The Role of Perceived Inter-Ethnic Classroom Climate in Adolescents’ Engagement in Ethnic Victimization: For Whom Does it Work?

Abstract

Immigrant and minority youth are at risk of experiencing victimization due to their ethnic, cultural, or religious background. Despite an increasing number of studies that aims at understanding the consequences of being the target of such negative experiences, little attention has been paid to the factors that might counteract the occurrence of ethnic victimization. The present study aimed to address this gap in knowledge by investigating the possible role of school context. Specifically, the present study examined the extent to which perceived positive contact norms in class and teachers' reactions to ethnic victimization are linked to engagement in ethnic victimization. It also examined whether such links differ across adolescents with different levels of tolerance toward immigrants. The sample included 963 adolescents residing in Sweden (M age = 13.11, SD = 0.41; 46% girls). The results showed that perceived positive contact norms in class were associated with a lower likelihood of engagement in ethnic victimization across youth with different levels of tolerance toward immigrants. When adolescents perceived their teachers as not tolerating ethnic victimization, those with high levels of tolerance were less likely to engage in it. However, teacher reactions did not affect the behaviors of adolescents with low and moderate levels of tolerance toward immigrants. The findings indicate the importance of classroom context and teachers in counteracting negative interactions among students of diverse backgrounds.

Differences and Similarities between Perpetrators of Ethnic and Non-Ethnicity-Based Victimization

“…Another noteworthy finding of the study is that, while being male is a common denominator of all three non-normative groups, having an immigrant background is only a risk factor for engagement in non-ethnicity-based victimization, and engagement in both forms of victimization. The observed gender difference is consistent with previous research showing that boys are more at risk of engagement in both general (e.g., Sentse et al 2015 ) and ethnic victimization (e.g., Bayram Özdemir and Özdemir 2020 ). One possible explanation for the gender difference is related to the differences in emotional and cognitive skills between males and females.…”

“…The findings also indicate that there are relatively more adolescents involved in non-ethnically based victimization than in ethnicity-based victimization, which might be related to the motives of different types of peer victimizers. Specifically, ethnicity-based victimization has a clear motive, founded in prejudiced beliefs (Bayram Özdemir et al 2016 ; Caravita et al 2019 ) or low tolerance toward immigrants (Bayram Özdemir and Özdemir 2020 ). In the current data, only 5% of adolescents had low positive attitudes toward immigrants (i.e., the percentage of adolescents who scored 2 or below on the positive attitudes toward immigrant scale).…”

“…Fourth, the focus of the current study was on identifying individual-level risk factors that might play a role in youth’s engagement in ethnic and/or non-ethnicity-based victimization. However, recent studies have shown that not only individual factors but also contextual factors (e.g., school climate and the mass media) may contribute to youth’s engagement in different forms of victimization (e.g., Bayram Özdemir and Özdemir 2020 ). Examining the extent to which school and family contexts explain youth engagement in ethnic and/or non-ethnicity-based victimization would advance knowledge in the field.…”

“…A four-item scale was used to measure youth’s engagement in ethnic victimization (i.e., being a perpetrator of ethnic victimization) (Bayram Özdemir and Özdemir 2020 ). The sample scale items were: “Have you said nasty things to anyone about her/his ethnic origin?” and “Have you excluded anyone from an activity because her/his parents came from another country?…”

How Does Adolescents’ Openness to Diversity Change Over Time? The Role of Majority-Minority Friendship, Friends’ Views, and Classroom Social Context

“…The social dynamics in classrooms have implications for students' psychosocial functioning (Wang 2009) and academic growth (Reyes et al 2012). Recent studies have also shown that common norms and values in a classroom setting may have an impact on students' inter-group attitudes (Gniewosz and Noack 2008;Isac et al 2012;Schachner et al in press) and relationships (Bayram Özdemir and Özdemir 2020;Bayram Özdemir et al 2018;Schachner et al 2015). For example, a study focusing on adolescents in Germany investigated the influence of different indicators of the classroom climate on adolescents' intolerance in their attitudes toward foreigners.…”