ABSTRACT Oulu University of Applied Sciences Degree Programme in Nursing and Health Care, Option of Nursing _____________________________________________________________________ Authors: Hanna Hökkä, Riikka Lampinen and Rita Vähä Title of Thesis: Upper Comprehensive School Pupils' Experiences on Bullying and Violence Supervisor: Lecturer Juha Alakulppi and Principal Lecturer Hilkka Honkanen Term and year when the thesis was submitted: Spring 2014 Number of pages: 54 + 3 appendix pages ___________________________________________________________ The objective of our thesis was to describe upper comprehensive school pupils' experiences and thoughts of bullying and violence and to find out what percentage of youth had experienced bullying and violence and where they had experienced it.

We collected our first material with a questionnaire in the event arranged by Sohvi Project in May 2013 and the youth also wrote their ideas on post-it notes. The rest of the material was gathered with a questionnaire in January 2014. The qualitative material was analyzed with the content analysis method and the quantitative material was analyzed using the statistical analysis method.

The results showed that a large percentage of school youth had experienced bullying or violence. Most of the bullying and violence was experienced at school, and a large percentage of the respondents had experienced bullying or violence many times. Psychological bullying or violence, such as berating, ridiculing and name-calling was experienced more than physical or social bullying. Physical bullying, such as kicking, hitting and pushing were more common among boys than girls. Social bullying or violence, such as discrimination, exclusion from a group friends and gossiping were more common among girls. A discrepancy was noticed in the study as the results showed that a large percentage of the respondents thought that bullying and violence should not be accepted, and at the same time, it showed that it is experienced a lot.

The research results showed that bullying and violence affect the youth in many different ways. It causes depression, troubles with schoolwork, and suicidal thoughts. Bullying and violence also affect social relationships and self-esteem and it can become normal for those youth who experience it a lot.

The results can be used in the municipality where the study was conducted to develop preventative services for youth. The results can also be used on a larger scale when considering issues related to bullying and violence. In the future, it would be beneficial to study why bullying has not decreased despite the many research projects and different action programs that have been implemented.

Key words: Bullying, violence, experiences of youth