Ethnic Group Differences in Childhood Bullying Victimization and Adolescent Risk Behaviors

Overview: The present study extends prior knowledge on the longitudinal association between subsequent risk behavior outcomes in adolescence and early experiences of frequent bullying victimization in middle childhood by examining racial/ethnic group differences. Implications for social work practice and education, programming, policy, and future research are discussed.Proposal text:

Background/Purpose: Bullying is a significant social problem that affects child development. Children frequently bullied have a greater threat of engaging in or developing deviant and poor health risk behaviors, further increasing risks of injury, morbidity, suicidality, and mortality. Children contribute being bullied to characteristics of their real or perceived identity, such as race/ethnicity. Ethnic minority youth have increased risks of being bullied in earlier years and at rates slightly higher than the national estimates. Studies conclude that risk behaviors associated with bullying victimization may vary by racial/ethnic profile, leading to disproportionate chances for adverse psychosocial and health-related behaviors. Yet, extant research examines few risk behaviors in one model and is limited to correlational analyses of older youth. Moreover, few studies examine the longitudinal association between the frequency of bullying victimization (FBV) and risks behaviors. Even less is known about differences in this association given children’s racial/ethnic identity. The current study explicitly focuses on children's earlier experiences of FBV and examines several prevalent risk behaviors in adolescence, including fighting, marijuana use, sexual activity, physical inactivity, and sleep problems using General Strain Theory. Additionally, we investigate whether ethnic group differences exist in this association.

Methods: Data and sample: An analytic sample of 2,678 focal children were drawn from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a longitudinal birth cohort of children and their parents. Waves 1 (at childbirth), 5 (at child nine years of age), and 6 (at child 15 years of age) data were used.

Measures: Children self-reported the frequency they were bullied in their school/neighborhood in the past month on 4-items (e.g., hit/tease you) using a 5-point Likert response scale ranging from 0 “not at all” to 4 “every day.” Items were added to create an index ranging from 0-16 (α=67), with higher scores indicating frequent victimization. Risk behaviors were measured using a binary response of 0 “no” and 1 “yes” with PCGs self-reporting children’s sexual activity and physical inactivity and children self-reporting all other risk behaviors. A constructed race/ethnicity measure was used, capturing teens' self-reported identity of Black, White, and Latino/Hispanic. PCGs educational attainment, family poverty level, and child’s biological sex were controlled for in the model.

Results: Path analysis demonstrated a one-point increase in the FBV predicted fighting(β=.133,p.05) at 15 years of age. A multi-group path analysis yielded no statistically significant racial/ethnic differences in the FBV and risk behaviors association(p>.05); however, differences emerged across covariates. Black boys had greater risks of early sexual activity than girls, and Black and Latino/Hispanic males had greater risks of marijuana use than White children.

Conclusion and Implications: Early experiences of bullying victimization are harmful and pose long-term risks for all youth, regardless of race/ethnicity. Moreover, youths intersecting identities also uniquely contribute to risk outcomes; therefore, culturally informed school violence prevention efforts are warranted. School social workers can be essential in the early assessment and identification to help youth most at-risk effectively deal with bullying and ensure healthy child development.