Associations between ethnic aggression and the social-emotional development of adolescents

• In Event: 3-139 - Peer Ethnic Aggression and Victimization in Preadolescence and Adolescence

Integrative Statement

Background: According to Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development (1968), identity formation is one of the most important developmental tasks in adolescence. A specific status of the social-emotional development might be a risk or protective factor for ethnic-based peer victimization. On the side of the perpetrators, deficits in social skills might be a risk factor for ethnic aggression. Therefore, we wanted to (1) investigate level differences (comparison of means), (2) predict ethnic aggression and victimization from seven dimensions of social-emotional development (self-reflection, trust, optimism, empathy, assertiveness, action orientation, and emotion control) and (3) explore whether the associations differ for students with and without a migrant background. Hypotheses: We expected ethnic aggression to be predicted by lower self-reflection, optimism, empathy and emotion control and higher assertiveness and action orientation. We expected victimization to be predicted by lower trust, optimism, emotion control, assertiveness and action orientation and by higher self-reflection and empathy. Sample: 565 students from Grades 7 and 8 in ten schools of a large German city took part in the present cross-sectional study. Of these, 282 (51.4% girls, 47.2% boys, Mage = 13.22 years, SDage = 0.84 years, range: 11-16 years) answered questions regarding ethnic aggression and victimization (Strohmeier, 2016). 132 (46.8%) of the adolescents had a migrant background and 145 (51.4%) did not. Methodology: Ethnic aggression and victimization were each assessed through 20 behavior-based items asking about specific behaviors or experiences, respectively, based on four indicators of ethnicity (religion, country of origin, appearance, and language). Social-emotional development was measured using the Holistic Student Assessment (HSA; Noam, Malti & Guhn, 2012; Malti, Zuffiano & Noam, 2017), which focuses on the strengths of the individual students and thus on resilience and protective factors. Preliminary analyses consisted of comparison of means and multiple group path analyses for ethnic aggression and ethnic victimization. Clustering was taken into account through standard error correction. Age and gender were included as control variables. Results: Migrant students reported significantly more ethnic victimization and ethnic aggression than non-migrant students. A two-group path model seemed more adequate than a one-group model for predicting ethnic victimization and aggression based on AIC and BIC. For non-migrant students, ethnic victimization was predicted by lower levels of optimism, and ethnic aggression was predicted by lower levels of empathy and higher assertiveness. For migrant students ethnic victimization was predicted by male gender, lower levels of trust, assertiveness and emotion control. Ethnic aggression was predicted by male gender and lower levels of optimism, action orientation and emotion control. Implications: Social-emotional skills play a differential role in predicting ethnic aggression and victimization depending on who is being examined. The results indicate different vulnerabilities for different groups of students which need to be taken into account in prevention and intervention measures.

Authors

• Anja Schultze-Krumbholz, Institute of Education, Technische Universität Berlin
  Presenting Author

• Jan Pfetsch, Institute of Education, Technische Universität Berlin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Angela Ittel, Institute of Education, Technische Universität Berlin
  Non-Presenting Author

• Dagmar Strohmeier, School of Medical Engineering and Applied Social Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
  Non-Presenting Author

• Tina Malti, University of Toronto
  Non-Presenting Author

• Gil Noam, Harvard Medical School, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author