Incident-Level Analysis of 703 Retrospective Self-Reports of Ordinary Violence Recalled by 334 Swedes Aged 6 to 45 Years

Abstract

There is wide variation in how exposure to violence is conceptualized. Perceptions of ordinary violence are linked to people’s actual experiences, which may be direct, indirect, observed, or vicarious, and all through filters of gender, class, community, and culture. Event-recall interviews were conducted among a convenience sample of Swedish males ( n = 132) and females ( n = 202) aged 6 to 45 years. Respondents spontaneously recalled 703 events (averaging 2.3 events for males, 2.1 for females). For men, 93% of events were male(s)-on-male(s), 2% female-on-female, and 2% male(s)-on-female(s). For women, 42% of events were male(s)-on-male(s), 19% female(s)-on-female(s), 24% male(s)-on-females, and 10% female(s)-on-male(s). Interviewee’s roles differed. Of males, 17% were aggressors, 40% victims, and 43% observers. Of females, 12% were aggressors, 30% victims, and 58% observers. For males, there was a significant increase in degree of seriousness of events from junior-, to high school, to college. For females, events became more serious as interviewees progressed from aggressor to victim to observer. For males, violent events between strangers were significantly more serious than all other combinations of acquaintanceship. Most recently recalled events were the most serious for males (no effect for females). Participation in sports was linked to seriousness of events recalled by females, events being described as more serious by females who participated in sports, this effect being stronger for those females who participated in contact/collision and self-defense sports. The significant correlation between trauma and seriousness is nearly twice as strong for females which might be taken as an indication of stronger moral pathos.