Impetus for the intervention study, early stages of planning, and funding

In Finland, the increase of violent behaviour and the more and more brutal forms of violence by children and adolescents were widely discussed in the 1980s. The tone of the discussion was often accusing. At times, it was the parents who were held responsible for causing this undesirable development, at other times the blame was put on schools and teachers, or it was felt that society in general was at fault by neglecting children and adolescents. To counteract this negative development, two national Finnish civic organisations, the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare (briefly Mannerheim League) and the Finnish Red Cross, launched a nationwide campaign against violence, the Non-Violent Campaign. Preparations for the campaign began in 1989, and the campaign itself was conducted in 1990. The campaign was aimed at the whole population of Finland, but the work done by Mannerheim League involved children and adolescents. One of the goals of the campaign was to raise awareness of the violence and bullying that takes place at schools, and to find ways to reduce and prevent violence. The campaign was based on a solution-oriented model, which does not so much aim to find causes and guilty parties, but rather concentrates on solving problems through constructive discussions (Pikas, 1987).

Inspired by the Non-Violent Campaign, the local Kempele association of Mannerheim League, together with the Mannerheim League district organisation, decided to carry out a survey of the prevalence and patterns of school bullying in the Kempele comprehensive schools in 1990.