About
Kari Stefansen works as Research Professor in the Division for Youth Research. She has a PhD in sociology from the University of Oslo (2011). Stefansen's current research is on sexual cultures among youth,with a focus on sexual boundaries and the risk for sexual violations. She is also involved in research on the significance of social class for young people's life projects.
Field of study
Youth Parenthood Rape Sexual violence Domestic violence Children's house
Research groups
Research projects
Ongoing research projects
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Children and Young People in Sport – Knowledge for a More Inclusive Sports Sector
What influences Norwegian children and young people's participation in organised sport – and who gets left behind?
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Digitizing sexual violence. The role of technology in creating and regulating sexual harms
The rapid technological development has changed how sexual violations are committed, investigated, and prosecuted within the legal system. The project examines the intersection of law and technology in relation to these changes.
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Inequality in Youth – A Qualitative, Longitudinal Research Database
Inequality in youth is a qualitative, longitudinal research database on youths in Norway, intended to be a parallel to the quantitative Ungdata surveys.
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Sexual Culture in Youth
The project will investigate how young people negotiate, experience and handle issues related to sexuality, sexual health and risk - in light of both contemporary youth culture, and other social and societal conditions.
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The Domestic Violence Research Programme
The programme studies time trends in the prevalence of violence and assault, violence as phenomenon, and how violence is approached by the welfare- and justice systems.
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Tomorrow’s Inequalities in the Making: Processes of Life Chance Differentiation within and outside of Education (LIFECHANCES)
In LIFECHANCES we investigate how differences between young people may become inequalities in life chances over time.
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Youth Sexuality and Sexual Risk in a Digital Era (DIGISEX)
The project will shed light on how digital media has created both new opportunities and new forms of risk concerning youth sexuality.
Completed research projects
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Digital Sexual Violence against Children and Adolescents
The project will, in a comprehensive literature review, map existing knowledge about digital sexual violence against children and adolescents.
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From Boys to Men: Diverging Developments of Masculinity with Varying Consequences? (FRAGMEN)
What are the characteristics of masculinity and masculine practices in contemporary Norway?
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Knowledge on Technology-facilitated Sexual Abuse against Children and Adolescents – Offenders, the Offended, and Arenas
The project will generate new knowledge about sexual abuse of children and adolescents, with the main emphasis on technology-facilitated sexual abuse.
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Literacies for Health and Life Skills
The “Literacies for Health and Life Skills” (HLS) project aims to develop and implement a new didactic approach that will enable pre-service teachers to facilitate the development of young people´s health and life skills.
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Norms of gender and sexuality – what do young people say?
The study explores how young people understand and relate to gender and sexuality, and how they navigate norms, expectations and possible sanctions in their social environments.
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Parenting and Youth Sports: Inequality in Young People’s Leisure Time Activities?
The focus of this project is how parents influence young people's leisure activities.
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Participation in Sports among Norwegian Youth
The aim of the research project is to gain new knowledge about the social position and status of sport participation among young people in Norway.
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Sports Research at the Ungdata Centre
The project aims to update and widen our knowledge about participation in sports and physical activity and experiences with sports among children and young people in Norway.
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The Barnahus Model: Developmental Trends and Institutional Tensions
Based on the Norwegian and international barnahus models, this project will explore how the barnahus model has developed and changed over time, as well as the institutional tensions that permeats the barnahus operation.
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The Public Sense of Criminal Justice
The project aims to provide new knowledge on different aspects of the public sense of criminal justice in the Norwegian population.
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UngVold 2023 – Trends in Exposure to Violence
In 2023, NOVA collected new data for the Youth Violence survey from more than 16,000 Norwegian youth, mapping Norwegian children and adolescents’ experience of violence and abuse during their upbringing.
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Young people’s Well-being and Civic Participation During the Norwegian Coronavirus Lockdown
This research project investigates how young people experienced the Norwegian coronavirus lockdown.
Publications and research
Scientific publications
Crowo, Erlend Årvold;
Tokle, Rikke
;
Stefansen, Kari
(2026).
«Mer av alt du trenger»? Kokainbrukens sosiale logikk i klasseprivilegerte ungdomsmiljøer.
Norsk sosiologisk tidsskrift.
Vol. 10.
https://doi.org/10.18261/nost.10.5.2
Frøyland, Lars Roar
;
Stefansen, Kari
(2026).
Knowledge and opinions about the criminalization of image-based sexual abuse among Norwegian youth.
Nordic Journal of Criminology.
Vol. 27.
https://doi.org/10.18261/njc.27.2.8
Tokle, Rikke
;
Stefansen, Kari
(2025).
Sexual Debut Projects: Navigating Identity, Desire, and Risk in Youth Sexual Culture.
Sexuality & Culture.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-025-10508-z
Skilbrei, May-Len
;
Dullum, Jane Vibeke
;
Stefansen, Kari
(2025).
Mer enn lovgivning. Rettslige virkemidler mot vold og krenkelser.
Skilbrei, May-Len; Stefansen, Kari; Dullum, Jane Vibeke (Ed.).
Et voldsfelt i bevegelse: Rettslige virkemidler og institusjonelle ordninger. p. 9-26.
Cappelen Damm Akademisk.
https://doi.org/10.23865/cdf.246.ch1
Skilbrei, May-Len
;
Stefansen, Kari
;
Dullum, Jane Vibeke
(2025).
Et voldsfelt i bevegelse: Rettslige virkemidler og institusjonelle ordninger.
ISBN: 9788202879921.
241 p.
Cappelen Damm Akademisk.
https://doi.org/10.23865/cdf.246
Skilbrei, May-Len
;
Stefansen, Kari
; Pedersen, Synnøve Aursand
(2025).
Rettferdig straff for voldtekt.
Skilbrei, May-Len; Stefansen, Kari; Dullum, Jane Vibeke (Ed.).
Et voldsfelt i bevegelse: Rettslige virkemidler og institusjonelle ordninger. p. 165-187.
Cappelen Damm Akademisk.
https://doi.org/10.23865/cdf.246.ch8
Stefansen, Kari
; Strandbu, Åse
(2025).
Social Closure in the Youth Sport Field: The Pull of the Game on Class-Privileged Parents.
Sociology.
https://doi.org/10.1177/00380385251344488
Solstad, Gerd Marie
;
Stefansen, Kari
(2025).
Sexual Violations in Youth Sport: Gendered Mechanisms of Alienation?.
Hartill, Mike; Rulofs, Bettina (Ed.).
Child Abuse in Sport: Critical Perspectives. p. 71-94.
Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
https://doi.org/10.1108/s1476-285420250000025005
Bakketeig, Elisiv
; Johansson, Susanna; Kaldal, Anna;
Stefansen, Kari
(2024).
Deliberating the Conditions
for Implementing the Barnahus Model:
Knowledge Drawn from an Institutional
Analysis.
Johansson, Susanna; Stefansen, Kari; Bakketeig, Elisiv; Kaldal, Anna (Ed.).
Justice and Recovery for Victimised Children Institutional Tensions in Nordic and European Barnahus Models. p. 249-277.
Palgrave Macmillan.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53233-7_10Publis
Johansson, Susanna;
Stefansen, Kari
;
Bakketeig, Elisiv
; Kaldal, Anna
(2024).
Justice and Recovery for Victimised Children Institutional Tensions in Nordic and European Barnahus Models.
ISBN: 9783031532320.
288 p.
Palgrave Macmillan.
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3351184
