She has published widely, both nationally and internationally, particularly on the topics of constructivist learning environments, workplace learning and professional development for teachers. She collaborates in the development of the peer-group mentoring model. Ilona Markkanen, MSc in Health Education, is a project researcher at the Finnish Institute for Educational Research at the University of Jyväskylä. She has participated in research and development work involving peer-group mentoring. She has been also involved in coordinating the Finnish Network of Teacher Induction and organizing the regional Osaava Verme peer-group mentor training.

Aims: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of cybervictimization in the six Nordic countries and to assess its overlap with traditional bullying. A further aim was to examine potential associations between life satisfaction, on the one hand, and traditional bullying and cyberbullying on the other. Methods: Analyses were based on data from the 2013⁄2014 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study. It included 32,210 boys and girls, aged 11, 13, and 15, living in the six Nordic countries. Results: The prevalence of cyberbullying by both pictures and by messages was around 2% in all the Nordic countries except Greenland. There it was considerably higher. The prevalence of being bullied in a traditional manner varied widely by country. For boys, this type of bullying was most frequent in the youngest age group and then decreased steadily in the older age groups. Girls were on average more likely to be cyberbullied. Cyberbullying was more common among 13- and 15-year-olds than 11-year-olds. Higher family affluence was unrelated to the risk of cyberbullying. However, it was related to traditional bullying and combined forms of bullying. Compared with intact families, cybervictimization was commoner among single-parent families and stepfamilies. Adjusting for age, gender, family affluence, and family structure, those subjected to cyberbullying had lower life satisfaction than those who were not bullied. Conclusions: We found relatively little overlap between cyberbullying and traditional bullying, indicating that the two may be separate phenomena stemming from different mechanisms, at least in the Nordic context.

The study examined the extent to which students' perceptions of the psychosocial school environment are associated with self-rated health, life satisfaction, and subjective health complaints. Students' perceptions were associated with one or more indicators of subjective health. Perceived health was better in direct proportion to positive perceptions. Student relations and school strain were the factors that stood out in both genders, with regard to all the health indicators. School engagement, parental support, and educational aspiration were found to be important for overall perceived health of the students. This study indicates the importance of the psychosocial school environment for students' health.