City|School health survey
Girls experience sexual harassment significantly more often than boys.
Young people from Helsinki are victims of sexual harassment more often than Finnish youth on average. This is evident from the recent 2023 school health survey of the Institute of Health and Welfare (THL).
About a fifth or even a quarter of young people from Helsinki had experienced sexual harassment in some public space during the year.
High school students held the top spot, as almost 26 percent of them had experienced sexual harassment. About 21 percent of students at vocational schools and about 19 percent of 8th and 9th graders had experienced it.
Size in the country, the figures were about 14 percent for 8th and 9th graders, about 17 percent for high school students, and about 13 percent for students at vocational schools.
Young people from Helsinki experienced sexual harassment slightly less often than in the 2021 survey. However, harassment was more common than in 2019 or 2017, according to the answers.
About 260,000 children and young people responded to the 2023 survey. The survey is carried out every two years.
Girls reported significantly more often than boys that they had experienced sexual harassment in public spaces during the year. The answers to the survey can only be compared between two genders, girls and boys.
In Helsinki, girls studying in high school said they had experienced the most harassment. About 40 percent of them said they had been targeted by it. For girls studying in vocational schools, the figure was about 39 percent and for 8th and 9th graders about 30 percent.
Less than ten percent of the boys said they had encountered sexual harassment in a public space. About six percent of 8th- and 9th-grade boys said they had experienced it, four percent of high school students and seven percent of students at vocational schools.
School was one place where some young people from Helsinki had experienced sexual harassment during the year. About six percent of 8th and 9th graders and vocational school students and two percent of high school students said so.
According to the survey, harassment at school was slightly more common in Helsinki than on average in the whole country.
During the year, young people had also experienced sexual violence more often in Helsinki than on average in the whole country. Students of vocational schools had experienced it the most, about 14 percent. About 9-10 percent of high school students and 8th-9th graders had been targeted.
In the entire country, the figure was around 8–10 percent, depending on the educational institution.
Young people from Helsinki had also experienced disturbing sexual conditioning or harassment during the year more than the national average.
On the other hand, sexual harassment experienced on the phone or on the Internet during the year in Helsinki (about 22–25 percent) was close to the average result for the whole country (about 22–24 percent).
Preliminary according to the results, a large part of Helsinki’s children and young people are satisfied with their lives and enjoy themselves in the school environment, the city informs.
Still, mental well-being challenges have remained common. More than a third of 8th and 9th grade girls experience moderate or severe anxiety. In addition, 15 percent of 8th and 9th graders experience loneliness often. The proportion in question is lower than the previous measurement, but still higher than before the corona era.
#School #health #survey #Young #people #experience #sexual #harassment #Helsinki #Finland
