Abstract
The bullying experiences of Korean-American adolescents (N = 295) were explored in relation to discrimination and mental health outcomes. Bullying experiences were assessed by the Bully Survey ( Swearer, 2005), discrimination by the Perceived Ethnic and Racial Discrimination Scale ( Way, 1997) and depression by the Center for Epidemiological Studies – Depression Scale (CES-D). Those who reported being bullied (31.5%) as well as those who reported both being bullied and bullying others (15.9%) experienced a higher level of depression, which was elevated beyond the clinically significant level of CES-D. The results of a LISREL model suggest that the experiences of bullying among Korean/Asian-American adolescents and their related mental health issues need to be addressed in a comprehensive context of their discrimination experiences, acculturation, family and school environments.
Results
Characteristics of the groups with different bullying experiences
Among the 295 participants, 86 participants (29.2%) reported experiences of being bullied, 220 (74.6%) reported observing others being bullied, 93 (31.5%) reported bullying others and 47 (15.9%) reported both being bullied and bullying others. Within the victim group, the most frequent context in which bullying took place was after school (32.6%), followed by cafeteria (31.4%), online and/or text messaging (24.4%), hallway (23.3%), class (19.8%), bus (12.8%), gym (12.8%), before school (11.6%), homeroom (8.1%), bathroom (7.0%), sporting event (7.0%) and dances (4.7%). The most frequent reason given by this group for being bullied was their country of origin (29.1%) and their being different (29.1%), followed by being fat (24.4%), their skin color (23.3%), their face looking funny (22.1%), getting good grades (20.9%), friends being weird (18.6%), being a wimp (15.1%), being short (11.6%), getting angry a lot (10.5%) and looking too young (10.5%).
Within the bystander group, the most frequent context in which bullying was observed to take place was hallway (58.6%), followed by cafeteria (57.3%), after school (52.3%), class (38.6%), bus (27.7%), homeroom (25%), before school (24.1%), online and/or text message (20.5%), bathroom (17.3%), sporting event (15.9%) and dances (7.7%). The most frequent reason was being a wimp (50.5%), followed by being fat (47.4%), their face looking funny (46.4%), being different (45.9%), friends being weird (41.8), the way they talk (41.8%), inability to get along with others (38.2%), their clothes (36.8%), skin color (26.4%), being too short (26.4%), crying a lot (22.7%), being gay (22.7%), being in special education (22.7%), their country of origin (21.8%), being disabled (19.5%), getting bad grades (18.6%), getting good grades (18.2%), getting angry a lot (17.7%), being skinny (14.5%) and being poor (11.8%).
Within the bully group, the most frequent context for the bullying was after school (51.6%), followed by cafeteria (46.2%), class (43%), hallway (41.9%), online and/or text message (30.1%), before school (22.6%), homeroom (21.5%), gym (18.3%), sporting event (14%) and dances (8.6%). The most frequent reason for bullying others was their being a wimp (31.2%), followed by being fat (25.8%), their face looking funny (23.7%), friends being weird (23.7%), their being different (19.4%), their clothes (17.2%), their being angry a lot (14%), crying a lot (14%), being skinny (14%), their being too short (11.8%), and their country of origin (10.8%).
