Risks of Non-Familial Violent Physical and Emotional Victimization in Four Asian Ethnic Groups

Abstract

There is a paucity of research addressing victimization among Asian and Southeast Asian youth. A community-based sample of 329 Chinese, Cambodian, Lao/Mien, and Vietnamese youth were interviewed in a face-to-face format. Non-familial physical and emotional victimization were explored in relation to risk factors. Results revealed that reporting of violent physical victimization was generally greater among males than females, and greater among females than males for emotional victimization. Southeast Asian youth were more likely to experience victimization than Chinese youth. Violent offending, drug use, and delinquent peer affiliation significantly increased the odds of physical victimization, whereas more distal influences such as neighborhood exerted less influence. For emotional victimization, self-esteem and dating abuse was most salient. Study highlighted the need to consider victimization disaggregated by ethnicities as well as cultural factors that have thus far been eclipsed in most empirical studies of youth victimization.