Forms of Bullying and Associations Between School Perceptions and Being Bullied Among Finnish Secondary School Students Aged 13 and 15

Abstract The study aimed to examine the extent to which Finnish secondary school students experience bullying, how they are bullied, and whether being bullied is associated with school perceptions. The analyses were based on data from the Finnish part of the international Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) study, and were obtained from 4262 students aged 13 and 15. The sample was nationally representative. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify the associations between school perceptions and being bullied. Younger students reported being bullied more often than older students. Among younger students, boys were more often bullied than girls of the same age. There was no significant difference between the genders among the older students. The most common form of being bullied was verbal teasing. Boys tended to be bullied in physical ways, while girls were bullied in more indirect ways. Students with low levels of school engagement, students with poor relations with peers, and students who reported better teacher-student relations were more likely to be bullied. Feelings of loneliness and lower family affluence were also associated with being bullied. Improving the perceptions of school, and of the school experience as a whole, might have an effect on bullying at school.