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Bullied adolescents experience myriad poor outcomes, yet certain responses can have significant mitigatory effects. However, research has yet to examine how the racial context of these interactions affects adolescents' evaluations of and beliefs about responding to social-exclusionary bullying (SEB). The sample comprised 219 ninth-grade Black (

The present study draws on socio-cultural theories and socio-cognitive theories as guiding frameworks to examine responses to bias-based bullying among 481 middle school youth (49% female; 15% immigrant; 36% minoritized ethnicity). Based on student self-report data, we examined: (1) whether middle-schoolers response strategies' from the perspective of the victim being excluded or bullied varied across three hypothetical bias-based bullying scenarios based on participant's immigrant background and gender and by target victim's ethnic im/migrant background (e.g. Arab, Latinx, Black); and (2) whether youth disclosure of actual bullying experiences (i.e. to whom they disclosed their bullying experience) differed by their immigrant background and gender. Findings revealed that none of the immigrant girls reported that they would hit the excluder from the perspective of the Latina hypothetical victim compared to when the hypothetical victim was Black and Arab. In response to their actual experiences, immigrant girls were least likely to tell anyone (e.g. peer, teacher, or parent) if they were bullied at school. Results highlight the importance of fostering family and school administration awareness of bullying victimization and the creation of culturally sensitive school interventions and policies for reporting and preventing the bullying victimization of immigrant children, particularly for immigrant girls.

Increasingly, adolescents are growing up in multiethnic multicultural societies. While intergroup prejudice can threaten the multicultural societal cohesion, intergroup friendships are strong predictors of reduced prejudice. Thus, more research is needed to fully understand the development of intergroup friendships and their relations to less prejudicial attitudes. This study addressed two major developmental research questions: first, whether longitudinal patterns of intergroup friendships of native adolescents (i.e., whether or not a native German adolescent has a friendship with an immigrant at different points in time) relate to changes in rates of prejudice about immigrants. Second, whether these friendship patterns that unfold over time can be predicted by contact opportunities, attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control assessed at the beginning of the study. The sample included 372 native German adolescents (14.7years of age at first assessment, 62.3% girls) who showed one of four friendship trajectories over the three annual assessments: they either maintained, gained, never had, or lost a friendship with an outgroup peer. In particular, results showed that adolescents who gained an intergroup friendship over the three time points showed a significant decrease in negative prejudice over the study. All four theorized predictors contributed to explain friendship trajectory membership. Generally, adolescents with many opportunities for contact, positive attitudes about contact, perceived positive social norms for contact, and high levels of behavioral control (self-efficacy) were more likely to maintain a friendship with an outgroup member than to follow any of the three other friendship trajectories (gain, lost, or never had). The pattern of predictions differed, however, depending on the specific pairs of friendship trajectories compared.

Although recent research has demonstrated the benefits of multicultural experience for reducing personal levels of intergroup bias, the potential for an intergenerational effect has yet to be explo...

As texting continues to serve as an increasingly common method of communication among emerging adults, increases in rates of sexting, or sending sexually explicit messages, pictures, or videos, have also been observed. While consensual sexting can facilitate intimacy in relationships, when used as a tool to victimize others, it has been shown to yield a range of negative outcomes: from embarrassment to severe depression and suicide. This chapter aims to review the existing literature on emerging adults' engagement in and evaluations of sexting, while also considering the risks associated with sexting victimization. The role that individual characteristics, such as attachment style and rejection sensitivity as well as demographic characteristics such as gender, sexual orientation, and relationship status, play in the relation between experiences with and evaluations of using sexting as a tool for victimization will also be explored.

For Black women who have sex with women (BWSW), obtaining routine healthcare can be obstructed by a number of psychosocial barriers, including experiences of stigma, related to both sexual orientation and race, and medical mistrust, both race-based and global. Previous research demonstrates that sexual orientation and race-based stigma, as well as global and race-based medical mistrust, each have a negative impact on health outcomes and engagement in care (EIC) independently. This study addresses gaps in the literature by examining the impact of these psychosocial barriers and their interactions among BWSW, an understudied population.Participants (256 BWSW) were surveyed at a Black Gay Pride festival. Separate generalized linear models assessed the independent and multiplicative effects of participants' self-reported sexual orientation stigma, race-based stigma, race-based medical mistrust, and global medical mistrust related to their engagement in routine physical exams and blood pressure screenings.Prevalence rates of both stigma measures were low, but prevalence rates of global and race-based medical mistrust were high. The results show that experiencing sexual orientation stigma or having race-based medical mistrust predicts significantly lower EIC. Furthermore, the frequencies of obtaining recent physical examinations and blood pressure screenings were significantly related to three- and two-way interactions between stigma and medical mistrust, respectively.There is an urgent need to address the intersectionality of these psychosocial barriers in an effort to increase BWSW's EIC.

We examined the interplay between perceived ethnic discrimination (PED) as a risk factor, and cross-ethnic friendships as a protective factor in culturally diverse classrooms, and how they relate to the socioemotional adjustment of ethnic minority boys and girls. We conducted multi-level analyses of 327 Turkish-heritage ethnic minority early-adolescents in Germany (62 classrooms; M-age = 11.59 years, SDage = 0.76). Higher rates of PED were associated with more depressive symptoms and disruptive behaviors and lower general life satisfaction-though these effects differed by gender. Unexpectedly, cross-ethnic friendships with ethnic majority peers exacerbated the negative effects of PED on socioemotional adjustment. This effect was decreased, though, when adolescents perceived the classroom climate to be supportive of intergroup contact toward majority-minority cross-ethnic friendships. Supportive classroom climate also buffered the effects of PED for youth with minority cross-ethnic friends. Results indicate the need to differentiate types of cross-ethnic relationships and account for the intergroup climate.

We examined the interplay between perceived ethnic discrimination (PED) as a risk factor, and cross-ethnic friendships as a protective factor in culturally diverse classrooms, and how they relate to the socioemotional adjustment of ethnic minority boys and girls. We conducted multi-level analyses of 327 Turkish-heritage ethnic minority early-adolescents in Germany (62 classrooms; Mage = 11.59 years, SDage = 0.76). Higher rates of PED were associated with more depressive symptoms and disruptive behaviors and lower general life satisfaction—though these effects differed by gender. Unexpectedly, cross-ethnic friendships with ethnic majority peers exacerbated the negative effects of PED on socioemotional adjustment. This effect was decreased, though, when adolescents perceived the classroom climate to be supportive of intergroup contact toward majority-minority cross-ethnic friendships. Supportive classroom climate also buffered the effects of PED for youth with minority cross-ethnic friends. Results indicate the need to differentiate types of cross-ethnic relationships and account for the intergroup climate.

As texting continues to serve as an increasingly common method of communication among emerging adults, increases in rates of sexting, or sending sexually explicit messages, pictures, or videos, have also been observed. While consensual sexting can facilitate intimacy in relationships, when used as a tool to victimize others, it has been shown to yield a range of negative outcomes- from embarrassment to severe depression and suicide. This chapter aims to review the existing literature on emerging adults' engagement in and evaluations of sexting, while also considering the risks associated with sexting victimization. The role that individual characteristics, such as attachment style and rejection sensitivity, play in the relationship between experiences with and evaluations of using sexting as a tool for victimization will also be explored.

Cultural group identity and group norms are significantly related to social exclusion evaluations (Bennett, 2014). This study examined 241 Jewish-American mid (M = 14.18 years, SD = 0.42) to late (M = 17.21 years, SD = 0.43; MageTOTAL = 15.54 years, SD = 1.57) adolescents’ cultural identities and contextually salient perceived group norms in relation to their evaluations of Arab-American inclusion and exclusion across two contexts (peers vs. family at home). Results suggest that perceived group norms are related to the context in which they are applied: parents in the home and peers in the peer context. Peers remained a significant source of perceived group norms in the home context. Significant interactions emerged between perceived parent group norms and cultural identity. Findings highlight the need to address group-specific norms by context to ensure maximum effectiveness for intergroup interventions.

Over the past decades, the field of bullying research has seen dramatic growth, notably with the integration of the social-ecological approach to understanding bullying. Recently, researchers (Hymel et al., 2015; Hawley & Williford, 2015) have called for further extension of the field by incorporating constructs of group processes into our investigation of the social ecologies of bullying. This brief note details the critical connections between power, social identity, group norms, social and moral reasoning about discrimination and victimization, and experiences of, evaluations of, and responses to bullying. The authors highlight a parallel development in the bridging of developmental social-ecological and social psychological perspectives utilized in the field of social exclusion that provides a roadmap for extending the larger field of bullying research. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled [VSI: Bullying] IG000050.

Perceived discrimination is a substantial challenge for immigrant youths trying to adapt to a new home. The present study examined the independent and interactive relations between individual- and school-level variables in determining perceptions of discrimination in ethnic German migrant (Aussiedler) youths from the former Soviet Union. Six hundred forty-three Aussiedler adolescents (M = 15.7 years) from 28 schools across Germany self-reported their orientation toward ingroup relationships, perceived native segregation orientation, and perceived discrimination. Eight hundred fourteen native German adolescents from the same schools reported their negative attitudes about Aussiedler. Natives’ negative attitudes about Aussiedler aggregated by school were used as school-level predictor variable, together with the percentage of Aussiedler students per school. With all variables included in multilevel analyses, the individual-level associations were not significant, but both school-level associations and three cross-level interactions were significant. Aussiedler adolescents reported higher levels of discrimination in schools with higher percentages of Aussiedler students and in schools with more negative attitudes toward Aussiedler. The association between immigrant ingroup orientation and perceived discrimination was stronger in schools with fewer Aussiedler students. The association between perceived native segregation orientation and perceived discrimination was stronger in schools with more Aussiedler students and in schools with more negative attitudes about Aussiedler. The findings indicate the importance of the interaction between individual and contextual variables in understanding the ways in which adolescent immigrants come to perceive discrimination.

An empirical investigation was conducted of young Palestinian, Jordanian, Israeli-Palestinian, and Israeli-Jewish children’s (N = 433; M = 5.7 years of age) cultural stereotypes and their evaluations of peer intergroup exclusion based upon a number of different factors, including being from a different country and speaking a different language. Children in this study live in a geographical region that has a history of cultural and religious tension, violence, and extreme intergroup conflict. Our findings revealed that the negative consequences of living with intergroup tension are related to the use of stereotypes. At the same time, the results for moral judgments and evaluations about excluding peers provided positive results about the young children’s inclusive views regarding peer interactions.

This study examined adolescents’ attitudes about video games along with their self-reported play frequency. Ninth and eleventh grade students (N = 361), approximately evenly divided by grade and gender, were surveyed about whether video games have stereotypic images, involve harmful consequences or affect one’s attitudes, whether game playing should be regulated by parents or the government, and whether game playing is a personal choice. Adolescents who played video games frequently showed decreased concern about the effects that games with negatively stereotyped images may have on the players’ attitudes compared to adolescents who played games infrequently or not at all. With age, adolescents were more likely to view images as negative, but were also less likely to recognize stereotypic images of females as harmful and more likely to judge video-game playing as a personal choice. The paper discusses other findings in relation to research on adolescents’ social cognitive judgments.