Ungdoms voldsutsatthet og foreldres landbakgrunn

Abstract

Earlier studies from the Nordic countries have shown that youth from immigrant backgrounds are more likely to be exposed to parental violence compared with non-immigrant youth. However, few studies have investigated differences on a more detailed level and analyzed the risk after parents’ country of origin. Moreover, to what extent cultural, psychosocial, stress and resource-based factors can account for a relationship between parents’ country of origin and youths’ exposure to violence has not been investigated in a Norwegian context. Therefore, we first examine the prevalence of fear of and exposure to violence among young people from different immigrant backgrounds. Then we control for various factors that can be related to country differences. We use data from the Young in Oslo survey from 2018, a school-based self-report study conducted among youth aged 16–19. In the analyses, we distinguish between youth from major immigration countries and those from other geographic regions. Overall, and in line with earlier research, we find that a higher proportion of youth with immigrant backgrounds fear violence and have been subjected to violence by someone in the family, compared to youth with two Norwegian-born parents. However, the results show large variation in the level of exposure after parents’ country of origin. In addition, the results indicate that this variation is largely related to families’ socio-economic resources, but also, to some extent, family structure (parents living together or not). Few socio-economic resources and a weak economic situation indicate a higher exposure risk for all youth, including those with Norwegian-born parents. Even after controlling for socio-economic resources, family structure and religious affiliation, there is a higher risk of violence among youth with origin from some countries and regions.