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Breadcrumb

  1. Home
  2. Methodology and quality
  3. ESMS metadata
  4. Relationship survey: safe relationships within family, at work and outside work

Relationship survey: safe relationships within family, at work and outside work

1. Contact
1.1. Contact organisation

Statistics Estonia

1.2. Contact organisation unit

Population and Social Statistics Department

1.3. Contact name

Jana Bruns

1.4. Contact person function

Project Manager

1.5. Contact mail address

Tatari 51, 10134 Tallinn

1.6. Contact email address

jana.bruns [at] stat.ee

1.7. Contact phone number

3726259306

2. Metadata update
2.1. Metadata last certified

03/05/2024

2.2. Metadata last update

03/05/2024

3. Statistical presentation
3.1. Data description

Share of women/men who have experienced different types of violence, reporting of violence, awareness of support services.

3.2. Classification system

Classification of countries and territories 3N 2021

3.3. Sector coverage

Not applicable

3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions

Gender-based violence – violence directed against a person because of that person's gender (including gender identity/expression), or as violence that affects persons of a particular gender disproportionately

Domestic violence – any physical, sexual, psychological, or economic violence that occurs within the family or domestic unit, including violence between intimate partners, whether or not the perpetrator shares or has shared the same residence with the victim. Apart from intimate partners and family members, ‘family or domestic unit’ also includes other persons who live or used to live in the same household as the victim when the violent event occurred either being a family or not.

The Gender-Based Violence Survey and the screening questions in its questionnaire concern behaviours and actions that made the respondent uncomfortable and may have:

- been experienced once or more than once;

- happened as an isolated behaviour or as one of the acts experienced during a violent episode;

- been perpetrated against the respondent by one or by different persons at the same or at different occasions.

In contrast to the acts, an episode refers to one violent situation during which a respondent could have experienced one or more different acts. For instance, during an attack on the street, a person experienced rape and she/he was beaten (one episode with two acts).

Repeated violence (series of episodes) refers to similar violent episodes that are perpetrated repeatedly by the same person(s); when the similar thing(s) was/were done under the same circumstances and probably by the same person/people more than once. For instance, a woman was being beaten by her partner several times per month for over three years.

Close people should be understood in its widest meaning; however, only people who are not part of a respondent’s household should be considered.

Family members include blood relatives, like parents and children, and other close relatives that may live with a respondent or elsewhere; as well as other household members or relatives by marriage or adoption: father/mother/children, siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, families-in-law, etc.

Friends are people that the respondent enjoys being with and with whom she/he shares private matters.

Types of violence:

The Istanbul Convention defines stalking as “the intentional conduct of repeatedly engaging in threatening conduct directed at another person, causing her or him to fear for her or his safety”.

Threatening – intentionally putting another person in fear of injury, mental damage, or material loss by using words

Sexual harassment at work – any form of unwanted verbal, non-verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature, with the purpose or effect of violating the dignity of a person, in particular when creating an intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment

Psychological violence is defined in the Istanbul Convention as “the intentional conduct of seriously impairing a person’s psychological integrity through coercion or threats”. This type of violence includes a range of behaviours that encompass acts of emotional abuse and controlling behaviour, and it was expanded to include the notion of “economic harm” which can be related to psychological violence.

Physical violence refers to bodily harm suffered as a result of the application of immediate and unlawful physical force. The physical violence act in the GBV further refers to a violent behaviour which includes both harm and fear.

Sexual violence is defined as:

- engaging in non-consensual vaginal, anal or oral penetration of a sexual nature of the body of another person with any bodily part or object;

- engaging in other non‐consensual acts of a sexual nature with a person;

- causing another person to engage in non‐consensual acts of a sexual nature with a third person.

In other words, sexual violence is any sort of harmful or unwanted sexual behaviour that is imposed on someone, including rape, attempted rape and other sexual acts (e.g. intimate touching without consent, use of force or coercion to obtain unwanted sexual acts, or any sexual activity that a person finds degrading or humiliating, etc.)

Rape – engaging in non-consensual sexual intercourse with another person, including use of physical violence and by putting the victim in a situation where she or he cannot say no or complies because of fear

Current and former partner violence – psychological violence, including economic violence, threats, physical and sexual violence done by the current and any previous intimate partner, respectively, regardless of the age of the victim when the (last) violent incident occurred

Non-partner violence – threats, physical and sexual violence done by any male or female other than the current or a former intimate partner experienced at age 15 and later

Violence experienced in childhood – physical violence perpetrated by parents, sexual violence perpetrated by any person, and witnessing the violence between parents before the age of 15. Parents are persons who raised the respondent. Apart from the biological mother, a stepmother, foster mother or grandmother can be considered as a “mother figure”. The same applies to a stepfather, foster father or grandfather who can represent a “father figure” if the biological father did not bring up the respondent.

Perpetrators:

Intimate partners (current and former partners) – current or former spouses, civil union partners or cohabitants, persons in an informal relationship or those who are dating, persons whose marriage has been dissolved or declared null, or persons who have been, formally or informally engaged to get married or enter into a civil union

Current partner – an intimate partner who is the respondent’s legal spouse and with whom the respondent is currently in partnership. Alternatively, it may be someone who cohabits and lives together with the respondent but they are neither legally married nor in a civil partnership, or someone who is not cohabiting nor living together with the respondent but who is their intimate partner.

A former male/female partner is any intimate partner with whom a respondent no longer has an intimate relationship but has had such a relationship in the past.

A male/female relative includes blood relatives, like parents or children or other blood relatives, that can be living with the respondent or elsewhere, as well as other household members or relatives by marriage or adoption (e.g. siblings, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews, nieces, families-in-law, etc.).

A male/female friend / family friend / schoolmate/colleague – all of these should be understood in the widest possible meaning. For instance, friends are people that the respondent enjoys being with and with whom she/he shares private matters. A colleague or a co-worker is a person with whom one works, typically someone in a similar role or at a similar level within an organisation.

A male/female supervisor/boss/professor/teacher should be understood in its widest meaning as someone in a management position that is primarily based on authority over an employee or a workplace.

A male/female with authority or privileged status – it is someone with a special status (authority or power) in society that they may have over the other and use in a certain way. For instance, a police officer, priest, doctor etc.

Any other male/female known to the respondent covers all other people who are known to her/him but not mentioned in other categories, i.e. a neighbour, a client/customer, a parent of child’s schoolmate, etc. Similarly to some previous categories, this one should also be understood in its widest meaning.

A male/female stranger is someone completely unknown to the respondent. However, the respondent knows the sex of this person, which is not the case with the category ‘a person of unknown sex’.

Other male/female is the open-ended option allowing the respondent to elaborate who the ‘other male/female’ is, if wanted. This category is chosen when a respondent cannot define a type of perpetrator based on the offered categories.

A person of unknown sex can be, for instance, an unknown Facebook user who was posting humiliating details of the respondent’s life or was threatening the respondent via social media. Although this perpetrator can be seen as a ‘stranger’, they cannot be classified as a ‘male stranger’ or ‘female stranger’ without knowing the sex of this person.

3.5. Statistical unit

Person

3.6. Statistical population

The survey population includes all permanent residents of Estonia aged between 18 and 74, excluding inhabitants of institutional households (children's homes, care homes, convents, monasteries, etc.).

FRAME

3.7. Reference area

Estonia as a whole

3.8. Time coverage

2023

3.9. Base period

2022 is the base period of the results of the relationship survey

4. Unit of measure

Persons – number, percentage

5. Reference period

Year

6. Institutional mandate
6.1. Legal acts and other agreements

DIRECTLY APPLICABLE LEGAL ACTS

Not available

OTHER LEGAL ACTS

Not available

OTHER AGREEMENTS

The results are submitted to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.

7. Confidentiality
7.1. Confidentiality - policy

The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in sections 32, 34, 35 and 38 of the Official Statistics Act.

7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment

The dissemination of data collected for the production of official statistics is based on the requirements laid down in §§ 34 and 35 of the Official Statistics Act.

The principles for treatment of confidential data can be found here.

8. Release policy
8.1. Release calendar

Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on the website. Every year on 1 October, the release times of the statistical database, news releases, main indicators by IMF SDDS and publications for the following year are announced in the release calendar (in the case of publications – the release month).

8.2. Release calendar access

Calendar

8.3. User access

All users have been granted equal access to official statistics: dissemination dates of official statistics are announced in advance and no user category (incl. Eurostat, state authorities, and mass media) is provided access to official statistics before other users. Official statistics are first published in the statistical database. If there is also a news release, it is published simultaneously with the release of data in the statistical database. Official statistics are available on the website at 8:00 a.m. on the date announced in the release calendar.

9. Frequency of dissemination

To be decided

10. Accessibility and clarity
10.1. News release

The news can be viewed on the website of Statistics Estonia in the section News.

10.2. Publications

10.3. Online database

Data are published in the statistical database at https://andmed.stat.ee/en/stat in the tables under the subject area “Social life / Justice and security / Justice and security”.

10.4. Microdata access

The dataset can be obtained as microdata by requesting access to Statistics Estonia's research work database. Access to microdata and anonymisation of microdata are regulated by Statistics Estonia’s Use of confidential data for scientific purposes

10.5. Other

10.6. Documentation on methodology

10.7. Quality documentation

11. Quality management
11.1. Quality assurance

To assure the quality of processes and products, Statistics Estonia applies the EFQM Excellence Model, the European Statistics Code of Practice and the Quality Assurance Framework of the European Statistical System (ESS QAF). Statistics Estonia is also guided by the requirements in section 7 “Principles and quality criteria of producing official statistics” of the Official Statistics Act.

11.2. Quality assessment

12. Relevance
12.1. User needs

The main users of GBV survey data in Estonia are:

- Ministry of Social Affairs

- Ministry of Justice

- organisations and NGOs working with victims and perpetrators

- researchers form various research institutions

12.2. User satisfaction

12.3. Completeness

Istanbul Convention, Article 11 – Data collection and research

1. For the purpose of the implementation of this Convention, Parties shall undertake to:

a. collect disaggregated relevant statistical data at regular intervals on cases of all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention;

b. support research in the field of all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention in order to study its root causes and effects, incidences and conviction rates, as well as the efficacy of measures taken to implement this Convention.

2. Parties shall endeavour to conduct population-based surveys at regular intervals to assess the prevalence of and trends in all forms of violence covered by the scope of this Convention.

3. Parties shall provide the group of experts, as referred to in Article 66 of this Convention, with the information collected pursuant to this article in order to stimulate international co-operation and enable international benchmarking.

4. Parties shall ensure that the information collected pursuant to this article is available to the public.

The relationship survey fulfils all the requirements of Article 11 of the Istanbul Convention.

13. Accuracy and reliability
13.1. Overall accuracy

The accuracy of source data is monitored by assessing the methodological soundness of data sources and the adherence to the methodological recommendations.

The type of survey and the data collection methods ensure sufficient coverage and timeliness.

13.2. Sampling error

The error due to probability sampling is estimated and the sampling errors of the estimates are published in the statistical database.

13.3. Non-sampling error

Measurement errors can stem from the questionnaire (its wording, design, etc.), the respondents, the interviewers, and the data collection method. While it is impossible to completely avoid this type of errors in social surveys, Statistics Estonia has tried to reduce their occurrence as much as possible. For example, the wording of questions and the translations have been tested in cognitive interviews. The questionnaire structure was tested during the pilot survey in Estonia and in several other European countries. The interviewers have received thorough training to minimise their impact on the responses. Errors arising from the data collection method are reduced with the use of three data collection modes: face-to-face interview, telephone interview, self-completed web questionnaire.

The data are checked in three stages: initial check upon data entry during the interview (on the laptop), secondary check of newly received data at the office, and finally data cleaning.

14. Timeliness and punctuality
14.1. Timeliness

Data were published on 11.10.2023

14.2. Punctuality

Data have been published at the time announced in the release calendar.

15. Coherence and comparability
15.1. Comparability - geographical

Estonia is one of 19 EU Member States where data collection for the GBV survey is nationally organised. Since all participating countries use a uniform questionnaire and common survey methodology, the results of the relationship survey are internationally comparable. As data for the GBV will not be collected by all EU countries, two international organisations – FRA and EIGE which are committed to promoting human rights and preventing violence against women – have undertaken to organise data collection in the remaining countries in the years 2023–2024. The goal is to obtain comparable data for the EU as a whole.

15.2. Comparability - over time

Comparability over time is not available because this is the first wave carried out using this methodology.

15.3. Coherence - cross domain

The indicators based on the survey cannot be compared with similar indicators from other sources, since previous surveys have confirmed the underreporting of acts of violence.

15.4. Coherence - internal

Data published in the framework of the statistical activity are coherent

16. Cost and burden

17. Data revision
17.1. Data revision - policy

17.2. Data revision - practice

18. Statistical processing
18.1. Source data

SURVEY DATA

The survey population includes all permanent residents of Estonia aged between 18 and 74. Sampling is based on a systematic selection from the Statistical Population Register. Probability stratified sampling is used. The stratification is made by sex and age categories. Total gross sample is 16,700 persons.

ADMINISTRATIVE DATA

Data on the highest acquired level of education of individuals were obtained from the Estonian Education Information System (EHIS).

DATA FROM OTHER STATISTICAL ACTIVITIES

Not used

18.2. Frequency of data collection

The frequency of the relationship survey waves has not been agreed at the international level.

18.3. Data collection

The methods used for collecting the data include a personal interview (CAPI), a telephone interview (CATI), or a web interview (CAWI). The interviews are conducted by Statistics Estonia's interviewers with relevant training. The Survey Fieldwork Information System is used to manage and monitor data collection. The questionnaires have been designed to be filled in electronically by the interviewer.

18.4. Data validation

18.5. Data compilation

Microdata are aggregated to the level necessary for analysis. This includes summation of data according to the classification and calculation of various statistical measures, e.g. average, median, dispersion, etc.

The collected data are converted into statistical output. This includes calculating additional variables.

18.6. Adjustment

No adjustment

19. Comments

The survey collects information about acts of violence experienced:

- in the last 12 months

- 1 to 5 years ago

- more than 5 five years ago

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