Exposure to Multiple Forms of Bias Victimization on Youth and Young Adults: Relationships with Trauma Symptomatology and Social Support

Abstract

Research has documented that a significant portion of youth are exposed to bias victimization. However, less is known about whether experiencing certain types of bias victimization (e.g., sexual orientation bias) is more or less likely to be related to a more extensive bias victimization history (i.e., experiencing multiple types of bias victimization) and whether exposure to multiple types of bias victimization explains any relationships between specific types of bias victimization and negative outcomes. To address these gaps, the current study explores relationships between exposure to multiple types of biasmotivated victimization, trauma symptomatology and perceived social support. Participants were 854 youth and young adults (60.9% female) from three higher risk communities who completed a survey on personal experiences with bias-related victimization. The average age of participants was 16.6 years; 28.5% of the sample described themselves as Black or African American; 13.4% as Hispanic or Latino (any race); 45.3% as White, and 12.8% as another race. Sixty-nine percent of the sample described their sexual orientation as heterosexual; 8.9% as gay, lesbian, or homosexual; 12.5% as bisexual; and 9.5% as another sexual orientation. Sixty-three percent of participants reported at least one type of bias victimization in their lifetime, and more than one in three youth (38.7%) experienced two or more types of bias victimization in their lifetimes (18.1% two types, 12.1% three types, and 8.5% four or more types). Experiencing multiple types of bias victimization was related to higher trauma symptomatology and less perceived social support. Experiencing multiple types of bias victimization attenuated or eliminated the association between individual types of bias victimization and well-being. The findings contribute to a growing body of research demonstrating the damaging mental health effects of occupying multiple marginalized statuses, and points to the cumulation of bias victimization experiences as an important factor contributing to significant differences in well-being and support among youth and young adults.

Homophobic Verbal and Bullying Victimization: Overlap and Emotional Impact

“…Rates were three times higher among LGB students compared to the other two student groups for experiencing bullying victimization plus homophobic verbal victimization. This finding coincides with previous studies conducted in Spain and other countries, which have reported a higher "amount" of victimization among sexual minority youth (Garaigordobil & Larrain, 2020;Mitchell et al, 2020). This leads us to believe that aspects of homophobic bullying may be characterized as amplified patterns of bullying, as also suggested in previous research (e.g., Espelage & Swearer, 2008;Espelage et al, 2018), in which bullying and homophobic aggressive behaviors are mainly targeted toward LGB students, but also toward other non-heteronormative students (LGBTQ +) not assessed in this study.…”

“…On the other hand, poly-victimization-the experience of multiple kinds of victimization-has shown to have a significant effect on emotional impact; it is also related to trauma symptoms (Felix et al, 2009;Mitchell et al, 2020). However, the majority of poly-victimization studies either include other victimization types unrelated to bullying (e.g., Johns et al, 2021;Sterzing et al, 2019) or refer to general bullying (Espelage et al, 2016); they fail to cover homophobic and bullying victimization together.…”

Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Fear-Victimization Gap at School: An Examination of School Context and Trends Over Time

“…For instance, bullying victimization (i.e., physical, verbal, or relational peer aggression that is usually repeated and involves a power imbalance; Olweus, 1993), could lead to fear even if the incident is non-criminal. Similarly, hate speech-a heinous but often non-criminal act-could lead to fear and is disproportionately inflicted upon Black and Hispanic youth, as race and ethnicity are the most common statuses attacked by bias-based victimization (Mitchell et al, 2020). Furthermore, fear tends to be higher after biasrelated than non-biased victimization (McDevitt et al, 2001).…”

Hate crime and bias victimization of Latinx adults: Rates from a multisite community sample.

“…Largely absent from this work is a thorough investigation of the degree to which bias-based revictimization occurs as well as the degree to which bias victimization overlaps with other forms of victimization (e.g., nonbias physical assaults or sexual violence). Not until recently has work shown that these patterns of victimization exist within the context of bias victimization and that they have significant deleterious effects on trauma-related symptomatology (Mitchell et al, 2020). Given their growing presence in the U.S., it is important to expand this work on bias victimization to Latinxs.…”