Student Victimization by Peers: Comparison Between Bedouin and Non-Bedouin Arab Students in Israel

ABSTRACT

School violence is a social phenomenon that has been a great source of concern for the educational system and for parents. The results of the current study are part of a comprehensive study conducted among a nationally representative sample of students in Israel (Benbenishty, 2003). This study examines the issue of peer victimization among Arab students as measured by self-report questionnaires. The sample of the current study consists of 10,441 students from 192 schools (6,329 non-Bedouin Arab students from 114 schools and 4,112 Bedouin students from 78 schools). We found that non-Bedouin Arab students reported slightly more verbal-social victimization than did Bedouin students. In contrast to these results, Bedouin students reported significantly higher levels of moderate physical victimization and severe physical victimization. Furthermore, the statistical interaction between gender, grade level, and national/cultural group, as well as reported victimization was examined. Several possible interpretations of the results will be presented. Additionally, the implications for the field of social work practice and policy will be discussed as well as recommendations for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• School violence
• victimization
• Arab
• gender

The study was funded by the Israeli Ministry of Education. The author would like to thank the many students, principals, teachers, supervisors, and administrators who generously gave their time and support to make this study possible.