5 RESULTS
5.4 School perceptions and being bullied (Sub-study IV)
The aim of this sub-study was to examine the extent to which Finnish 13- and 15-year-old secondary school students experience bullying, the forms by which they are bullied, and whether being bullied is associated with school percep-tions. The data were drawn from the Finnish part of HBSC Study 2010.
The majority of the students reported that they had never been bullied over the previous few months. However, 7% of the boys and 6% of the girls aged 13 were bullied weekly. Among the 15-year-olds, 5% of the boys and 4%
of the girls were victims of weekly bulling. The difference between the age groups was statistically significant, with younger students reporting being bul-lied more often than older students (Table 10).
Around one third of the students reported that they had been bullied in one or two ways, and less than a fifth in three to seven ways. As Table 10 shows, verbal teasing was found to be the most common form of being bullied.
Almost every third student reported that they had been called mean names, teased, or made fun of. The results clearly indicated that boys tended to be bul-lied in more physical ways. Boys were hit, kicked, and pushed, while girls were victimized in more indirect ways, with the victims of bullying being excluded from the group, or false rumours spread to make others dislike the victim (Ta-ble 10).
Students who reported lower school engagement or poorer student-relations were more likely to be bullied than peers with higher engagement and better relations with peers. Those who were likely to be bullied reported better teacher-student relations. Poorer perceived family affluence was also associated with being bullied; so also were feelings of loneliness. Those students who felt lonely were more likely to be bullied than those who never felt lonely (Table 11).
TABLE 10. Bullying victimization, multiplicity in forms of bullying victimization and different forms of bullying by age and gender
13-year-olds 15-year-olds
Boys Girls Boys Girls
Never, % Once or twice a month, % 2-3 times a month,% Weekly,% Never, % Once or twice a month, % 2-3 times a month, % Weekly, %
Sig.
Never, % Once or twice a month, % 2-3 times a month,% Weekly, % Never, % Once or twice a month, % 2-3 times a month, % Weekly, %
Sig.
Students bullied 65 22 6 7 70 18 6 6 .044 74 17 4 5 77 15 4 4 .283
I was called mean names, was made fun of, or
teased in a hurtful way. 62 24 6 8 65 21 6 8 .457 64 23 5 7 72 17 6 5 <.001 Other students left me out of things on purpose,
excluded me from their group of friends, or completely ignored me.
83 10 4 3 78 13 4 5 .011 86 9 2 3 81 11 3 6 .001 I was hit, kicked, pushed, shoved around, or
locked indoors. 83 10 3 3 93 4 1 2 <.001 86 9 3 3 96 3 1 2 <.001
Other students told lies or spread false rumours
about me, and tried to make others dislike me. 76 15 4 5 72 20 4 4 .026 81 11 4 3 78 13 6 3 .166 Other students made sexual jokes or gestures to
me. 86 8 2 4 86 8 2 3 .971 83 9 3 5 83 10 4 3 .084
I’ve been bullied on the Internet, by e-mail, or
with pictures. 93 4 2 2 91 6 1 1 .039 95 3 1 1 94 4 1 1 .886
I’ve been bullied via mobile phone. 94 3 2 1 94 4 1 1 .269 97 2 1 1 97 2 1 0 .609
TABLE 11. Results of the unadjusted logistic regression analysis: factors associated with bullying victimization over the previous few months
n OR Sig. 95% CI
Gender
Boys 1812 1.70 <.001 1.445-1.992
Girls 2044 1.00
Age
13 1871 1.98 <.001 1.682-2.328
15 1985 1.00
School engagement
High 2802 1.00
Low 1054 1.62 <.001 1.336-1.959
Liking school
High 2251 1.10 .331 0.910-1.323
Low 1605 1.00
Parental support
Supportive 3501 1.00
Less supportive 355 1.08 .582 0.83-1.40
Student relations
Good relations 2934 1.00
Poor relations 922 2.65 <.001 2.22-3.16
Teacher-student relations
Good relations 2752 1.24 .046 1.00-1.52
Poor relations 1104 1.00
Academic support
High 2528 1.00
Low 1328 1.09 .356 0.91-1.31
School strain
High 1807 1.13 .167 0.95-1.34
Low 2049 1.00
Perceived family affluence
Good 2682 1.00
Average 960 1.07 .464 0.89-1.28
Poor 214 1.91 <.001 1.40-2.62
Expectations for further studies
High school 2111 1.00
Vocational school 1344 .931 .431 0.78-1.11
Academic achievement
Good 2237 1.02 .814 0.86-1.28
Average or below 1619 1.00
Feeling of loneliness
Yes 2135 2.82 <.001 2.39-3.34
No 1721 1.00
OR= odds ratio; Sig.= significance level; CI=confidence interval
6.1 A brief overview of the key findings and their conclusions
This study adds to a growing body of literature indicating that the quality of school life – as revealed by students’ perceptions of the psychosocial school en-vironment – is important, not only for students’ academic achievement but also for their health. The study also underlines the fact that there is more to school than merely academic learning (OECD 2017). Finnish students’ school experi-ences were fairly positive, yet a large proportion of adolescents reported nega-tive attitudes towards school. In all the sub-studies, the students’ perceptions of the psychosocial school environment showed some associations with their aca-demic achievement, perceived health, and health behaviours. Social relations at school, educational aspiration, and gender differences were highlighted in terms of all the outcomes studied.
6.1.1 The quality of school life in Finnish comprehensive schools
The findings show that despite the fairly positive reports on the quality of school life in this study, a substantial proportion of the students did not enjoy school activities, or going to school, or being at school. The students also found school tiring, and felt that they had too much schoolwork. However, a large proportion, around 60% of the students, had a sense of belonging to their school. Note that even though the data underlying these results date back sev-eral years, they are in line with the latest studies (e.g. Välijärvi 2017; Vettenranta et al. 2020). Vettenranta and colleagues (2020) found that about half of the 8th grade students reported a mediocre sense of belonging to their school. In the present study, students rated social relations at school as more or less positive.
Peer relations were perceived as more positive than relations with teachers.