Unequally Safe: Association Between Bullying and Perceived School Safety and the Moderating Effects of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, and Grade Level

Abstract

Guided by the social–ecological, social identity, and social misfit theories, the present study examined the gender, racial/ethnic, and grade-level differences of students’ perceived school safety and their associations with bullying victimization and school-wide bullying using a sample of 25,896 students from 114 public schools. Results of hierarchical linear regression modeling suggested that the negative association between individual-level bullying victimization and perceived school safety was stronger among White than Black students, and stronger among middle school than high school students. The negative association between school-wide bullying and perceived school safety was stronger in middle schools than in elementary schools. The perception of school safety also varied across racial/ethnic groups. The findings highlight the ecological influences of school-wide bullying and bullying victimization on student school safety perception. They also highlight the importance of understanding students’ perceptions of racial/ethnic identity, membership, and social status in schools when developing interventions that promote school safety.

Impact Statement

The findings highlight the ecological influences of school-wide bullying and bullying victimization on school safety at both the student and school levels. They also highlight the importance of understanding students’ normative perceptions of racial/ethnic identity, membership, and social status in schools when developing racially/ethnically responsive and grade-level specific strategies that promote school safety and alleviate the negative influences of bullying on students’ perceived school safety.

Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/2372966X.2020.1860427

Keywords:

• school safety
• bullying victimization
• school-wide bullying
• race/ethnicity

ASSOCIATE EDITOR:

• Amanda B. Nickerson

DISCLOSURE

The authors have no conflicts of interest to report.

Notes

1 Follow-up analyses showed that there was no significant difference on the scores of the key variables (i.e., BV, SWB, and school safety) between students who completed the surveys online versus on paper.

2 Simpson’s Diversity Index = 1 − (Percentage of same race) = 1 − [(Percentage of White)² + (Percentage of Black)² + (Percentage of Hispanic/Latin)² + (Percentage of Asian)² + (Percentage of Indian American)² + (Percentage of Hawaii)² + (Percentage of Other Race/Ethnicity including Multirace/ethnicity)²].

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.

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.

Meg Stomski

Meg Stomski is a doctoral student in the school psychology program in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research interests focus on school-based mental health practices and bullying prevention and intervention, particularly among culturally and linguistically diverse students and families.