Prevalence of Witnessing Bias-Based Harassment Among Adolescents and Associations With Mental Health Outcomes

• In Event: Bias-Based Bullying Among Adolescents: Protective Factors and Bystander Interventions

Abstract

Purpose: This paper extends the body of literature by examining the relation between witnessing multiple forms of bias-based bullying (e.g., based on race, religion, immigration status, gender identity, and sexual orientation) and mental health among a nationally representative sample of adolescents. Further, we explore the extent to which support from peers, adults, and schools moderate these relations.

Perspectives/Theoretical Framework: The mental health effects of bullying victimization are well-documented, and those of bias-based bullying victimization are even more severe (Russell et al., 2012). However, less is known about the ways witnessing bias-based bullying affects mental health. The growing body of research on bias-based bullying indicates its negative impacts on mental health are not limited to those directly experiencing it. For example, research indicates that vicarious discrimination, particularly based on race, is associated with depression, loneliness, suicidal ideation, and alcohol use disorders (Priest et al., 2017; Zimmerman & Miller-Smith, 2022; Tao & Fisher, 2022). This study uses the theoretical framework provided by Hong and Espelage (2012), who suggest that factors at multiple levels of youths’ social ecology can influence their risk of exposure to bullying and harassment.

Methods: Participants were 639 adolescents (Mage = 15.23, 50.55% female, 3.76% nonbinary) from NORC’s AmeriSpeak Panel®, a probability-based panel designed to be representative of the U.S. household population (see Table 1 for further descriptives).

Measures included items asking teens how often they had heard negative remarks about each harassment form at school over the past 30 days. Three scales measuring anxiety, depression, and substance use were used to assess students’ well-being. Anxiety was assessed via the GAD-7 (Spitzer et al., 2007), depression via the PHQ-8 (Kroenke & Spitzer, 2002) and substance use via six items from the Problem Behavior Frequency Scale’s drug use subscale (Farrell et al., 2016).

For the protective factors, four dimensions were analyzed. The Student Support Scale was used to measure perceptions of support at school (Cornell et al., 2015). The 3-item Vaux Social Support Record assessed friend support (Vaux, 1988). Students were also asked whether they feel safe at school and if there was a bullying prevention program in place at their school.

Results: Regression analyses were used to determine the extent to which witnessing bias-based harassment predicted mental health (depression, anxiety) and substance use. In initial models, individual forms of witnessing bias-based harassment were used to predict the three dependent variables while controlling for demographics, and all individual forms were associated with mental health and substance use. This was also the case in later models where as the number of forms and exposures increased, depression, anxiety, and substance use did as well. Subsequent analyses will include support via friends, adults at school, and the school environment as protective factors.

Significance: Few works to date have specifically looked at the effects of seeing bias-based bullying as opposed to being the target. This study highlights the associations between witnessing bias-based harassment in schools and negative mental health outcomes, emphasizing the need for schools and communities to take further action.

Authors

• Olivia Wyatt, Boston University
  Presenting Author

• Christine Marsico, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Melissa K. Holt, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Qingyang Liu, University at Albany - SUNY
  Non-Presenting Author

• Gabriel Joey Merrin, University of Illinois
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jennifer Greif Green, Boston University
  Non-Presenting Author