Why and When is Ethnic Harassment a Risk for Immigrant Adolescents’ School Adjustment? Understanding the Processes and Conditions

Abstract

Ethnically harassed immigrant youth are at risk for experiencing a wide range of school adjustment problems. However, it is still unclear why and under what conditions experiencing ethnic harassment leads to school adjustment difficulties. To address this limitation in the literature, we examined two important questions. First, we investigated whether self-esteem and/or depressive symptoms would mediate the associations between ethnic harassment and poor school adjustment among immigrant youth. Second, we examined whether immigrant youths' perception of school context would play a buffering role in the pathways between ethnic harassment and school adjustment difficulties. The sample (n = 330; M age = 14.07, SD = .90; 49% girls at T1) was drawn from a longitudinal study in Sweden. The results revealed that experiencing ethnic harassment led to a decrease in immigrant youths' self-esteem over time, and that youths' expectations of academic failure increased. Further, youths' relationships with their teachers and their perceptions of school democracy moderated the mediation processes. Specifically, when youth had poor relationships with their teachers or perceived their school context as less democratic, being exposed to ethnic harassment led to a decrease in their self-esteem. In turn, they reported low school satisfaction and perceived themselves as being unsuccessful in school. Such indirect effects were not observed when youth had high positive relationships with their teachers or perceived their school as offering a democratic environment. These findings highlight the importance of understanding underlying processes and conditions in the examination of the effects of ethnic devaluation experiences in order to reach a more comprehensive understanding of immigrant youths' school adjustment.

Processes and conditions underlying the link between shyness and school adjustment among Turkish children

“…As clearly shown in the literature, shy children tend to suffer from psychological difficulties, including depressive symptoms (Gullone et al, 2006;Liu et al, 2014). Perhaps due to these factors, depressed children and adolescents were found to have low school motivation, high failure anticipation and intention to quit school (Bayram € Ozdemir & Stattin, 2014;Garvik, Idsoe, & Bru, 2014), and display learning problems and poor school performance (Chen & Li, 2000). Perhaps due to these factors, depressed children and adolescents were found to have low school motivation, high failure anticipation and intention to quit school (Bayram € Ozdemir & Stattin, 2014;Garvik, Idsoe, & Bru, 2014), and display learning problems and poor school performance (Chen & Li, 2000).…”

Schools as Acculturative and Developmental Contexts for Youth of Immigrant and Refugee Background

“…On the other hand, supportive relationships with both teachers and peers can protect against the negative effects of ethnic harassment (Bayram Özdemir & Stattin, 2014) and buffer against general feelings of exclusion (Suárez-Orozco et al, 2009). Positive teacher-student relationships have been linked to outcomes including higher self-esteem (Agirdag, van Houtte, & van Avermaet, 2012), more positive attitudes toward the majority group (Thijs & Verkuyten, 2012), higher mastery goal orientations (Thijs & Fleischmann, 2015), and fewer problems with school personnel (Garcia-Reid, Peterson, & Reid, 2015) among immigrant-background students.…”

Contextual Conditions for Acculturation and Adjustment of Adolescent Immigrants – Integrating Theory and Findings

“…Such a climate seems to be particularly important for immigrant students, who have to cross cultural and linguistic boundaries and often have to face stereotypes, prejudices, and discrimination (Haenni Hoti et al, 2013;Thapa et al, 2013). A school climate characterized by fairness and justice can buffer effects of perceived discrimination and victimization on school adjustment of immigrant students (Bayram Özdemir & Stattin, 2013;Morin, Maïano, Marsh, Nagengast, & Janosz, 2013). Perceived inequality and exclusion at school can have very negative consequences for school adjustment of immigrant or ethnic minority students (Eccles & Roeser, 2011;Horenczyk & Tatar, 2012) such as a decline in academic self-concept, an increase of psychological problems (Bayram Özdemir & Stattin, 2013;Wong et al, 2003), and an increase in delinquent behaviour (Park, Schwartz, Lee, Kim, & Rodriguez, 2013).…”