Civic Engagement in the Developmental Contexts of Youth Bullying and Discrimination: Taking Back their Power

• In Event: 2-004 - Insights into Civic Engagement From Multiple Data Sources

Abstract

Bullying is a pervasive phenomenon characterized by imbalanced social power structures that incentivize aggressive behaviors (Olweus, 1993; Volk, Dane, & Marini, 2014). Power, popularly conceptualized in terms of micro-level individual traits, is also a macro-level process in which group identity can be the subject of power imbalances (Brenick & Halgunseth, 2017). To this end, youth with marginalized identities are more likely to report being victimized (Berlan et al., 2010). However, youth are finding ways of taking back power via civic engagement in their schools and communities as a means of strengthening individual identities (Wilson, 2012) and advocating for their victimized social groups (Sanchez-Jankowski, 2002). Thus, while victimization is inherently harmful, some youth can restore their personal power in their search for positive development through such engagement. This study, situated within the Developmental Intergroup Framework (Killen, Mulvey, & Hitti, 2013) compares and contrasts experiences of bullying (where social identity is not necessarily salient) and experiences of discrimination (where social identity is explicitly salient) in youth, and explores whether differences in these experiences contribute to different civic engagement outcomes.

Analyses of archived datasets, particularly those including specific information about experiences with victimization, have potential to provide findings from highly-generalizable samples informing a yet-understudied link between bullying, victimization, and civic engagement. This study employs the 2013 School Crime Supplement (SCS) of the National Crime Victimization Survey (Sawyer, Bradshaw, & O’Brennan, 2008). The SCS asks questions spanning a variety of victimization experiences (physical, relational, and discriminatory, in a variety of locations). Preliminary results indicate that feelings of bullying and discrimination were prevalent: 14% of students reported being made fun of or insulted, 13% indicated they were the subject of hurtful rumors, 7% reported they had been called a derogatory name related to group affiliation, and 6% indicated they had been pushed, shoved, or spit on. Other types of relational, aggressive, and internet-based bullying occurred as often as once or twice each month (for 19% of bullied students). Some instances of relational and internet-based bullying were positively related to involvement in volunteerism and student government, while other bullying forms (being physically threatened or bullied in other online environments) were not. Being verbally bullied and being called a derogatory name based on minority group affiliation were positively related to volunteerism (but not student government participation), but were more pronounced for victims of some forms of discrimination (gender-based) than others (based on disability or sexual orientation).

Authors

• Jessica L Ross, University of Missouri, Kansas City
  Presenting Author

• Wen Wen Chong, University of Missouri, Kansas City

• Carolyn Elizabeth Barber, University of Missouri, Kansas City