– THE CORRELATION BETWEEN CHILD ABUSE AND NOT BEING ALLOWED TO CHOOSE FUTURE PARTNER
This report is a translation of a report (Det är mitt liv! – Om sambandet mellan barnmisshandel och att inte få välja sin framtida partner) that was published 2018 in Swedish, which has been widely distributed. By translating the report, we make it possible for non-Swedish speakers to take part of the information.
All too many teenagers grow up in homes where they feel that their opportunities to choose and control their own lives are limited. It is more common that pupils with one or both parents born outside the Nordic region are not allowed to decide for themselves, but children with Swedish-born parents can also be limited in their choices. This can involve not being allowed to choose who they marry or live together with as an adult (or whether they want to get married at all). It can also involve not being allowed to choose how they look or what they wear, not being allowed to choose their own friends or what they can do with their friends, and/or not being allowed to choose their own leisure activities, education, religion or political views.
In this report we describe in more detail the correlations that exist in terms of children not being allowed to decide their own life and their future partner and exposure to child abuse. The pupils who are not allowed to choose their partner are significantly more often subjected to various forms of child abuse than other children. This includes physical abuse, psychological abuse, witnessing violence against a parent, sexual abuse and neglect.
Even though the figures we are reporting say nothing about a causal link, teenagers who may not choose their future partner are a particularly vulnerable group that needs to be brought to attention.
The information has been obtained from a national representative school survey which the Children’s Welfare Foundation allowed Carolina Jernbro and Staffan Janson to conduct within the framework of a government commission.