An Intersectional Examination of the Effects of Race/Ethnicity and Immigrant Status on School Victimization in Predominantly Hispanic/Latinx High Schools

Abstract

Guided by the theory of intersectionality and social identity theory, this study examined the interactive influences of both racial/ethnic majority status and immigrant status on students’ school victimization experiences in predominantly Hispanic/Latinx high schools. Participants included 3,176 high school students in Grades 9 to 12 from four high schools in central California. Results of chi-square tests and regression analyses suggested that, after controlling for students’ gender, grade, parent educational level, and status for receiving free and reduced price meals, Hispanic/Latinx students (racial/ethnic majority) reported lower levels of school victimization, as measured by both the prevalence rate and frequency level, in comparison to non-Hispanic/Latinx students (racial/ethnic minority). Immigrant status was not significantly associated with their school victimization experiences. Moreover, there was a significant interaction between students’ racial/ethnic majority status and immigrant status on students’ school victimization experiences. More specifically, among U.S.-born students, non-Hispanic/Latinx students reported higher victimization incidence rates than Hispanic/Latinx students, but no significant difference was found between Hispanic/Latinx and non-Hispanic/Latinx immigrant students. The findings highlight the importance of understanding context-specific group dynamics and the intersection of multiple group-level and individual-level identities to inform school violence prevention and intervention in diverse school settings.

Impact Statement

The findings highlight the importance of understanding context-specific group dynamics and how the intersection of multiple individual and group identities can inform school violence prevention and intervention in diverse school settings.

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2020.1840262.

Keywords:

• school violence
• immigrant status
• race/ethnicity
• intersectionality

ASSOCIATE EDITOR:

• Matthew Mayer

DISCLOSURE

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chunyan Yang

Chunyan Yang, PhD, is an assistant professor of school psychology in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests focus on understanding how school members (e.g., students, teachers, parents) interact with their living contexts (e.g., school, family, community, culture) to find their resilience in face of a variety of risk factors in school settings, such as bullying, teacher-targeted violence, and mental health challenges.

Sarah Manchanda

Sarah Manchanda is a doctoral candidate in the Joint Doctoral Program between the University of California, Berkeley, and San Francisco State University. Her current research interests include peer victimization and bullying based on disability and race, promoting the capacity of teachers and peer bystanders through investigating moral reasoning, and critical pedagogy and moral education as interventions to address stigma-based bullying.

Xueqin Lin

Xueqin Lin, MEd, is a doctoral student in the school psychology program in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. Her primary research interests focus on adolescents’ risk and resilience and their impacts on adolescents academic and mental health outcomes. She is also interested in cross-cultural comparisons and ethnic identity development and mental health of immigrant adolescents.

Zhaojun Teng

Zhaojun Teng, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher at Southwest University in China and a visiting scholar in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley (2019–2020). His general research interests are video game use and adolescents’ behavioral outcomes, and his specific research interests are violent video game effects on adolescents’ aggression, bullying, and cyberbullying.