Personal peer victimization and ethnic peer victimization: Findings on their co-occurrence, predictors, and outcomes from a latent profile analysis

Abstract

BackgroundFindings on whether immigrant students suffer from higher levels of peer victimization have been inconsistent, perhaps due to a blend of measures for personal and ethnic peer victimization. ObjectiveIn this study, we investigated personal and ethnic peer victimization using latent profile analyses. The profiles were related to various predictor and outcome variables. Participants and SettingThe sample consisted of N = 4367 German elementary school students attending grades 3 and 4. MethodsThe students responded to eight items addressing personal peer victimization and one item addressing ethnic peer victimization. ResultsThe findings indicated a three-profile solution. In Profile 1, students experienced a combination of personal and ethnic peer victimization; Profile 2 contained students without any victimization experiences; in Profile 3, students experienced personal peer victimization only. Relative to native German-speaking students, non-native German-speaking students had a higher chance to be classified in Profile 1 compared to Profiles 2 and 3. Both profiles of peer victimization (i.e., Profiles 1 and 3) were associated with negative outcomes including higher levels of different types of anxiety and depression, and lower levels of self-esteem and peer self-concept. ConclusionsStudent subgroups of different patterns of peer victimization were found, whereby ethnic peer victimization was blended with personal peer victimization in one subgroup, and personal peer victimization was experienced in a pure form in another subgroup. The two victimization subgroups did not differ with regard to outcomes, but were differentially predicted by students’ native language.