Girls were especially likely to report feelings of anxiety, dissatisfaction with life, and loneliness, according to the survey results.
Open image viewer
File photo. Image: Jani Aarnio / Yle
Children and young people with foreign backgrounds are more likely to be bullied or face discrimination than kids whose both parents are Finnish, according to the results of a survey by Finland’s public health authority THL.
The School Health Survey for last year revealed that over half of eighth and ninth graders who were born abroad reported experiencing discrimination or bullying during the past year.
The corresponding figure for teenagers whose both parents have a Finnish background was less than one in three.
Overall, the survey also found that experiences of bullying or discriminatory behaviour has increased since 2021, regardless of background, with girls especially likely to report such feelings.
“Girls experience, for example, anxiety, school burnout, dissatisfaction with life, and loneliness significantly more commonly than boys,” says THL Research Professor Anu Castaneda wrote in a press release.
Foreign background kids like school, drink less alcohol
The survey results also revealed differences in lifestyle habits between foreign background kids and their Finnish peers.
For example, children and young people with foreign backgrounds drank less alcohol, were more likely to admit that their internet use was excessive, and generally had a more positive attitude towards school attendance and studying.
Four out of five 4th and 5th graders who were born abroad reported liking school, while that number was under 70 percent for children whose both parents have a Finnish background.
However, foreign background kids were also more likely to say they don’t have a single close friend.
THL’s School Health Survey collects the views of 4th and 5th graders, 8th and 9th graders, as well as teenagers in the 1st and 2nd year of high school. The survey is carried out every second year.