According to UNICEF Hungary's latest research, abuse at school can occur even at an early age

On behalf of UNICEF Hungary, the Median Public Opinion and Market Research Institute conducted a national survey in the fall of 2022 among Hungarian youth between the ages of 12 and 20 on school bullying and harassment, the prevalence of violence and its functioning. The results of the research carried out with the support of Magyar Suzuki Corporation showed that half of those involved in school bullying experienced abuse for the first time at school when they were in elementary school.

The survey revealed that half of those involved in school bullying first experienced abuse at school between the ages of 6 and 10. 85% of the interviewed teenagers have already experienced abuse at least once, and 66% regularly, mostly in the classroom, but often online as well.

In addition to physical harassment, attention must also be paid to psychological factors

In addition to physical aggression, the most common forms of mental abuse are also commonplace, such as exclusion from a joint program, complete ostracism, or verbal aggression. This often continues online, with personal messages (67%), mocking posts and photos on Instagram (34%), Facebook (26%), or other social channels. 49 percent of the respondents had been bullied online, in 58% of cases the bully was a classmate. Humiliation and teasing in the online space is more common among girls than among boys, and it is not uncommon (23%) that the victim does not even know or cannot identify the perpetrator.
Among the respondents, only every fifth young person claims that they do not know either an abused or an abuser in their class community. It is also thought-provoking that only two-thirds of the respondents condemn all forms of bullying at school and online, while at the same time, every third child who has been abused has not attended classes because of daily bullying at school.

It matters a lot that the victim dares to ask for help

It can be shown that asking for help brings effective, meaningful change in about half of the cases. Most of the abused children first turn to their parents, class teacher and classmates, but a quarter of the respondents feel that they cannot share their problem with anyone. Knowing the right tools, teachers can do a lot to prevent bullying in their class, which is why it is important to be open to dialogue with children and parents.

The main goal of UNICEF Hungary is to draw the attention of parents and teachers to the importance of the topic and the seriousness of the problem, to provide help and support for the affected children, therefore, with the support of Magyar Suzuki Corporation, it developed an application called HelpApp, which provides an opportunity for the victim or witness to to use the support of professionals or even ask for help with one click.

As Antónia Mészáros, the executive director of UNICEF Hungary explained: "Contemporary abuse is such a serious problem in Hungary, moreover, it appears at such a young age. The numbers are shocking and definitely indicate the seriousness of the situation, but we also need to talk about solutions. UNICEF Hungary's mobile application and educational materials can help those involved a lot, and our main goal is to maintain professional dialogue".

"As a car manufacturer, safety is extremely important to us, but not only in terms of production, finished cars or transport, but also in terms of the future generation. That is why we are supporting UNICEF Hungary's campaign for the third year running, which draws attention to the importance of fighting online and school bullying. Unfortunately, the situation in Hungary is worrisome: peer abuse appears as early as in elementary school. We are very happy that the HelpApp and other information materials created by UNICEF Hungary can provide meaningful help to all those who need help due to physical or mental abuse." - explains Zsuzsanna Bonnár-Csonka – Head of Communication - why they supported the campaign again this year.

Further important information and useful advice, such as the Child Protection Guideline and KiberKresz, as well as the detailed results of the research, are available on the organization's website.