Did Norwegian adolescents suffer more violence and sexual abuse during the Covid-19 pandemic? Violence and sexual abuse rates the year before the pandemic compared to rates one year into the pandemic.

Background: The Covid-19 pandemic is a public health crisis which may cause unintended additional societal costs such as child maltreatment. Considerable concern is raised as to whether the pandemic has led to an increase in violence and sexual abuse against children. Objective: The present study objective is to provide rates of violence and sexual abuse against adolescents the year before the pandemic compared to one year into the pandemic. Participants and setting: Two samples of Norwegian 12-16-year-olds were approached. A representative pre-pandemic sample of 9240 adolescents (M age= 14.11), and a sample recruited one year into the pandemic resulting in 3540 responses (M age (SD) = 14.5). Methods: An online survey was administered during school hours including established measures of violence and sexual abuse exposure. Sociodemographic characteristics were assessed. Results: There was 1.4 percentage point increase in sexual abuse by an adult, and a 3.9 percentage point decrease in psychological violence by a parent during the pandemic compared to the year before the pandemic. Otherwise, violence and sexual abuse rates remained stable across these two time periods. Risk factors for violence and sexual abuse were amplified during the pandemic. Conclusion: Norway, a high-income welfare state, imposed measures to counteract the burden of the pandemic mitigation actions for adolescents. This might partly explain the absence of the feared increase in violence towards adolescents. The disproportionate risk for violence and sexual abuse for some groups of adolescents is however concerning, and should be followed up over time.