Defense Date

6-22-2016

Graduation Date

Summer 1-1-2016

Availability

Worldwide Access

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

School Psychology

School

School of Education

Committee Chair

Laura Crothers

Committee Member

Ara Schmitt

Committee Member

James Schreiber

Committee Member

Jered Kolbert

Keywords

academic performance, achievement gap, bullying, gender differences, racial differences, TIMSS 2011

Abstract

Despite a significant amount of study and intervention, racial minority students continue to perform at a lower level than their White peers, while female students lag behind their male peers, in terms of math and science achievement. The consistency and resiliency of this achievement gap suggests that these patterns of performance may have become societal expectations. As minority and female students attempt to increase their level of math and science academic performance, and, therefore, violate societal expectations, they may experience a higher risk of another pervasive problem: peer bullying victimization. Previous research has demonstrated that academic success, stereotype violation, race, and gender have all been associated with the experience of bullying. Using the 2011 8th grade, United States sample of the Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS 2011), the current study attempts to determine if racial minority students report higher rates of bullying victimization than White students, and if female students report higher rates of bullying victimization than male students, after controlling for the effects of math and science ability, enjoyment, and confidence. Results indicate that female students do report significantly higher rates of victimization than their male peers, while Hispanic students report significantly higher rates of victimization than their White and Multi-Racial peers. However, while significant differences were shown to exist, those differences represented trivial effect sizes and, therefore, appear to have little noticeable impact on students’ bullying experiences. Results related to supplementary analyses, as well as limitations and implications for future research are also discussed.

Format

PDF

Language

English

Download

Share

COinS