The following study examined the effects of ethnic harassment and bully victimization on immigrant youths’ adjustment over the course of one year. Adjustment outcomes included depression, poor self-esteem, and self-harm. We asked: (1) Is bully victimization a risk for immigrant youths’ adjustment? and (2) Is ethnic harassment a risk for immigrant youths’ adjustment over and beyond bully victimization? Participants included 252 first and second-generation immigrant youths (52% female, 46% born abroad, M= 14.98 years) from seven schools in a mid-sized Swedish city. Multiple hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to test whether bully victimization and ethnic harassment predicted adjustment outcomes one year later and changes in these outcomes over the course of one year. A factor analysis revealed that bully victimization and ethnic harassment were separate constructs. Bully victimization predicted depression and poor self-esteem scores as well as increases in depression over the course of one year.  Ethnic harassment predicted depression, poor self-esteem, and self-harm scores as well as increases in these three outcomes over the course of one year. Results suggest that ethnic harassment poses an added risk to the adjustment of immigrant youth over and above bully victimization.  Findings underline the importance of assessing ethnic harassment when conducting research in ethnically diverse settings.

No description available.

Polyvictimization across contexts has been found to be associated with negativepsychological adjustment among adolescents. This study aimed to explore the differences inpsychological adjustment outcomes amongst adolescents who experience victimization andpolyvictimization in a single context. Another aim was to investigate the possible moderatingeffect of peer support on psychological adjustment outcomes. Cross-sectional data from theYouth and Sports Project was used, with a sample of 675 Swedish adolescents in 7th grade(Mage= 13.1). Through cluster analysis, separate groups of adolescents were identified basedon their victimization experiences. Two of these groups were classified as experiencingpolyvictimization. The main findings showed that polyvictimized youth reported higherlevels of depressive symptoms and school stress, as well as lower levels of self-esteem andpsychological well-being, compared to non-victimized youth and those experiencing oneform of victimization. The results also showed that polyvictimized youth did not benefit frompeer support in relation to the psychological adjustment variables, compared to nonvictimizedyouth and those experiencing one form of victimization. This suggests thatpolyvictimization in a single context is associated with negative psychological adjustmentwhich is not buffered by peer support.

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Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, 2010. / Title from screen (viewed on May 3, 2010). School of Social Work, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Advisor(s): Margaret E. Adamek, Valerie N. Chang, Nancy Chism, Rebecca S. Sloan, Lorraine Blackman, Matthew C. Aalsma. Includes vitae. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 216-241).

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Bully victimization takes place within a social context of youths’ parents, peers, teachers, school administrators, and community. Victims often rely on parents, educators, or peers for support. However, there is a gap in the literature in understanding parents’ experiences of what occurs before, during, and after reporting bullying to school officials. Therefore, this dissertation study examined parents’ experiences in discovering, reporting, and living through the aftermath of their child being bullied. This study used a purposeful sample that was criterion-based. Nine mothers and one mother/father pair were tape-recorded using face-to-face semi-structured interviews. Follow-up phone interviews followed. Key themes and patterns were analyzed using the philosophical method of interpretive phenomenology based on Heidegger’s philosophy of being. Exemplars were used to illuminate several themes. Results suggest three unique stages. In the first stage, discovery, parents often noticed psychosocial changes in their child related to bullying. Parents often responded initially by providing advice to their children. When signs of their schoolchildren being bullied persisted, parents decided to report the incidents to school officials. Nine parents reported incomplete interventions that let their youths’ victimization continue. One parent, a paradigm case, shared understandings of how her son’s school official provided a full intervention that was restorative. However, all other parents who received an incomplete intervention found themselves rethinking how to protect their children from bullying. In this aftermath, several parents moved their children out of the school into a new district or began to home school. However, half the parents were left unable to move their child and therefore could not provide protection. Indiana’s anti-bullying law was unknown to eight parents and was unsuccessful in leveraging protection for one parent who used it with school officials as a threat. School official’s responses to bullying were incongruent with student handbook procedures. Recommendations from a parent’s perspective indicate school officials must: 1) have a clear process in place for parents to report, 2) follow through by calling parents back with results from investigating and procedures that will be taken to intervene, and 3) call the bullies’ and victims’ parents to notify what has occurred and what will be done to ensure safety. Discussed are implications for school officials, including social workers, and state policymakers. There is a proposed intervention model (Appendix J) that addresses how parents can respond to school officials who are hesitant to provide bullied youth protection.