Bullying Victimization Among Asian-American Youth: a Review of the Literature

Abstract

Bullying is a significant public health and social problem in the United States. As a fast-growing immigrant population, Asian-American youth are being bullied at school, yet little is known about their experience in bullying victimization. Thus, the purpose of this article is to review current findings regarding bullying victimization among Asian-American youth. A review of the literature was conducted. Twenty-three articles that met the inclusion criteria were included in the present review. The research team identified six themes including the prevalence of bullying victimization; impacts of bullying victimization; risk factors of being bullied; reporting on bullying incidents; coping strategies of parents, teachers, and schools; and current efforts to address bullying victimization. Studies indicate that 5-50% of Asian-American youth are bullied, which tends to be lower than the rates in white students, African-American students, and Hispanic students. However, bullying victimization is associated with adverse mental health and academic performance in Asian-American youth. The included studies examine individual, family, peer, school, and community factors that are related to being bullied in this population. Research also shows that only about 33% of Asian-American youth victims notify an adult after the bullying incidents. Recommendations for bullying prevention among this population are discussed.

How Can Bullying Victimisation Lead to Lower Academic Achievement? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Mediating Role of Cognitive-Motivational Factors

“…From this perspective, in order to feel motivated and achieve their highest academic potential, all these three needs must be supported in students. Negative school conditions such as peer rejection, social exclusion, and bullying may undermine these needs [ 41 , 42 , 43 ].…”

“…In fact, bullying victimisation has been found to negatively influence students’ school relatedness, such that bullied students tend to feel less connected to their school and, in turn, tend to achieve poorly academically [ 43 ]. On top of this, students who have suffered bullying victimisation present lower academic motivation, reduced perceived academic competence [ 21 ] and lower educational aspirations [ 31 ] in comparison to their non-bullied peers.…”

Asian American Men’s Gendered Racial Socialization and Fragmented Masculinity: Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis

“…A population data analysis spanning 2001 to 2011 found that Asian American boys were targeted by racist verbal assaults more frequently than their peers across gender and race (Cooc & Gee, 2014). Among Asian American youth, boys are more likely to be peer-victimized, especially physically (Huang & Vidourek, 2019). Large-scale studies including this group have linked peer-victimization with substance use (Stone & Carlisle, 2017) and suicidality (Wang et al, 2018), both of which are significant public health problems for AAM (Hai et al, 2021; Keum & Choi, 2022; Ramchand et al, 2021).…”

Examination of the “model minority” stereotype through ethnicity and sexual orientation heterogeneity among Asian American youth

“…However, it is unclear as to why the reduction effect of racial/ethnic bullying alone on the association between ethnicity and substance use was either less noticeable or not observed. A recent review on bullying victimization among Asian American youth suggests that racial/ethnic bullying victimization is indeed associated with adverse outcomes, including mental health and academic performance (Huang & Vidourek, 2019). It is possible that, without taking Asian American youth's sexual orientation into consideration, their substance use behaviors are more affected by other racial/ethnic contextual factors such as peer use, which is heavily impacted by peer immigrant generation status and peer ethnicity (Ryabov, 2015).…”