Developing the Youth Bias Victimization Questionnaire (Y-BVQ): Pilot Data from Youth in Boston, Philadelphia, and Rural Tennessee

• In Event: Measuring Hate Crime Victimization

Abstract

Youth bias victimization surveillance efforts have mostly relied on surveys about a particular type of bias victimization, such as LGBTQ experiences, or brief survey questions about crimes or experiences in school settings. There is a need for tools that measure youth bias victimization across a range of victimization types (conventional crime, bullying, assault and micro-aggressions) and target characteristics (e.g., race, ethnicity, skin color, family immigrant status, sexual or gender identity, and disability). This presentation provides information on the development of the Youth Bias Victimization Questionnaire (YBVQ). Mixed-method findings from the study include qualitative data from focus groups (n=60) and preliminary pilot survey data from youth ages 10-21 at three sites: Boston, Philadelphia, and rural Tennessee (n = 500). The presentation will focus on how researchers met challenges in measuring bias victimization such as: 1) defining bias crime and victimization; 2) structuring questions so that they can map onto traditional hate crime definitions as well as capture a range of broader victimization experiences; and 3) collecting incident-level details to understand situational dynamics in the victimizations. Pilot data will provide preliminary findings on victimization experiences and associated risks for our sample of youth.

Authors

• Lisa Jones, University of New Hampshire

• Heather Turner, University of New Hampshire

• Kimberly Mitchell, University of New Hampshire

• Sherry Hamby, Life Paths Appalachian Research Center

• Carlos Cuevas, Northeastern University

• Amy Farrell, Northeastern University

• Brian Daly, Drexel University