Bias-based Bullying Research Articles

Beyond smoking: The role of stigma in asthma rates among youth.

This study aimed to examine asthma disparities at the intersection of four sociodemographic characteristics, inhaled substance use, and bias-based bullying as metrics of stigma. We hypothesized that high prevalence groups for asthma would be those with marginalized social positions and those reporting bullying experiences, independent of inhaled substance use. The analytic sample (N = 90,367) included eighth, ninth, and 11th grade students who participated in the 2022 Minnesota Student Survey. Exhaustive Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detection tested all combinations of sociodemographic characteristics (gender identity, sexual orientation, racial/ethnic identity, and access to resources), inhaled substance use (none vs. any), and bias-based bullying about sexuality, gender identity/expression, racial identity, and weight/size to predict mutually exclusive groups of youth based on self-reported asthma diagnosis. Approximately 15% of the sample reported asthma. Sexually, gender, and racially/ethnically diverse youth reported higher rates of asthma relative to their heterosexual, cisgender, and White counterparts. High prevalence groups for asthma (rates between 24% and 41%) were characterized by having multiple marginalized identities, experiencing bias-based bullying, and engaging in inhaled substance use. Three of the 10 intersectional groups with a high prevalence of asthma were not inhaled substance users. These findings suggest that stigma may help explain the asthma disparities among marginalized youth. Efforts to reduce asthma disparities in marginalized youth should move beyond pathologizing the individual through overfocusing on health behaviors and attend to root causes, like experiences of stigma. Future studies should examine systemic inflammation as the potential connection between stigma and asthma. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Teachers need socio-moral competencies to successfully address bias-based bullying: The case for promoting professional ethos

Teachers need socio-moral competencies to successfully address bias-based bullying: The case for promoting professional ethos

Mental Health and Bias-Based Bullying and Cyberbullying Victimization Among Young Adults with Intersectional Identities

Mental Health and Bias-Based Bullying and Cyberbullying Victimization Among Young Adults with Intersectional Identities

Barriers to Participation in Organized Physical Activity Among LGBTQ+ Youth: Differences by Sexual, Gender, and Racial Identities.

LGBTQ+ youth engage in organized physical activity to a lesser degree than their cisgender and heterosexual counterparts. Existing literature on this organized physical activity disparity is limited, particularly with LGBTQ+ youth samples. The current analysis examined individual and systemic barriers to organized physical activity for LGBTQ+ youth across sexual, gender, and racial identities. A subsample of LGBTQ+ students (N = 4566) from the 2021 Dane County Youth Assessment completed items that measured barriers to organized physical activity and systemic factors (ie,family money problems and bias-based bullying) associated with access to organized physical activity. Latent class analysis discerned patterns of individual and systemic barriers to organized physical activity. Latent class regression modeling tested gender, sexual, and racial identities as correlates of latent class membership. More than half of the sample did not participate in organized physical activity. Four profiles of LGBTQ+ youth were discerned based on self-reported barriers: high barrier (8%), bullied (16%), low interest or perceived skills (28%), and low barrier (48%). The low-barrier class included a greater proportion of LGBTQ+ youth who identified as White, or cisgender, or heterosexual as well as youth self-reporting higher organized physical activity. The high-barrier and bullied classes comprised more marginalized gender and sexual identities. LGBTQ+ youth experience individual and systemic barriers to organized physical activity, including inequitable access and bullying, and barriers are uniquely experienced across sexual, gender, and racial identities. Physical activity promotion among LGBTQ+ youth would be strengthened by policies that address inequitable access to opportunities and bias-based bullying.

The benefits of common inclusive identities for adolescent bystanders’ intentions to help homophobic bullying victims

Bystanders’ helping behaviors are essential to mitigate bullying and its consequences, although bystanders do not always intervene on behalf of those who are victimized. One study (N = 170) tested, experimentally, the impact of different forms of common identities (one-group and dual-identity vs. control) on youth (aged between 12 and 19 years) bystanders’ helping behavioral intentions in the context of a common form of bias-based bullying (i.e., homophobic bullying). Results showed that dual-identity triggered more behavioral intentions to help victims of homophobic bullying. Overall, these findings extended previous studies illustrating the potential of common identities to foster bystanders’ helping responses to homophobic bullying episodes in the school context.

Stigma and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (and additional identities) (LGBTQ+) parent socialization self-efficacy: Mediating roles of identity and community.

In the United States, cultural forces have led to the stigmatization of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (and additional identities) (LGBTQ+) parenthood. However, pushing back against this stigmatization, developing a positive LGBTQ+ identity, and investing in one's LGBTQ+ community may inform empowering narratives of future parenthood and related constructs, such as LGBTQ+ parent socialization. Perceived self-efficacy related to preparation for bias (i.e., discussions of discrimination, prejudice, or bias-based bullying) socialization is likely associated with an individual's own perceptions or experiences of stigmatization given the conceptual overlap of bias and stigma. However, other constructs related to stigmatization and socialization self-efficacy, such as positive LGBTQ+ identity or community connectedness, have yet to be simultaneously considered (to our knowledge). Further, previous research has rarely included different assessments of stigma (i.e., perceived and enacted) and/or dimensions of positive LGBTQ+ identity (i.e., authenticity and self-awareness). Thus, this study aimed to rectify these gaps and provide a greater understanding of sexual stigma and LGBTQ+ parent socialization self-efficacy. Using data from a survey-based, online, cross-sectional study of LGBTQ+ childfree adults (N = 433; Mage = 29.85 years old) in the United States, we found that experiences of enacted or perceived sexual stigma were differentially associated with LGBTQ+ parent socialization preparation for bias self-efficacy. Further, positive LGBTQ+ identity authenticity and self-awareness, as well as LGBTQ+ community connectedness played distinct roles as mediators of the relationships between sexual stigma and LGBTQ+ parent socialization self-efficacy. These findings have implications for how we might understand the role of stigma, identity, community, and socialization among future LGBTQ+ parents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Bias-Based Bullying Among Sexual and Gender Minority Youth Living With Disabilities

Both sexual and gender minority youth (SGMY) and youth living with disabilities are disproportionately impacted by bias-based bullying in school settings. While research has separately examined how sexual and gender minority status and disability status are associated with experiences of bullying, very little research has explored the experiences of youth living with these identities simultaneously. This study examined to what extent SGMY report differential experiences of bias-based bullying depending on various identities and the type of disability an individual reports. Utilizing a diverse sample of SGMY aged 13–17 (N= 2,239), multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to test whether there were differences in the likelihood of being bullied for having specific identities, based on disability type, among SGMY. Results indicated a variety of differences in bullying based on gender expression, gender identity, sexual orientation, sexual and gender minority identity, and disability. Participants who reported having a mental disability were more likely to experience multiple forms of bias-based bullying surrounding their gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, sexual and gender minority status, and disability type when compared with other gender minority youth with disabilities. These findings may help to inform supportive services in school settings.

Pedagogy of discomfort to prevent and intervene against bias-based bullying

In this article, we will present bias-based bullying episodes shared by Norwegian teachers and preservice teachers when talking about the concept of “discomfort”. We also investigate how “discomfort” and “pedagogy of discomfort” as a tool are reflected in teachers’ and preservice teachers’ prevention and intervention of bias-based bullying episodes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted among seven preservice teachers in their last year of teacher education and seven teachers, with 7–24 years of experience, working in Norwegian schools. Our main findings indicate that the pedagogy of discomfort might be a useful tool to prevent and intervene against bias-based bullying by using the feeling of discomfort that bias-based bullying creates in a constructive way. However, while the preservice teachers are inspired by theories of discomfort and social justice education and are motivated to try those theories out in practice, the teachers are not so familiar with these theories and tend to manage discomfort by avoiding them. By getting more familiar with the pedagogy of discomfort, teachers may improve the classroom atmosphere and make it easier to explore difficult topics in a way that creates room for differences and inclusion, strengthens students’ and teachers’ ability to engage in critical thinking, and thus lowers the risk of bias-based bullying.

Firearm Access and Socio-Structural Factors Related to Suicidality Among Youth With Diverse Sexual, Gender, and Racial Identities

Objective Elevated rates of suicidal ideation (SI) and suicide attempts (SA) among youth, particularly multiply marginalized youth, are occurring in the context of youths’ access to household firearms. Research examining how perceived access to firearms is related to SI and SA among youth with marginalized identities is limited and often neglects to consider intersectionality. This study explored how intersecting social identities and positions, access to firearms, and socio-structural factors were associated with SI and SA for youth. Method The analytic sample (N = 17,794) included 7-12th grade students who participated in the 2021 Dane County Youth Assessment. Exhaustive CHAID – a decision tree matrix approach – examined all possible combinations of self-reported sociodemographic characteristics (gender identity, sexual identity, racial identity, grade, and firearm access) and socio-structural variables (bias-based bullying, school belongingness, and social pressure) to predict mutually exclusive groups of youth based on past-year SI and SA. Results SI and SA was most prevalent among intersectional groups with multiply marginalized identities and access to firearms. Socio-structural factors, including bias-based bullying victimization, lack of school belongingness, and social pressure, were characteristic of groups with higher prevalence of SI and SA. Conclusions While the marginalized youth in this sample have lower access to firearms, the prevalence of SI and SA was highest among multiply marginalized youth who reported access to firearms in the context of bias-based bullying, social pressure, and a lack of school belongingness. Youth suicide prevention efforts would be strengthened by policies that address firearm access and improve the school environment.

Encouraging Positive Bystander Responses to Bias-Based Bullying in Primary Schools Through a Serious Game Approach: A Non-Randomized Controlled Evaluation of the ‘GATE-BULL’ Program

AbstractBias-based bullying is a serious public health issue, negatively impacting on the well-being of children with socially devalued identities or attributes. The aim of the GATE-BULL project was to develop and evaluate a serious game supplemented by a series of classroom-based lesson plans to encourage positive bystander responses in weight-, ethnicity-, and religion-based bullying situations. The program was a 4-week school-based intervention targeted at 9–13-year-olds and tested using a quasi-experimental design. In total, 578 children from the Netherlands, Scotland and Greece were included in the analyses. The evaluation suggested that the GATE-BULL program improved the intention to intervene in weight-based bullying situations in Scotland and marginally contributes to a reduction in intergroup anxiety among majority group children with respect to Muslim children in the Netherlands. No positive effects were found in Greece. While the program showed limited evidence of effectiveness, several important lessons have been learned for future development of interventions targeting bias-based bullying.

Emotional Distress Disparities Across Multiple Intersecting Social Positions: The Role of Bias-Based Bullying.

To apply an intersectional lens to disparities in emotional distress among youth, including multiple social positions and experiences with bias-based bullying. Data are from the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey (n = 80 456). Social positions (race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender) and 2 forms of bias-based bullying (racist, homophobic or transphobic) were entered into decision tree models for depression, anxiety, self-injury, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts. Groups with the highest prevalence are described. Rates of emotional distress among youth with matching social positions but no bias-based bullying are described for comparison. LGBQ identities (90%) and transgender, gender diverse, and questioning identities (54%) were common among the highest-prevalence groups for emotional distress, often concurrently; racial and ethnic identities rarely emerged. Bias-based bullying characterized 82% of the highest-prevalence groups. In comparable groups without bias-based bullying, emotional distress rates were 20% to 60% lower (average 38.8%). Findings highlight bias-based bullying as an important point for the intervention and mitigation of mental health disparities, particularly among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender-diverse, queer, and questioning adolescents. Results point to the importance of addressing bias-based bullying in schools and supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, gender-diverse, queer, and questioning students at the systemic level as a way of preventing emotional distress.

School Leaders and Transphobia: Direct, Facilitative, Accommodative, and Resistant Forms of Gender-Based Bias and Bullying

Purpose: If PK12 administrators aspire to interrupt bias-based bullying, they need to understand their role in perpetuating structural and social inequality. The purpose of this study was to examine administrators’: 1) awareness of gender-based bullying, 2) initial intentions to address bullying, and 3) actions that interrupted or perpetuated gender-based bullying. Methods: This qualitative study used a purposeful sample U.S. court cases and 36 interviews with administrators and policy consultants to explore PK12 leaders’ understanding of gender-based bullying and actions to disrupt bullying. Findings: Our findings provide a more expansive definition of administrative bullying and brings attention to the personal complicity of educational leaders in perpetuating gender-based bullying. Administrators in this study modeled support for bullying through each of these four types of bullying – by direct action, facilitated support, accommodating external stakeholders, and resisting efforts to educate themselves or others on issues related to gender-based bullying. All of these approaches allow bias and bullying to continue. The study also reveals how some leaders interrupt bullying by collaborating with students, parents, and community-based organizations. Implications: Policymakers, leadership preparation instructors, and PK12 administrators may be interested in how administrative behaviors perpetuate gender-based bullying. A lack of knowledge about leaders’ personal complicity in bullying and about gender-diversity fundamentally interrupts two of the main roles of PK-12 leaders: implementing policies and leading instructional practices. The results of the study suggest the need for additional policies, procedures, and training to support leaders committed to interrupting gender-based bullying.

Trends in Bias-Based Bullying from 2015 to 2019 and the Associations Among Bias-Based Bullying, School Avoidance, and Supportive Adults at School

ABSTRACT This study examines the prevalence of bias-based bullying and the associations among bias-based bullying, negative effects, school avoidance, and supportive adults. Frequency analysis and moderated mediation analysis were conducted using a national sample of adolescents aged 12 to 18 in the U.S. from the 2015, 2017, and 2019 National Crime Victimization Survey School Crime Supplement. Among the adolescents who were bullied between 2015 and 2019 (N = 629 in 2015, N = 1,179 in 2017, and N = 1,197 in 2019), 40.3% − 45.0% of them thought that bullying was related to their race, religion, ethnic origin, disability, gender, sexual orientation, or physical appearance. Among the adolescents who were bullied, the most frequently perceived reason was physical appearance (28.1% − 30.8%), followed by race (10.2% − 11.8%). The presence of supportive adults at school significantly moderates the mediational pathway between experiencing multiple forms of bias-based bullying and school avoidance through the negative effects of bullying.

Application of an intersectional lens to bias-based bullying among LGBTQ+ youth of color in the United States.

Bias-based bullying influences health, academic success, and social wellbeing. However, little quantitative work takes an intersectional perspective to understand bias-based bullying among youth with marginalized social positions, which is critical to prevention. This paper describes the application of exhaustive chi-square automatic interaction detection (CHAID) to understand how prevalence of race-, gender-, and sexual orientation-based bullying varies for youth with different intersecting social positions. We used two datasets - the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey (MSS; N=80,456) and the 2017-2019 California Healthy Kids Survey (CHKS; N=512,067). Students self-reported sex assigned at birth, sexual orientation, gender identity, race/ethnicity, and presence of any race-, gender-, and sexual orientation-based bullying (MSS: past 30 days, CHKS: past 12 months). Exhaustive CHAID with a Bonferroni correction, a recommended approach for large, quantitative intersectionality research, was used for analyses. Exhaustive CHAID analyses identified a number of nodes of intersecting social positions with particularly high prevalences of bias-based bullying. Across both datasets, with varying timeframes and question wording, and all three forms of bias-based bullying, youth who identified as transgender, gender diverse, or were questioning their gender and also held other marginalized social positions were frequent targets of all forms of bias-based bullying. More work is needed to understand how systems of oppression work together to influence school-based bullying experiences. Effective prevention programs to improve the health of youth with marginalized social positions must acknowledge the complex and overlapping ways bias and stigma interact.

Bias-Based Bullying and Elevated Depressive Symptoms Among Sexual and Gender–Diverse Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Adolescents

This cross-sectional study analyzes data from 2 statewide school surveys to document the experiences of sexual and gender minoritized Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander students in grades 9 through 12 who reported bullying related to their identity.

Disaggregating Racial and Ethnic Data to Examine Intersectional Identities, Bias-Based Bullying, and Mental Health

Disaggregating Racial and Ethnic Data to Examine Intersectional Identities, Bias-Based Bullying, and Mental Health

At Risk? A Critical Reflection on Youth that Identify as Furries in South Africa

Youth is a broad developmental age-range, marked by contextual and behavioural risk factors. Marginalised youth cohorts may be additionally at risk. International studies indicate that “furries,” briefly defined by their interest in anthropomorphic animals, may be one such cohort. However, little is currently known about furries in the South African context. Using the social identity approach as a theoretical underpinning, this article draws on research that formed part of a broader master’s dissertation mixed-methods study. Firstly, using quantitative analysis, this article presents the demographic prototype of furries collected from 98 furries by means of the “ZA Fuzzbutts SFW” group chat on Telegram and the “ZA Furries” online forum. This demographic profile provides the first empirical data to map a prototypical profile of the South African furry. Secondly, the article uses qualitative data to explore the risks of bullying and discrimination that this predominately youth cohort is subjected to, with specific focus on the occurrence of bias-based bullying. The study found that the prototypical South African furry is a 25-year-old white, non-heterosexual male who has completed high school, has at least some tertiary education, and is employed. Furries in South Africa also appeared to be bullied more in high school than their peers. While evidence showed that discrimination against furries exists in South Africa, it did not appear to be a primary factor in bullying.

Protective factors associated with reduced substance use and depression among gender minority teens

Gender minority (GM) students are at high risk for substance use and depression. This study explores the role of protective factors in reducing rates of substance use and depression based on high school surveys. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to evaluate the association between exposures and outcomes. Youth completed surveys in 2018 (n = 16,288) and in 2021 (n = 10,792). GM students reported exposure to protective factors less frequently than their cisgender peers: good financial status (88.6% vs. 96.5% in 2018 and 95% vs. 97.8% in 2021), feeling a sense of school/community membership, (mean score 2.7 vs. 3.0 in 2018 and 2.6 vs. 3.0 in 2021) or having two or more caring adults in their life (61.5% vs. 79.7% in 2018 and 64.2% vs. 80.6% in 2021). GM youth experienced risk factors more often than their peers including bias-based bullying (mean score: 0.6 vs. 0.2 in 2018, 0.5 vs. 0.2 in 2021); peer victimization (0.5 vs. 0.2 in 2018, 0.3 vs. 0.1 in 2021), and homelessness/foster care exposure (32.8% vs. 10.8% in 2018 and 15.8% vs. 6.6% in 2021). Several factors mitigated depression and substance use among GM students. GM youth experienced these protective factors less frequently than their peers.

Exploring Bias-Based Bullying and Intersecting Social Positions as Correlates of Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Adolescents.

Purpose: The current study extends the limited body of intersectional research on adolescents' sexual health by examining experiences of bias-based bullying and multiple intersecting social positions associated with engagement in sexual risk behaviors. Methods: Participants were 14,968 sexually active 9th and 11th grade students surveyed as part of the 2019 Minnesota Student Survey (15% lesbian/gay/bisexual/queer/pansexual/questioning [LGBQ] and/or transgender/gender diverse [TGD] or gender questioning). Exhaustive Chi-square Automatic Interaction Detection analysis was used to identify experiences (i.e., bias-based bullying victimization) and intersecting social positions (i.e., sexual orientation identity; gender identity/modality; race/ethnicity; physical disabilities/chronic illness; mental health/behavioral/emotional problems) associated with the highest prevalence of three sexual risk behaviors. Results: Overall, 18% of adolescents reported 3+ sex partners in the last year, 14% reported drug/alcohol use before last sex, and 36% reported not discussing protection from sexually transmitted infections with new sexual partners. Adolescents with 2+ marginalized social positions, some of whom also experienced bias-based bullying, were part of 53% of the highest prevalence risk groups. For example, 42% of Multiracial or Latina/x/o gender questioning adolescents who identified as LGBQ reported 3+ sex partners in the last year-twice the sample average. Adolescents who were Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Latina/x/o, Multiracial, TGD, or gender questioning were in the highest prevalence nodes across all outcomes. Conclusion: Adolescents with multiple marginalized social positions and who experience bias-based bullying engage in high-risk sexual behaviors at higher-than-average rates. Findings underscore the importance of addressing intersecting experiences of stigma to reduce high-risk sex behaviors and promote health equity among adolescents.

Examination of the "model minority" stereotype through ethnicity and sexual orientation heterogeneity among Asian American youth.

The "model minority" stereotype disguises heterogeneity among Asian American youth, many of whom are harmed by policies and attitudes that assume this population to be uniformly high achieving and "problem free." The current study uses an intersectional lens to disaggregate this population by ethnicity and sexual orientation subgroups to demonstrate differences in academic performance and substance use behavior among Asian American youth. This study also investigates the extent to which racial/ethnicity and sexual orientation-based bullying may explain such links. Participants included 65,091 Asian American youth (46.41% Southeast Asian; 37.01% East Asian; 16.58% South Asian) in grades 6-12, who were part of the California Healthy Kids Survey (2015-2017). Participants were 49.4% female and about a third each were in grades 6-8, grades 9-10, and grades 11-12. School-based surveys were administered. Youth reported on substance use, grades, and bias-based bullying experiences in the past 12 months. Generalized linear mixed-effects model results showed that outcomes varied widely across youth ethnicity and sexual orientation subgroups. Inclusion of racial/ethnic and sexual orientation bullying in these models attenuated the direct effects between ethnic and sexual identities and academic performance and substance use outcomes. Implications of this work suggest that research and policy should not treat Asian American students as uniformly high-performing and low-risk, because the experiences of those who deviate from these assumptions will be left undetected. Interventions targeting bias-based bullying may be able to reduce disparities in academic and substance use outcomes among Asian American youth.