NOVA Report 22/09

This report examines the extent and the manner of expression of experiences of violence and sexual assault amongst two different youth populations in Oslo. It is based on material from two different surveys: the questionnaire-based survey Ung Hubro, which was conducted by the public health authorities in 2000-2001 amongst 7307 pupils in class 10 (16-year-olds) at Oslo schools, and the questionnaire-based survey LUVO which was carried out by NOVA in 2007 amongst a nationally-representative selection of in all 7033 final-year sixth-form-college pupils, of whom 782 came from schools in Oslo. Two important themes in both surveys were the pupils’ experiences of violence and sexual assault. Data material from the two surveys cannot be directly compared because the selections differ in terms of selection criteria and age and because the questions asked in the two studies were not the same. Both studies are cross-sectional surveys which give us a picture of the extent of experiences of violence and sexual assault in the two different age groups at two different times (2000-2001 and 2007). If the two survey groups had been selected according to the same criteria and the questions had been identical, the two studies could have given us information about possible changes or consistent features in social conditions in terms of the extent of experiences of violence and sexual assault. Since conditions for such a comparison were not present we have chosen primarily to present the two surveys individually. To the degree we do make comparisons between the results of the two surveys, these results should be treated with great caution and it is not the case that the results of one survey can collaborate or refute the results of the other.