Children and young people share their realities of peer violence and gender norms

The report is grounded in the lived experiences of children and young people themselves. It brings together data from 523 children and young people who completed surveys, alongside insights from 14 focus group discussions involving 120 children and young people, conducted in Albania, Bulgaria, Italy, Kosovo, Romania and Sweden.

Violence is present - even where children feel "safe"

While many children report feeling safe at school, the findings show that violence remains a persistent part of school life. Across the six countries, 62% of respondents said that violence is always or often a problem in their school environment.

This reflects a gap between perceptions of physical safety and emotional well-being. Young people described environments where overt physical assaults may be less frequent than in the past, but where other forms of harm are widespread and often normalised.

Psychological and verbal violence are the most common

The Scoping Report found that psychological and verbal violence are the most prevalent forms of peer violence experienced by children and young people.

• 82% of respondents reported witnessing peers calling each other names or saying hurtful things at least once.

• 71% said they had seen peers being shouted at in public settings.

During focus group discussions, children described insults, teasing, humiliation and body-shaming as everyday occurrences, often dismissed as jokes. These behaviours were reported to disproportionately affect girls, LGBTQ+ young people, and those perceived as "different" because of appearance, ethnicity, disability or economic background.

Gender norms shape how violence is experienced

Children and young people consistently linked violence to gender expectations. The report shows that attitudes toward boys are shifting in some areas, with 76% of respondents disagreeing with the idea that boys who cry are weak.

However, traditional norms concerning girls remain more deeply rooted. Across countries, significant numbers of respondents agreed that girls need more protection than boys, and many young people reported that girls are judged more harshly for their appearance, behaviour and relationships.

Girls were also described as being more exposed to verbal abuse, sexual harassment and online violence, while boys were more frequently associated with physical aggression and fights. These gendered patterns were echoed across survey responses and focus group discussions.

Online violence follows children home

The report highlights cyberbullying and digital sexual harassment as widespread and particularly harmful. Almost half of respondents (44%) said they had received unwanted sexual messages, jokes or love proposals online at least once.

"(Online violence) can reach you anytime, even at home with parents."

Quote from a young person in the Scoping Report

Children described how online abuse is constant, difficult to escape and deeply damaging, as it extends beyond school into private spaces. Focus groups also revealed that cyberbullying is often underreported and that schools and adults frequently feel ill-equipped to respond.

Silence, fear and the bystander effect

The Scoping Report also documents low levels of reporting. Only 27% of respondents believed that incidents of violence are always or often reported in their school.

Children and young people described fear of retaliation, lack of trust in adult responses and concern about being labelled as a "snitch" as key barriers to speaking out. Many said their willingness to intervene depends on who is involved, the presence of peers, and their perceived personal risk.

Young people's messages for change

Alongside the Scoping Report, the young people of the project's International Young Expert Group have created a short key messages video. The video reflects young people's own recommendations for prevention, inclusion and adult support, drawing on the realities highlighted in the research.

As expressed by one of the young people, "It's important to involve children and young people because we are our own experts. It's our reality."

Read the full Applying Safe Behaviours Scoping Report

Find more information and resources

This project is co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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Why do children and young people need Safe Behaviours?

Peer on peer violence is one of the most common ways that children and young people experience violence: in Europe, almost 1 in 3 students report being bullied at school (30,1% of boys; 28,2% of girls). For children and young people from vulnerable backgrounds, the risk of experiencing peer on peer violence is higher than that of the general population.

Unfortunately, despite the prevalence of peer violence amongst children and young people, the adults and professionals who care for and work with them often experience challenges in responding effectively. As part of the scoping exercise that was conducted in the initial project, professionals reported that they were missing guidance on how to support children and young people affected by peer violence, and that there was a need for more training on the topic. Young people stated that more education is needed for adults, children, and young people to understand peer violence and how to better prevent and respond to it, and that there should be safe spaces where it can be discussed.

The Applying Safe Behaviours methodology focuses on children's right to feel safe at all times, the development of self-confidence and resilience, as well as the importance of acceptance and understanding. By training and informing children, young people, and professionals on peer violence, and through the advocacy and awareness-raising actions aimed at the wider community and public authorities, the project aims to provide them with the knowledge, skills, and tools needed to understand the issue and act against it. Children and young people will be able to apply a Safe Behaviours approach in their lives, resulting in a safer environment for them and their peers, and professionals who care for and work with them will have an improved capacity to prevent, identify and respond appropriately to peer violence.

Building on previous learnings

In this project, the methodology, materials and experience of the initial Applying Safe Behaviours project will be scaled up and built upon to incorporate key learnings and reach further groups of children, young people and professionals. Additionally, new activities will be implemented, such as awareness-raising workshops, local change projects by children, and further advocacy interventions at both national and EU-level. More focus on the ways children experience peer violence differently depending on their gender will also be integrated, with the development of a new module within the peer-to-peer workshop programme for children on the prevention of gender-based peer violence.

More about the initial Applying Safe Behaviours project (2021-2023)

Project beneficiaries

Through the project actions, children and young people from vulnerable backgrounds and the adults and professionals who care for and work with them will be reached in Bulgaria, Italy, Kosovo, Romania, and Sweden. Advocacy and awareness-raising activities at both national and EU-level will also reach a wider audience, including further children, young people, professionals who care for and work with children and young people, policymakers, public authorities, as well as the general population.

Key project activities

1. Delivery of peer-to-peer workshops for children aged 11-15 years old to learn more about what peer on peer violence is, why it happens, ways it might be prevented, and what they can do to help protect themselves and their peers. The workshops are led by young people aged 17-20 who are trained as Peer Trainers.

2. Design and implementation of change projects by children in each of the peer-to-peer workshop groups, to bring what they have learned to others in their community to help raise awareness and contribute to the better prevention and response to peer violence.

3. Delivery of face-to-face trainings for professionals who care for and work with children and young people to equip and empower them to prevent, identify, and respond to peer violence amongst children in a balanced, safe, and caring manner, ensuring the best interest of every child.

4. Roll out of awareness-raising workshops for children, young people, and adults, on what peer on peer violence is, how it can be prevented, and how to support children and young people who have been affected by it.

5. Development of practice-based guidelines for local, regional and national social services on how to better identify, prevent and respond to peer on peer violence.

6. Dissemination of national and EU-level policy recommendations on what needs to be changed in the legal framework as well as in practice to ensure that an informed, preventative, combative and responsive approach to peer violence amongst children is embedded into the child protection system.

Child and youth participation

Safe, active, and meaningful participation of children and young people, with a particular focus on those from vulnerable backgrounds, is central to all aspects of the project. In addition to the children and young people reached with the capacity-building and awareness-raising activities, National Child and Young Expert Groups have been formed in each country, as well as an International Young Expert Group at EU-level.

Project partners

• SOS Children's Villages International
• SOS Children's Villages Bulgaria
• SOS Children's Villages Italy
• SOS Children's Villages Romania
• SOS Children's Villages Sweden
• Terre des hommes Lausanne in Kosovo
• Terre des hommes Hungary - Regional Hub for Europe

Associated partners

• European Social Network (ESN)
• International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect (ISPCAN)
• SOS Children's Villages Kosovo
• SOS Kinderdörfer weltweit

Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Commission. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.