 20.6% (29) |
| Bullies several times a week | 0.5% (13) | 1.1% (2) | 2.5% (3) | 18.8% (13) | 5.8% (8) |
| Bullied several times a week | 0.2% (6) | 0.0% (0) | 0.0% (0) | 16.2% (11) | 2.2% (3) |
| Does not like school at all | 1.9% (54) | 5.2% (10) | 7.5% (9) | 20.0% (14) | 9.9% (14) |
| Did someone make you touch their body in a sexual way when you did not want them to? | |||||
| IIb | Never | Once | A few times | Many times | I refuse to answer |
| Smokes daily | 1.4% (40) | 11.2% (13) | 11.8% (6) | 44.4% (16) | 12.8% (14) |
| Been drunk more than 10 times | 1.1% (33) | 6.9% (8) | 16.0% (8) | 55.6% (20) | 8.4% (9) |
| Tried cannabis | 5.6% (166) | 19.3% (22) | 24.0% (12) | 63.9% (23) | 11.1% (12) |
| Headache about every day | 4.8% (143) | 18.3% (21) | 15.7% (8) | 52.8% (19) | 11.9% (13) |
| Stomach-ache about every day | 3.6% (106) | 12.1% (14) | 6.0% (3) | 33.3% (12) | 10.2% (119 |
| Backache about every day | 9.2% (272) | 25.0% (29) | 17.6% (9) | 38.9% (14) | 15.7% (17) |
| Feeling low about every day | 7.7% (228) | 31.3% (36) | 23.5% (12) | 47.2% (17) | 14.8% (16) |
| Irritability or bad mood about every day | 8.6% (256) | 29.3% (30) | 25.5% (13) | 50.0% (18) | 13.9% (15) |
| Feeling nervous about every day | 8.0% (236) | 26.1% (30) | 23.5% (12) | 48.6% (17) | 16.2% (17) |
| Difficulties in getting to sleep about every night | 9.4% (280) | 25.9% (30) | 27.5% (14) | 54.3% (19) | 22.2% (24) |
| Bullies several times a week | 0.5% (14) | 3.5% (4) | 2.0% (1) | 33.3% (12) | 8.5% (9) |
| Bullied several times a week | 0.2% (5) | 0.0% (0) | 2.0% (1) | 30.6% (11) | 3.8% (4) |
| Does not like school at all | 2.1% (63) | 6.8% (8) | 13.7% (7) | 31.4% (11) | 11.1% (12) |
| Did someone attempt oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse with you when you did not want them to? | |||||
| IIc | Never | Once | A few times | Many times | I refuse to answer |
| Smokes daily | 1.3% (37) | 5.0% (8) | 8.7% (8) | 38.8% (19) | 13.9% (16) |
| Been drunk more than 10 times | 0.9% (26) | 5.0% (8) | 10.9% (10) | 44.9% (22) | 10.5% (12) |
| Tried cannabis | 5.2% (149) | 14.0% (22) | 22.8% (21) | 54.2% (26) | 14.9% (17) |
| Headache about every day | 4.6% (132) | 10.7% (17) | 18.1% (17) | 42.6% (20) | 15.0% (17) |
| Stomach-ache about every day | 3.5% (101) | 6.9% (11) | 9.6% (9) | 25.0% (12) | 9.8% (11) |
| Backache about every day | 9.2% (263) | 15.6% (25) | 18.1% (17) | 33.3% (16) | 16.8% (19) |
| Feeling low about every day | 7.3% (208) | 20.3% (32) | 27.7% (26) | 32.7% (16) | 21.4% (24) |
| Irritability or bad mood about every day | 8.4% (239) | 17.5% (28) | 26.6% (25) | 37.5% (18) | 20.5% (23) |
| Feeling nervous about every day | 7.6% (218) | 20.1% (32) | 24.5% (23) | 34.8% (16) | 19.1% (21) |
| Difficulties in getting to sleep about every night | 9.2% (262) | 16.9% (27) | 26.9% (25) | 40.4% (19) | 28.6% (32) |
| Bullies several times a week | 0.5% (13) | 2.5% (4) | 3.2% (3) | 24.5% (12) | 7.1% (8) |
| Bullied several times a week | 0.2% (5) | 0.0% (0) | 1.1% (1) | 20.8% (10) | 4.5% (5) |
| Does not like school at all | 9.2% (262) | 16.9% (27) | 26.9% (25) | 40.4% (19) | 28.6% (32) |
| Did someone actually have oral, anal, or vaginal intercourse with you when you did not want them to? | |||||
| IId | Never | Once | A few times | Many times | I refuse to answer |
| Smokes daily | 1.4% (41) | 9.2% (8) | 11.9% (5) | 40.5% (17) | 14.7% (17) |
| Been drunk more than 10 times | 1.0% (31) | 9.0% (8) | 14.3% (6) | 50.0% (21) | 10.4% (12) |
| Tried cannabis | 5.4% (159) | 23.9% (21) | 35.7% (15) | 53.7% (22) | 15.7% (18) |
| Headache about every day | 4.9% (147) | 13.5% (12) | 11.4% (5) | 50.0% (20) | 15.2% (17) |
| Stomach-ache about every day | 3.6% (108) | 9.1% (8) | 4.5% (2) | 26.8% (11) | 11.7% (13) |
| Backache about every day | 9.5% (283) | 18.0% (16) | 11.4% (5) | 34.1% (14) | 18.0% (20) |
| Feeling low about every day | 8.0% (237) | 24.1% (21) | 18.2% (8) | 34.1% (14) | 21.3% (24) |
| Irritability or bad mood about every day | 8.6% (258) | 27.0% (24) | 20.5% (9) | 41.5% (17) | 20.7% (23) |
| Feeling nervous about every day | 7.9% (236) | 25.0% (22) | 22.7% (10) | 38.5% (15) | 21.6% (24) |
| Difficulties in getting to sleep about every night | 9.6% (288) | 20.5% (18) | 18.2% (8) | 40.0% (16) | 29.5% (33) |
| Bullies several times a week | 0.5% (14) | 4.5% (4) | 7.1% (3) | 26.2% (11) | 6.2% (7) |
| Bullied several times a week | 0.1% (4) | 1.1% (1) | 2.4% (1) | 24.4% (10) | 3.5% (4) |
| Does not like school at all | 2.2% (65) | 9.0% (8) | 11.4% (5) | 26.2% (11) | 9.7% (11) |