Victims of violence in a welfare state: Sociodemography, ethnicity and risk behaviors.

Abstract

In a normal population sample of Norwegian adolescents, six per cent reported to have been victims of violent victimisation during the last year. The sample consisted of three cohorts of adolescents from Oslo (10812 persons) aged 13-18, who filled out a survey at school. Further, we had at our disposal community-level indicators of welfare in the home city districts of the adolescents. Boys were more often victimised than girls. Individual level demographic indicators (immigrant, working class background, parents unemployed or on social welfare), were associated with victimisation risk. However, the impact of community-level socio-demographic variables (education, income, single parenthood, death rates) were of larger magnitude. Further, there were effects from general lifestyle (unorganised leisure, evenings in town), but risk- behaviours were more important. In particular alcohol problems, own aggression and to carry a weapon were associated with high risk for victimisation. There were small differences in predictors between genders, but adolescents with immigrant background were less vulnerable for contextual level factors than adolescents without such a background. The findings are discussed in relation to recent findings and theoretical developments as regards research on violent victimisation.