Predictors and protective factors for adolescent Internet victimization: results from a 2008 nationwide Danish youth survey

Aim: To examine the rate of Internet victimization in a nationally representative sample of adolescents aged 14–17 and to analyze predictors and protective factors for victimization. Methods: Data were collected for 3707 pupils in Danish schools in 2008, using a multimedia computer‐based self‐interviewing programme. Family characteristics, alcohol and drug abuse, exposure to physical/sexual abuse, emotional problems, social conduct and own risky Internet behaviour were included in the analyses. Results:  Any online victimization was reported by 27% of the adolescents, most frequently a rumour spread online (9% of boys and 15% of girls) and sexual solicitation (5% of boys and 16% of girls). Parental surveillance of adolescents’ Internet use significantly reduced their risk of online victimization. Roughly half of the adolescents had met Internet acquaintances face to face, with few instances resulting in forced sex (five boys and nine girls). Female gender, parental physical violence, previous exposure to sexual abuse, alcohol abuse in the family, self‐reported emotional problems and antisocial behaviour and high Internet use were all weakly and risky online behaviour strongly associated with online victimization. Conclusions: Danish adolescents are generally aware of the principles of ‘safe chatting’; however, online harassment is relatively frequent, but offline victimization based on Internet acquaintances is rare.     

Prevalence and characteristics of sexual abuse in a national sample of Swedish seventeen-year-old boys and girls

The aims of this study, which was part of a survey on adolescent sexual behaviour, were to investigate adolescents' experience of child sexual abuse and to present possible abuse-related problems. Representative samples of 2% of Sweden's 17-y-old male and female students and school non-attenders were selected in a two-step procedure. In all, 1943 students and 210 school non-attenders answered a self-administered anonymous questionnaire, distributed by school nurses. Six out of 170 questions dealt with personal experiences of child sexual abuse, i.e. age at onset, frequency of abuse and relationship to the offender. Peer abuse was excluded by the definitions used. The overall response rate was 92.2% for students and 44.2% for school dropouts. Among male and female students, 3.1% and 11.2%, respectively, acknowledged sexual abuse, 2.3% and 7.1%, respectively, when exhibitionism was excluded. Mean age at onset was 9.1 y (SD 4.3) for boys and 9.0 y (SD 3.9) for girls; 1.2% of the boys and 3.1% of the girls reported abusive oral, vaginal and/or anal intercourse. Suicide attempts or other acts of self-harm were reported by 33.3% of the male students reporting abuse and by 5.1% (p < 0.001) of those who had not been abused, and by 30.4% of the abused student girls compared to 9.1% of the non-abused (p < 0.001). Sleep and eating disorders, use of alcohol at an early age and/or experimentation with illicit drugs and consensual coitarche before age 15 y was reported significantly more often by abused than non-abused girls (p < 0.001, differences not found among the student boys). Of school non-attenders, 4% of the boys and 28% of the girls reported sexual abuse. Of the abused girls, 49% reported abusive vaginal intercourse and 64% reported self-destructive behaviour or suicide attempts. No abused boys and few abused girls had confided in a teacher, health professional or social worker. Results from the student sample should be interpreted as markers of "minimum prevalence", as female school non-attenders report significantly higher prevalence of sexual abuse. Potential high-risk groups are better included in prevalence investigations of child sexual abuse. The fact that so few adolescents confided in "professionals" about the abuse, despite having severe symptoms and signs of distress, underlines the need to address sexual abuse when recording the social, medical and psychiatric histories of adolescents.     

Prevalence and correlates of mental disorders in Israeli adolescents: results from a national mental health survey

Background: The development of epidemiological instruments has enabled the assessment of mental disorders in youth in countries that plan policy according to evidence‐based principles. The Israel Survey of Mental Health among Adolescents (ISMEHA) was conducted in 2004–2005 in a representative sample of 957 adolescents aged 14–17 and their mothers. Methods: The aims of this study were to estimate prevalence rates of internalizing and externalizing mental disorders and their socio‐demographic and health correlates. Disorders were ascertained with the Development and Well‐Being Assessment inventory and verified by child psychiatrists. Results: The prevalence rates were 11.7%, 8.1% and 4.8% for any disorder, internalizing disorders and externalizing disorders, respectively. Distinct risk factors were associated with the different types of disorders: internalizing disorders were associated with female gender, chronic medical conditions and being cared for by a welfare agency. Risk factors for externalizing disorders were male gender, having divorced or single parents, being an only child or having only one sibling. Learning disability was associated with both types of disorders. Conclusions: The risk and protective factors related to internalizing and externalizing disorders are interpreted within the framework of family composition in this multicultural society.     

Methodological challenges when monitoring the diet of pregnant women in a large study: experiences from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa)

The aim of this article is to describe the main methodological challenges in the monitoring of dietary intake in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa), a pregnancy cohort aiming to include 100 000 participants. The overall challenge was to record dietary patterns in sufficient detail to support future testing of a broad range of hypotheses, while at the same time limiting the burden on the participants. The main questions to be answered were: which dietary method to choose, when in pregnancy to ask, which time period should the questions cover, which diet questions to include, how to perform a validation study, and how to handle uncertainties in the reporting. Our decisions were as follows: using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) (in use from 1 March 2002), letting the participants answer in mid-pregnancy, and asking the mother what she has eaten since she became pregnant. The questions make it possible to estimate intake of food supplements, antioxidants and environmental contaminants in the future. Misreporting is handled by consistency checks. Reports with a calculated daily energy intake of <4.5 and >20 MJ day(-1) are excluded, about 1% in each end of the scale. A validation study confirmed that the included intakes are realistic. The outcome of our methodological choices indicates that our FFQ strikes a reasonable balance between conflicting methodological and scientific interests, and that our approach therefore may be of use to others planning to monitor diet in pregnancy cohorts.