Jaana Juvonen - US grants

The purpose of this research is to examine peer victimization during the middle school years. Victimization is defined as the kind of bullying, terrorizing, or intimidation of targeted students that takes place in and around school where adult supervision is minimal. A longitudinal study is proposed that follows approximately 2000 6th graders as they enter one of nine middle schools in metropolitan Los Angeles. The schools will be selected to vary according to ethnic composition, but to be similar in terms of socioeconomic class of students, size, and overall achievement level. Data will be gathered twice yearly over the three middle school years on students' experiences with victimization, the perceived causes of such harassment, and indicators of psychological, social, and school adjustment. Statistical analyses will investigate change in all of these variables over time. The specific aims of the project are to : (1) examine the individual and contextual antecedents of victimization that are particularly salient during early adolescence such as ethnicity, pubertal timing, and one's position in the peer group; (2) investigate the consequences of victimization, including subjective well-being, rejection by peers, and school performance and attitudes; (3) test a model of the relations between victimization and adjustment that views self-blaming attributions as a key variables; and (4) explore the adjustment patterns of subtypes of victimized young adolescents who may be most at risk for psychological, social, and school dysfunction.

Findings of the project will provide new insights into the dynamics of peer victimization and advance the field in several ways. First, the focus on early adolescence and the transition to middle school calls attention to the key developmental milestones of this age period, such as the onset of puberty, increasing salience of ethnic identity, and heightened concern about peer approval, that may have important implications for how one copes with victimization. Second, the concern with models that view antecedents and consequences of victimization as sets of interrelated variables provides a useful conceptual framework for organizing the growing literature on peer harassment. And thirdly, by examining growth and change in a longitudinal design, the study can shed light on the stability of victimization as well as both continuous and discontinous pathways to successful adaptation during the critical middle school years.

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).

The purpose of this research is to test a set of interrelated hypotheses about the psychosocial benefits of racial/ethnic diversity in urban middle schools. It is hypothesized that greater diversity can benefit students' mental health, intergroup attitudes, and school adaptation via three mediating mechanisms: (1) decreases in perceived vulnerability; (2) the formation and maintenance of cross-ethnic friendships; and (3) the development of complex social identities. These mediating mechanisms are examined in Aims 1-3. In Aim 4, the moderating influence of school structural characteristics, such as academic tracking, that may limit the mixing opportunities of students are explored. The hypotheses outlined in the four aims will be examined in a 3-year longitudinal study of approximately 3500 6th grade students as they enter one of 14 urban middle schools in southern California. The large sample will be ethnically diverse, comprised of Latino, African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, White, and multi-ethnic students. The 14 middle schools that these students attend will be carefully selected to vary in racial/ethnic composition and level of diversity. Data on students' perceived vulnerability, cross-ethnic friendships, and social identities as well as the outcomes of mental health, intergroup attitudes, and school adaptation will be gathered in fall and spring of 6th grade and in spring of 7th and 8th grade, for a total of four waves of data. Structural equation modeling and multilevel modeling will be used to track growth and change in these interrelated variables over time. By studying pathways to successful adaptation, the overarching goal of the research is to examine the conditions under which greater school ethnic diversity can buffer many of the normative challenges of early adolescence.

The research has the potential to be significant in three ways. First, the research can offer transformative ways to think about the meaning and measurement of racial/ethnic diversity. The emerging view of racial/ethnic diversity as a dynamic, multi-dimensional construct can be useful for research in other social settings -- including the neighborhood or workplace -- where the implications of increasing ethnic diversity are a primary concern. Second, the project has the potential to contribute new knowledge about the psychosocial challenges of normative development during early adolescence by focusing on the ways in which ethnically diverse school settings can buffer some of those challenges. Unlike other programs of developmental research, this project conceptualizes school diversity as a protective factor. Third, the research has implications for social policies affecting youth. By making a case for the ways in which diverse schools contribute to the academic and social well-being of all students, the results can contribute to the discourse on legal options for achieving greater racial/ethnic diversity in our nation's urban public schools.