Gender, Immigration, and School Victimization

Abstract

Research demonstrates that the psychological well-being, health, and educational progress and success are negatively influenced by school victimization. It is also known that gender, generational status, and race and ethnicity are linked to distinct school experiences for youth. What remains uncertain is how the intersection of gender, generational status, and race and ethnicity are linked to the school victimization of the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population—youth in immigrant families. Logistic regression analyses, drawing on the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, suggest complex results that are relevant to these issues. For example, findings indicate that there is a parallel between assimilation and school victimization, especially for Latina and African American female youth. The implications of the evident gender, generational, and racial and ethnic disparities in school victimization are discussed more generally.

Keywords:

• adolescent victimization
• gender differences
• school violence