Defense Date

10-26-2018

Graduation Date

Fall 12-21-2018

Availability

Immediate Access

Submission Type

dissertation

Degree Name

PhD

Department

School Psychology

School

School of Education

Committee Chair

Laura M. Crothers

Committee Member

Ara J. Schmitt

Committee Member

James B. Schreiber

Committee Member

Laura J. Mahalingappa

Keywords

bullying, aggression, adolescents, ESL, ELL, schools, diversity

Abstract

Bullying is a serious phenomenon yielding significant consequences for youth who are victimized, often targeted due to their perceived level of difference from their peers. This “otherness” can often be amplified in minoritized populations, especially those which have multiple, cooccurring vulnerabilities to be targets of bullying. After a period of bullying rates decreasing in the US, special interest group inquiries found bullying rates to be on the rise again and reportedly motivated by ethnicity or race, immigrant status, and proficiency in the English language. The present research study aims to expand upon the existing pertinent literature base specific to the bullying experience of Linguistically Diverse Learners (LDL). This study investigated the impact of LDL status, sex, grade, and race on bullying victimization utilizing the 2015 and 2017 data from the national Youth Risk Behavior Survey. These increased bullying patterns were reflected in the results of the 2015 national YRBS data. Significant findings for the 2015 data included LDLs being over two times as likely to be victims of bullying compared to their non-LDL counterparts. Further, 2015 findings yielded male LDLs being 2.7 times more likely to be victims of bullying than their female LDL peers and non-LDL counterparts. Both models were accurate but had challenges with questionable overall fit and identification of outliers. No significant results were found in the 2017 data. Potential explanations for these differences in results as well as limitations of the current study and implications for future directions of research are also discussed.

Language

English

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