Objective: Low self-esteem is one of the main psychosocial factors related to childhood overweight. Yet not all overweight children are affected. Little is known about what characterises the group of overweight children with the lowest self-esteem. Our aim was to identify factors related to low domain-specific self-esteem in children with overweight/obesity. Methods: Children (aged 10–13; N = 5,185) and parents from a large population-based sample completed the Eating Disturbance Scale, the Self-Perception Profile for Children, and questions about bullying and socio-economic status (SES). Parents reported the child’s weight and height. 545 children with overweight/obesity were identified in the overall sample and selected for the current analyses. Self-esteem scores from this group were compared to scores from children with normal weight. Factors examined in relation to self-esteem in children with overweight/obesity were: age, gender, SES, disturbed eating, bullying, parents’ evaluation of weight status and degree of overweight. Results: Children with overweight scored significantly lower than normal-weight children on all self-esteem domains. Athletic competence and physical appearance were most impaired. Disturbed eating and bullying were related to low physical appearance as well as scholastic, social and athletic self-esteem. Being female, a pre-teen, having a higher BMI and being evaluated as overweight by parents were associated with lower satisfaction with physical appearance. Conclusions: Disturbed eating and bullying are significantly related to low self-esteem in the overweight group.

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This review examined child sexual abuse in the Nordic countries focusing on prevalence rates and victims' age and relationship to the perpetrator. The results show a prevalence of child sexual abuse (broadly defined) between 3-23% for boys and 11-36% for girls. The prevalence rates for contact abuse were 1-12% for boys and 6-30% for girls, while 0.3-6.8% of the boys and 1.1-13.5% of the girls reported penetrating abuse. The findings suggest an increased risk of abuse from early adolescence. In adolescence, peers may constitute the largest group of perpetrators. The results highlight the need for preventive efforts also targeting peer abuse. Future research should include cross-national and repeated studies using comparable methodology.

There are differences in the prevalence rates of child maltreatment between countries, as well as variation in how these rates change over time. This review examined the prevalence of different forms of intrafamilial child maltreatment in the Nordic countries and possible changes in the prevalence rates over the past two decades. We conducted a systematic search of the databases PsycInfo, ISI Web of Science and PubMed and of self-report studies investigating the prevalence of one or several forms of child maltreatment in non-clinical samples published from 1990 to the present. In addition, we searched for unpublished reports. A total of 24 Nordic studies were included. The findings suggest a prevalence of child sexual abuse by a parent in the range of 0.2-1.2 per cent, a prevalence of severe physical abuse in the range of three to nine per cent and a prevalence of witnessing domestic violence in the range of seven to 12, 5 per cent in the Nordic countries. Markedly more girls than boys were exposed to sexual abuse. The results indicate a decline in the prevalence of sexual abuse by a relative and of parental physical abuse over the past 20 years, but no corresponding changes in the prevalence of witnessing domestic violence. There is a lack of studies on the prevalence of neglect and emotional maltreatment. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. KEY PRACTITIONER MESSAGES:• Knowledge of intrafamilial child abuse and witnessing domestic violence in the Nordic countries is expanded.• Prevalence studies not published in the international scientific literature are included. Time trends in prevalence rates are shown.• Differences between Nordic prevalence rates and the rates found in high-income countries as a whole are explored and discussed.• Attention is drawn to the influence of contextual factors on the prevalence of child maltreatment.

BackgroundVictims of bullying in school may experience health problems later in life. We have assessed the prevalence of children's health symptoms according to whether peer victimization was reported by the children, by their teachers, or by their parents.MethodsIn a cross-sectional study of 419 children in grades 1-10 the frequency of peer victimization was reported by children, teachers and parents. Emotional and somatic symptoms (sadness, anxiety, stomach ache, and headache) were reported by the children.Frequencies of victimization reported by different informants were compared by the marginal homogeneity test for paired ordinal data, concordance between informants by cross-tables and Spearman's rho, and associations of victimization with health symptoms were estimated by logistic regression.ResultsThe concordance of peer victimization reported by children, teachers, and parents varied from complete agreement to complete discordance also for the highest frequency (weekly/daily) of victimization. Children's self-reported frequency of victimization was strongly and positively associated with their reports of emotional and somatic symptoms. Frequency of victimization reported by teachers or parents showed similar but weaker associations with the children's health symptoms.ConclusionThe agreement between children and significant adults in reporting peer victimization was low to moderate, and the associations of reported victimization with the children's self-reported health symptoms varied substantially between informants. It may be useful to assess prospectively the effects of employing different sources of information related to peer victimization.