Behavioral and Psychological Consequences of Social Identity-based Aggressive Victimization in High School Youth

• NCJ Number: 304996
• Journal: Self and Identity Volume: 21 Issue: 1 Dated: FEB 2022 Pages: 61-85
• Author(s): Jessica Weiss Utley; H. Colleen Sinclair; Sierra Nelson; Chelsea Ellithorpe; Megan Stubbs-Richardson
• Date Published: February 2022
• Length: 25 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2015-CK-BX-0004
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Award: When does Rejection Trigger Aggression? A Multi-method Examination of the Multimotive Model

Annotation

Since research suggests many youth report being victimized in school due to their social identities (e.g., race, gender, sexual orientation), we compared the consequences of social identity-based victimization (SIBV) to general victimization wherein adolescents are victimized by peers for other reasons (e.g., competition, a perceived insult).

Abstract

An online survey administered to 471 high school students yielded 777 victimization reports. 71.2% of the students reported at least one recent victimization, with 53.8% reporting SIBV. Race-based victimization was the most prevalent, and SIBV was more common online than offline. Psychological reactions (i.e., negative affect, self-esteem, and perceived costs) and behavioral responses (i.e., avoidant, antisocial, prosocial, and self-harm behavior), were heightened for youth reporting SIBV. As anticipated, psychological reactions significantly mediated the effect of SIBV on behavioral responses. (Publisher abstract provided)