Bullying does not begin as bullying: researcher explains the early warning signs adults often miss

In Finland, concerns are growing about school bullying and the declining well-being of children and adolescents. New research findings suggest that intervention often comes too late. Researchers have compiled their observations in a research-based guidebook aimed at educators and caregivers.

By the time bullying is recognized, group dynamics may have been evolving for a long period, laying the groundwork for later exclusion, harassment, and violence.

A key finding is that bullying does not start as bullying.

“Bullying does not emerge out of nowhere. It is often preceded by small but meaningful situations in which children and young people begin to rank, compare, and exclude one another. These are precisely the moments to which we should pay far more attention,” says Tuija Huuki, Professor of Youth Research and holder of a newly established chair at the University of Oulu.

Huuki will deliver her inaugural professorial lecture on Thursday, September 10, at 5:00 p.m. in the Laituri Hall of Oulu Central Library, together with four other recently appointed professors. The event can also be viewed on Yle Areena.

It is adults’ responsibility to recognize the early signs

The research also challenges the common assumption that bullying is primarily caused by specific “bullies” or “bad children.” The findings indicate that ordinary children and young people may, under certain circumstances, begin to harm one another.

The risk increases especially when relationships among children and adolescents are left without adult guidance.

“It is often a question of circumstances in which ordinary children and young people begin excluding others. That is why the solution is not found by searching for culprits, but by building safer group relationships,” Huuki stresses.

According to the research, adults typically recognize situations only once hurtful behavior has become prolonged, intentional, and systematic. Before that stage, groups may show signs of belittling, exclusion, teasing, unequal visibility and attention, and pressure to conform in order to gain acceptance.

Many of these phenomena occur in everyday situations. They may appear as humor, banter, romantic interests, rough and tumble play, or small fractures in friendships.

“Precisely for that reason, they are often not considered serious enough to warrant intervention,” Huuki notes.

The focus of conflict prevention should therefore shift more strongly toward early identification, rather than waiting until the formal criteria for bullying are met.

Instead, attention should already be directed to the first situations in which inequality, exclusion, or hurtful interaction begins to emerge in relationships between children and young people.

A method that supports parents and teachers

This thinking forms the basis of the Pisarapuuttuminen method (Droplet Intervention Model), developed by Tuija Huuki and child psychiatrist Raisa Cacciatore, in which intervention begins at the very first signs, before a situation comes to resemble bullying.

Under the method, an adult addresses difficult situations as soon as they arise, regardless of whether they meet the definitions of bullying, harassment, or violence.

“The aim is to strengthen children’s and young people’s interaction skills in real-life situations and prevent problems from escalating,” Huuki explains.

The research is based on materials collected by the research team over more than two decades, focusing on relationships among children and young people, bullying, harassment, violence, power, and participation. Data have been gathered through observation, interviews, surveys, and by monitoring interactions among children and young people in schools and other developmental communities.

Based on the research, the following book has been published (in Finnish):

Huuki, T., Cacciatore, R., & Kangaskoski, H. (2026). Pisarapuuttuminen: Työväline kiusaamisen ehkäisemiseksi. Santalahti. ISBN (print): 978-952-370-686-6, ISBN (electronic): 978-952-370-687-3.