Abstract
Bullying constitutes a serious risk factor for the psychosocial adjustment of young people in both the general population and minority groups. Among minorities, international adoptees are likely to show a specific vulnerability to the experience of being bullied, moderated by specific risk and protective factors. This study aimed to investigate the association between adoptees’ experience of bullying victimization and their psychosocial adjustment, and to explore the moderating role of adoptive identity and reflected minority categorization. An online, anonymous self-report questionnaire was completed by 140 adolescents (13–17 years), who were internationally adopted by Italian families. Findings showed that being victimized was associated with higher levels of emotional and behavioral difficulties, but that the strength of this relation varied according to the levels of adoptive identity and reflected minority categorization. Specifically, victimization was found to have a more detrimental and negative impact on psychological adjustment for adoptees who were highly identified with the adoptive group, and reported to be less perceived by others as members of the minority group. Results are discussed in relation to recommendations for further research as well as for professionals working with internationally adopted adolescents.
Highlights
Bullying constitutes a serious type of peer victimization and is a risk factor for the psychosocial adjustment of both perpetrators and victims [1,2]
The current study investigated the relation between international adoptees’ experience of victimization and emotional and behavioral difficulties, as well as tested the moderating role of adoptive identity and reflected minority categorization
Our results further extend this association to the unique minority group represented by international adoptees
Summary
Bullying constitutes a serious type of peer victimization and is a risk factor for the psychosocial adjustment of both perpetrators and victims [1,2]. During the past two decades, there has been an increasing corpus of studies focused on the individual and the background characteristics of youth to identify the risk factors that may be precursors to either bullying or victimization. The number of studies about bullying is high, and a lot of knowledge has already been gathered, many aspects of bullying need to be further investigated, especially when considering bullying targeted at minority groups [3], who may be at an increased risk of victimization, and who may have limited resources to cope with these events.
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