[Occurrence of sexual abuse among students in Trondheim]

Few studies of the prevalence and incidence of sexual abuse have been conducted in the Nordic countries. The aim of the present study was to estimate the prevalence of accounts of sexual abuse and to calculate the incidence of rape and attempted rape among students. A questionnaire was handed out to a random sample of 1,322 students in Trondheim. The response rate was 77%. Among the 510 women, a total of 99 (19%) had experienced some kind of sexual abuse before 18 years of age. 23 (5%) had experienced at least one episode of very severe sexual abuse (attempted or completed coitus). The equivalent numbers among the 486 males were 17 (4%) and 3 (1%). Based on information on reported events during the year prior to the study, the yearly incidence of rape/attempted rape among women was 12 per 1,000. Only attempted rape was reported in the same time interval among men, giving a yearly incidence of two per 1,000. Applied to the total population of students in Trondheim, 87 female and 16 male students are exposed to rape/attempted rape every year.