The Impact of Victimization On Adolescents' Well-Being: Moderating Effects of Ethnicity within Context

Introduction: Ethnic differences in how adolescents experience and respond to peer victimization have received limited attention in the research literature. Several studies have highlighted the importance of going beyond a simple focus on individual ethnicity to address how individual ethnicity interacts with school ethnic composition to influence not only the frequency of experiencing peer victimization, but also its impact on adolescents’ well-being.

 Method: Data from 4,718 sixth grade students attending 37 schools representing four sites were used to examine whether individual and school-level ethnicity moderated relations between peer victimization and life satisfaction. Peer victimization was separated into physical/verbal and relational victimization experiences. Schools were categorized as ethnically diverse or predominantly African American, European American, or Latino American. Multilevel models were used to examine the relations among victimization, individual and school-level ethnicity, and life satisfaction controlling for school-level variables including concentrated disadvantage and school climate.

 Results: School ethnic composition and concentrated disadvantage predicted the frequency of physical/verbal but not relational victimization.  Specifically, students in predominantly African American schools and in schools with greater disadvantage reported higher rates of physical/verbal victimization. After controlling for school ethnic composition, European American students reported less frequent physical/verbal victimization than their African American counterparts. These effects did not vary across schools that differed in their ethnic composition. There were no ethnic differences in rates of relational victimization.

 The relation between physical/verbal victimization and life satisfaction was moderated by school ethnic composition.  Specifically, there was a stronger inverse relation between physical/verbal victimization and life satisfaction among students in predominantly Latino American schools compared to students in ethnically diverse or predominantly African American schools.  This relation did not vary by individual ethnicity.  

Discussion: These findings highlight the influence of both ethnicity and ethnic context on victimization and their role in adolescents’ development. Cultural context influences the rate of victimization as well as the effect of victimization on adolescents’ well-being.  Although not the focus of the study, these findings also emphasize the role of contextual factors such as concentrated disadvantage in adolescents’ experiences of victimization.