School Bullying and the Experience of Social Inclusion Among Finnish Adolescent Boys and Girls

Abstract

Background: Involvement with bullying intersects with the dimensions of social inclusion as bullying is associated with a sense of non-belonging, weakened prerequisites for agency, and a sense of meaninglessness. However, the associations between involvement in bullying and the subjective experience of social inclusion remain underexplored. Objective: This study first examines how different forms of involvement in bullying—victimization, perpetration, and victim-perpetration—are related to sociodemographic background. Second, it analyzes the associations between bullying involvement and the experience of very weak social inclusion. Methods: Data were gathered from the 2021 Finnish School Health Promotion survey, which was completed by 91,560 adolescents aged 14–16 years. Cross‑tabulation analyses were used to determine the associations between sociodemographic background and bullying involvement, and logistic regression models were applied to analyze the associations between bullying involvement and the experience of very weak social inclusion. All analyses were gender-stratified. Results: Adolescents involved in weekly bullying were more likely to come from disadvantaged sociodemographic backgrounds than those not involved in bullying. In addition, bullying involvement was associated with higher odds of experiencing very weak social inclusion. Odds ratios varied by form of bullying involvement and gender and were statistically significant, except for perpetration among girls. Conclusions: The findings extend the existing research by demonstrating links between involvement in bullying and the experience of weakened social inclusion. Weekly bullying is related to sociodemographic vulnerabilities, suggesting that anti-bullying efforts should better address these vulnerabilities.