The relation between ethnicity and bullying among youths according to the ethnic composition of the school population: diversity and (bi-)ethnicity as possible risk factors for victim- and perpetratorhood?
An overview of the differences in prevalence of traditional and cyberbullying between youth with and
without a migration background as well as between mono- and bi-ethnic youth.
This article examines the role of ethnicity and diversity regarding victimisation and offending in traditional and cyberbullying on the basis of a self-report school survey (i.e. paper/pencil and web survey) among 1808 secondary school-aged youth in Flanders and Brussels. Findings suggest that respondents with a migration background, and in particular bi-ethnic youth, are more likely to be an offender of traditional and cyberbullying or a victim of traditional bullying, especially in school where the concentration of youths with a migration background is low. No significant differences were found between the groups concerning the victimisation of cyberbullying. A possible theoretical explanation for the difference in victimisation rate is that youth with a migration background, especially bi-ethnic youth, are labelled as ‘different’ and therefore are considered as an easy target by bullies. On the other side, youth with a migration background might see themselves as different, which results in a gap between ‘us, the minority’ versus ‘them, the majority’. Because of this, they use bullying behaviour in an attempt to remedy this power imbalance by gaining respect and dominance.