The Role of Participant Immigrant Background and Gender in Middle School Youth's Responses to Actual and Hypothetical Experiences of Bias-Based Bullying.

Abstract

The present study draws on socio-cultural theories and socio-cognitive theories as guiding frameworks to examine responses to bias-based bullying among 481 middle school youth (49% female; 15% immigrant; 36% minoritized ethnicity). Based on student self-report data, we examined: (1) whether middle-schoolers response strategies' from the perspective of the victim being excluded or bullied varied across three hypothetical bias-based bullying scenarios based on participant's immigrant background and gender and by target victim's ethnic im/migrant background (e.g. Arab, Latinx, Black); and (2) whether youth disclosure of actual bullying experiences (i.e. to whom they disclosed their bullying experience) differed by their immigrant background and gender. Findings revealed that none of the immigrant girls reported that they would hit the excluder from the perspective of the Latina hypothetical victim compared to when the hypothetical victim was Black and Arab. In response to their actual experiences, immigrant girls were least likely to tell anyone (e.g. peer, teacher, or parent) if they were bullied at school. Results highlight the importance of fostering family and school administration awareness of bullying victimization and the creation of culturally sensitive school interventions and policies for reporting and preventing the bullying victimization of immigrant children, particularly for immigrant girls.