Finnish child victim survey revisited

Altogether 11,364 children, aged 11–12 and 15–16, participated in the Finnish Child Victim Survey in 2013. [...]

Children who reported sexual experiences with adults were also asked how they perceived these experiences afterwards. Although the small number of these incidents does not enable detailed analysis or statistically significant association, the distribution of feelings about answering the survey according to perceptions of the sexual experience with an adult offers an interesting perspective to children's feelings.

Most of the sexual experiences with adults were perceived as positive (38%) among children, although it is against the law. Most of these children experienced answering as negative or confusing or neutral/slightly positive. None of the children who experienced sexual contact with an adult as positive reported strongly negative feelings about answering the survey and only one respondent reported feelings of relief. Negative perceptions of a sexual experience with an adult were almost as common as positive perceptions (35%). Among these children the most common feeling about answering the survey was neutral/slightly positive but also strongly negative feelings and feelings of relief were reported.

source: Article 'Children's Experiences of Completing a Computer-Based Violence Survey: Finnish Child Victim Survey Revisited' by Monica Fagerlund (MSSoc) & Noora Ellonen (PhD); www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10538712.2016.1186769; www.boychat.org/messages/1481528.htm & www.boychat.org/messages/1481480.htm; Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, Volume 25, Issue 5; 2016