Introduction: Refugees face the process of cross-cultural transitions upon arrival in their host country. This process is commonly referred to as acculturation and can be particularly challenging for asylum-seeking children and adolescent unaccompanied by a caregiver. To more effectively facilitate unaccompanied refugee minors (URMs) resettlement, this study sought to obtain an enhanced understanding of the acculturation processes of these youth’.

Methods: Thus, interviews with 48 URMs, all of whom arrived before the age of 16 years, were analyzed in two steps. First, how the youth described their host country’s society and culture, followed by how they navigated within this societal and cultural landscape during resettlement.

Results: The youth described how they navigated the Norwegian cultural and societal landscape by gaining cultural competence, adapting and finding ways to contribute, which made it easier for the youth to gain access to the society, to succeed as well as enhance their sense of agency. However, the youths also reported having to navigate between the expectations of their original and host country cultures, struggling with finding a balance between the two cultures.

Discussion: The youth’ acculturation processes seemed to be the result of both their own needs, wishes and behavior as well as specific features in their host country culture, which supports the notion that acculturation processes to some degree are context- and culture-dependent. Knowledge regarding the cultural and societal framework that these youth face and how they navigate within it during resettlement is critical for identifying possible cross-cultural challenges and promoting positive developmental tracks. To understand more about acculturation and integration processes, future research should include specific cultural and societal features as well as immigrants’ own perspectives and experiences during resettlement.

To a large degree, the voices of staff running daily operations in secure units for adolescents, particularly on sensitive issues such as violence and abuse, have been missing. The aim of the present paper is to make these voices heard by investigating what forms of violence staff in secure units encounter in their day-to-day work and to deepen our understanding of how they handle it. The study uses two theoretical starting points. First, the secure unit is understood in terms of Berger and Luckmann’s concept of institutionalisation, emphasising how behaviour and practices develop through well-defined roles. Secondly, inspiration is drawn from Goffman’s notion of frontstage and backstage, highlighting how staff within an institution (i.e. secure unit) enter into different roles. Fifty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted with staff at three different secure units for adolescents in Sweden. The material was organised through a thematic analysis, yielding six themes placed under two headings; ‘A violent scene? A matter of definition’ and ‘Handling violence: strategies employed’. The results show how staff describe youth as the violent party and how they suppress their own emotions. Additionally, staff articulated their own use of violence toward youth and their emotional stance, describing an interpersonal shield that protected them from violence. The results underline the importance of raising questions about the nature of violence in secure units for adolescents and how staff handle such violence in their everyday work.

This article focuses on how one staff member at a therapeutic residential institution negotiates his work identity, exploring how he narrates a violent incident, the formation of work identity, and how the adolescent figures within these processes. Mishler argues that when speaking, we perform identity. As social actors, we select and organize language, telling stories that fit the audience, our intentions, and the occasion. The article is framed both theoretically and methodologically through the assumption that narrative is a fundamental human way of giving meaning to our experiences. Identities are understood as being produced and performed within personal narratives. Thus, in an interview situation, narratives provide an interactive space for personal subjectivities to be expressed and enacted. Drawing on Mishler, we find three essential "turning points" that shape Alex’s work identity: (1) the violent incident, (2) the adolescent’s return to the ward, and (3) Alex’s subsequent change of wards. We interpret Alex’s narrative as a "narrative of resistance" that may have practical day-to-day implications for the field of institutional care and help expand the staff’s clinical toolbox. Further, Alex’s narrative is a vital example of stories of violence, which can be incorporated into policy documents on violence management.

Objective: The aim of the present study was threefold: (1) learn more about factors associated with teenage intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization; (2) explore aspects of digital media use in connection with teenage IPV; (3) and compare the impact IPV victimization has on boys and girls. Method: Survey data from 549 Norwegian students, mean age 15.2 years, who had experience(s) with being in intimate relationship(s), were examined. Experiences with psychological, physical, digital, and sexual violence were analyzed. Results: In total, 42.9% of the participants had experienced some form of IPV: 29.1% had experienced digital violence; 25.9% had experienced psychological violence; 18.8% had experienced sexual violence; and 12.8% had experienced physical violence. Factors significantly associated with teenage IPV victimization were female gender, older partners, domestic violence, bullying victimization, low academic achievements, and sending sexual messages via digital media. Girls reported to be significantly more negatively impacted by the victimization than boys. Conclusions: Some teenagers experience victimization in their intimate relationships, and for many digital media seems to play a central role in this violence. Teenagers who experience victimization outside their relationships or have risky lifestyles have a higher risk of experiencing IPV victimization. A focus on teenage IPV, and especially digital media’s role in this violence, is needed if this public health issue is to be combated.

Taking its starting point in a mixed methods study on Dating Violence/Youth Intimate Partner Violence (youth IPV), this article emphasizes the social sphere of youth IPV and contributes to a focus shift from consequences and risks to responses, resilience, and resistance. It asks how IPV-exposed youth describe their responses and those of their social networks to violence, and how these responses might be interconnected with resilience. By exploring the concepts of ‘resistance’ and ‘paradoxical resilience’, youth responses in the context of an abusive relationship are highlighted. The empirical data comes from 18 in-depth, ‘teller focused’ interviews with victimized youth (aged 17–23) in Sweden. A theoretical thematic analysis of the interviews surfaced responses from three different types of actors, all described from the youth perspective. Responses are discussed from the point of view that they can promote resilience, but also enable abuse to continue. Overall, the data show youth-specific factors that have meaningful bearing on responses as well as resilience. The article also proposes that responses should be an omnipresent concern for practitioners working with these young people and for the adults involved in their lives.

Although the police have been identified as a key service provider when responding to domestic violence and abuse (DVA), very few studies have investigated their response in relation to children. This review aims to examine children’s experiences of police response in the context of DVA and to explore how the police understand and respond to children living with DVA. A rapid review of the empirical literature on the police response to DVA involving children was undertaken. PsycINFO, Web of Science and ProQuest were searched. Studies with a qualitative element, concerning children under 18 with experience of police involvement, or police experiences of children, in the context of DVA were included. The final sample comprised of six studies. Using reflexive thematic analysis, four key themes emerged in relation to children: children’s experiences of DVA; fear, uncertainty, and mistrust of police; confronting “childism”: a matter of children’s rights; and going beyond empathy: equality and justice. Regarding the police, three key themes emerged: variability in police response; limited view of police role; lack of professional competence. The findings underscore the need for awareness raising and an urgent review of the training officers receive regarding the impact of DVA on children. They also highlight the pivotal role of police when responding to DVA where children are present, as well as to advance the frontiers of research by including not only adults and professionals but also the most vulnerable DVA victim: the child.

Numerous children around the world are forced to make multiple moves with their mothers in and out of refuges for abused women. Each time, they experience a sudden upheaval of their familiar environment. For these children, domestic violence and flight from violence is not an isolated event but part of their upbringing. Few statistics and little research exist on their living conditions and experiences. This article adopts the children’s perspective, examining the ways their teachers recognize their situation and offer them support. Experiences were collected in qualitative interviews with 20 children of ages 6–16 residing at Norwegian refuges. The choice of “mutual recognition” (Schibbye 2009) as a theoretical framework was inductively generated from the data. The constructivist grounded theory coding system was implemented as a data analysis method (Charmaz 2014). The analysis produced five different forms of teacher recognition—formal, practical, third-party, forced, and coincidental—through which teachers offered children various forms of support.

This article sheds light on the situation of children in refuges for abused women in the Nordic countries, with a special focus on children with multiple stays. Almost as many children as women live in refuges, but research on this marginalised group of children is scarce. This article overviews and summarises existing quantitative and qualitative data to examine what we know about children in refuges in a Nordic context (Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway and Sweden). The literature shows that focus on children at the refuges is gradually increasing. However, major discrepancies among the Nordic countries exist in terms of which data are collected (if any), how it is presented, and what services and help are provided to children. The article also identifies and discusses some of the challenges faced by children with multiple stays at refuges: their prolonged exposure to domestic violence, disruptions in close relationships and repeated disruptions in preschool and school attendance. The available literature suggests reason for concern in regard to the risks of developing social and psychological difficulties, limited access to resources that can help develop resilience to violence, and school failure and drop-out. The article calls for further research on this particularly vulnerable group of children.

New technology has made pornography increasingly accessible to young people, and a growing evidence base has identified a relationship between viewing pornography and violent or abusive behavior in young men. This article reports findings from a large survey of 4,564 young people aged 14 to 17 in five European countries which illuminate the relationship between regular viewing of online pornography, sexual coercion and abuse and the sending and receiving of sexual images and messages, known as “sexting.” In addition to the survey, which was completed in schools, 91 interviews were undertaken with young people who had direct experience of interpersonal violence and abuse in their own relationships. Rates for regularly viewing online pornography were very much higher among boys and most had chosen to watch pornography. Boys’ perpetration of sexual coercion and abuse was significantly associated with regular viewing of online pornography. Viewing online pornography was also associated with a significantly increased probability of having sent sexual images/messages for boys in nearly all countries. In addition, boys who regularly watched online pornography were significantly more likely to hold negative gender attitudes. The qualitative interviews illustrated that, although sexting is normalized and perceived positively by most young people, it has the potential to reproduce sexist features of pornography such as control and humiliation. Sex and relationships education should aim to promote a critical understanding of pornography among young people that recognizes its abusive and gendered values.

The aim of this review article is to present an overview of the, in the Nordic countries, relatively new research area ’children exposed to domestic violence’, and to discuss the implications of this research. The overview shows that the international research is primarily quantitative, focusing on children’s symptoms. Only a small part of the published research studies are qualitative. These studies use the term ‘experience’, rather than ‘exposed’, stressing the child’s subject status. The Nordic research is qualitative, and in line with early North-American studies, uses the term ‘to witness’. Although the field has greatly expanded, the field still have many unanswered questions concerning for example recilience, gender and ethnicity, and lack un understanding of the relational and contextual aspects from the child’s perspective.

The aim of this study is, by analysing children's and young people's discourses, to investigate their strategies in response to domestic violence episodes, in relation to their age. The empirical data come from individual interviews with children and young people (ages 8–20 years) who had experienced domestic violence and lived at refuges for abused women. The thematic analysis shows that the children describe a wide range of strategies before, during and after a violent episode, that all children act regardless of age and that strategies vary according not only to age but also to situation and context. The theoretical framework used is the sociology of childhood, and the analysis engages with theoretical concepts of age, agency and positioning.

Syftet med denna samtalsanalytiska studie är att studera hur institutionen kan vara en arena för skapandet av sexuell identitet, genom att analysera tal om sexualitet vid ett särskilt ungdomshem för unga kvinnor, 14 - 20 år. Studien visar hur frågan om sexualitet genomsyrar arbetet i vardagen på insti-tutionen och fungerar som en organisatorisk princip. Studien visar vidare hur personalen talar om de omhändertagna unga kvinnorna som asexuella och som offer för sexuella övergrepp.

In recent years, the interest in including children and adolescents in research on violence and abuse has increased. According to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, children have the right to be heard in issues that concern them and their lives. However, this puts great demands on researchers and the projects they design. This article discusses challenges in shedding light on children’s experiences and including them as informants. The starting point for discussion is three research projects aimed, in different ways, at measuring or exploring the dynamics of children exposed to violence. Using these studies as a backdrop, three main questions are asked. What con-cepts are used to describe children’s experiences and why is the choice of concepts important? Do our surveys measure what we think we measure, and do our interviews capture what we want to capture if our aim is to explore and understand children’s lifeworld? What are some of the central ethical dilemmas researchers face when conducting research on children and violence? Finally, the importance and implications of these methodological and empirical challenges are discussed.

Using data from a study on police officers' encounters with domestic violence victims and a study on children experiencing domestic violence, this article examines how officers decide whether and how to communicate with children in emergency situations, and how children experience these encounters. Officers' views on such communication diverge; usually, communication is motivated by the need to determine next actions. Children recall little communication and describe officers as faceless, nameless and genderless. The authors argue for recognizing the preventive role of officers on emergency calls. Official policies and guidelines should formally acknowledge and clarify the importance of communication with children.

Summary: This article examines and discusses the research field of children exposed to domestic violence, a field which has greatly expanded during the last 10 years. The author presents an overview of this research, discusses its implications, and describes future challenges and contemporary knowledge gaps.

Findings: The author argues that the field is dominated by studies that a) are quantitative, b) use the mothers as the informant and c) are represented by traditional psychology and social medicine, rather than social work. These studies have found substantial support for the negative emotional and behavioral consequences that children exposed to domestic violence suffer. However, many questions and problems remain unanswered. These questions include both the research field itself and the need for new approaches such as qualitative research including the voice of the child, longitudinal studies, and questions regarding methodology and research ethics.

Applications: The author argues that there is a need for more qualitative research in general and social work research in particular. The implications for social work practice and policy are discussed.

This article presents results from the first Norwegian nation-wide study on children in shelters for battered women and their situation. One of the qualitative findings; that children who live in shelters with their mothers have difficulties in keeping the shelterstay a secret is discussed specifically. The argument pursued is that the children are struggling to keep the shelter a secret, and that the secrecy creates problems in their everyday life and social relations. Moreover, the children develop a number of strategies to manage the issue of secrecy. Finally, the implications of this is discussed, as well as the secrecy as one of the dilemmas facing the new Norwegian shelter movement with an integrated children’s perspective.

Key Practitioner Messages

• The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in negative consequences for children exposed to violence and abuse.
• Domestic violence refuge staff were greatly concerned about children both living outside and inside refuges.
• Domestic violence refuges have played a pivotal role during the COVID-19 pandemic and should receive wider acknowledgement and greater support for their work.

Hva er vold og seksuelle overgrep? Hvordan kan du vite om en ungdom er utsatt for vold og overgrep, og hvem kan bidra med råd, veiledning, beskyttelse og behandling?

Ungdom som er utsatt for vold og seksuelle overgrep, finnes i ethvert klasserom. De sier de skulle ønske at læreren hadde fanget det opp og snakket med dem om det. Denne boken handler om hvordan man kan se og prate med ungdom, og hva man kan gjøre for å forebygge og hjelpe. Her er også fortellinger, fotografier og et kapittel skrevet direkte til ungdom. Boken er godt egnet som utgangspunkt for undervisning og samtaler og gir nødvendig kunnskap til lærere, lærerstudenter og andre yrkesgrupper som arbeider i skolen, og kommer i kontakt med ungdommer.

Children often accompany their mothers to women's refuges, where they are at risk of developing behavioural and psychological difficulties. In these situations it is important for the children to be given the possibility to address their own experiences of violence. However, little is known about how children experience these interventions. This study examined children's perceptions about their everyday lives at refuges in Norway. In the first phase of the study, participants included 50 directors of women’s refuges in Norway, who were interviewed via telephone. The second phase included face-to-face interviews with 22 children from 7 refuges. The study asked what interventions do children in refuges receive and how do the children experience those interventions. Findings revealed that the children focused on two forms of interventions as particularly helpful: activities such as trips and outings; and individual counselling. The most important intervention for children who experienced domestic violence was to remove them from a violent environment. As such, the refuge in itself could be considered an intervention. In conclusion, the author describes why women’s refuges represent a unique opportunity for interventions with children.

Denne boken handler om barn og ungdom som har ulike erfaringer med vold og traumer, og hvordan de blir møtt av profesjonelle hjelpere.

Gjennom fagtekster fra 18 forskere ved Nasjonalt kunnskapssenter om vold og traumatisk stress (NKVTS) kommer leseren tett på barn og unge som har det vanskelig, enten fordi de har opplevd en dramatisk hendelse, eller fordi de blir utsatt for vold i oppveksten. Tekstene gir forslag til hvordan det kan legges til rette for disse barna når vi møter dem på arenaer som skolen, sykehus, rettsapparat, krisesenter, barnevern eller i flyktningmottak. Dette er nødvendig kunnskap for å forstå, og dermed kunne iverksette, målrettede forebyggende og behandlende tiltak på flere arenaer. Med denne boken ønsker forfatterne å bidra med forskningsbasert flerfaglig kunnskap som gjør at barn og unge som er utsatt for vold og overgrep, eller som har opplevd skremmende, livstruende hendelser får best mulig hjelp og blir tatt best mulig vare på.

The second European Conference on Domestic Violence (ECDV) was held in Porto, Portugal in September 2017. Given the interest in and focus on children and adolescents at both the first and second ECDV, and the identified need to gather research and researchers working in the field of children and domestic violence in Europe, the JOFV made a call for a special issue on European research on children, adolescents and domestic violence. The call has resulted in this double issue of 17 articles which comment on research conducted across Europe, authored from differed scientific backgrounds and reflecting diversity in topics and methods. The work reflects not only how far we have come in Europe on developing research based knowledge on children and domestic violence, but it has also has played an important role in identifying multiple gaps and address needs for the future.

Grounded in an ontological, theoretical and methodological position that views children's views and experiences of domestic violence as critical to our understanding of those experiences, this letter to the editor reflects on Kimball's (Journal of Family Violence, 31, 625-637, 2016) review of research since 1999 when Edleson's influential article on children exposed to domestic violence was published (Journal of Interpersonal violence, 14(8), 839-870). Welcoming Kimball's call for research that can capture the full effects of children's exposure', we nonetheless challenge Kimball's criticism of the paucity of research literature directly capturing children's voices. Rather, we argue in this letter that Kimball's (Journal of Family Violence, 31, 625-637, 2016) methodology excluded those published qualitative studies which have engaged directly with children and sought to understand their lived experience of domestic violence. We conclude by highlighting our alignment with Kimball's assertion for the need to capture the voice and experience of children, but argue that this knowledge already exists. We also argue that some questions can only be answered by children and adolescents themselves.

Most research on Youth Intimate Partner Violence (YIPV) has focused on prevalence rates and associated factors. Less attention has been given to how victimization manifests itself in young women's lives. The aim of this paper is to further our understanding of the dynamics of violence and abuse by investigating the contextual, situational, and relational aspects of IPV among young women. We specifically ask what meanings are attributed to the abuse and what role digital media plays. Finally, to develop our understanding, we apply Johnson's typology of violence.Semi-structured interviews were performed with 33 young women from Norway and Sweden, aged 15 to 23 years old, who had all experienced some form of IPV in a heterosexual relationship. The analysis included both thematic and narrative analysis.Victimization was characterized by six overarching themes: control, humiliation, fear, sexual coercion, secrecy, and resistance. Meanings attributed to the violence include relating it to the couple's youth and the male partner's personal issues. Digital media played a central role in the victimization, but also in the women's resistance and protection. Applying Johnson's typology suggests that the violence can be understood as patriarchal terrorism.It is crucial that young people's intimate lives, in all their complexities, are acknowledged, if IPV prevention and intervention is to succeed. Researchers need to design their studies to include contextual, situational, and relational aspects. Failing to do so might result in a view of YIPV as isolated instances of conflict, overlooking its often pervasive and severe nature.