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Past Peer Victimization Experiences and Current Psychological Well-Being and Ethnic Identity Among South Asian College Students

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Past Peer Victimization Experiences and Current Psychological Well-Being and Ethnic Identity Among South Asian College Students City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 9-2017 Past Peer Victimization Experiences and Current Psychological Well-being and Ethnic Identity Among South Asian College Students Rejitha Nair The Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/2409 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] PAST PEER VICTIMIZATION EXPERIENCES AND CURRENT PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING AND ETHNIC IDENTITY AMONG SOUTH ASIAN COLLEGE STUDENTS by REJITHA M. NAIR A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Educational Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, The City University of New York 2017 ii © 2017 REJITHA M. NAIR All Rights Reserved iii This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Educational Psychology in satisfaction of the dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Cliff Yung-Chi Chen, Ph.D. ___________________ ____________________________________ Date Chair of Examining Committee Bruce Homer, Ph.D. ____________________ ____________________________________ Date Executive Officer Alpana Bhattacharya, Ph.D. Mario Kelly, Ph.D. Supervisory Committee THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK iv Abstract PAST PEER VICTIMIZATION EXPERIENCES AND CURRENT PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING AND ETHNIC IDENTITY AMONG SOUTH ASIAN COLLEGE STUDENTS by REJITHA M. NAIR Advisor: Cliff Yung-Chi Chen, Ph.D. Very little is known about the peer victimization experiences of South Asian immigrant students and the factors involved in these experiences. The present study retrospectively investigated the peer victimization experiences of South Asian immigrant students in high school, the perceived reasons for victimization, and how these experiences relate to their psychological well-being and ethnic identity as college students. Two hundred and twenty college students, who were first or second generation immigrants from South Asia (e.g., India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal) and attended high school in the United States, participated in the study. Overall, the results revealed that there was a high peer victimization rate among South Asian immigrant students (73.6%, n = 162). Specifically, indirect bullying and verbal bullying were the most frequent types of victimization experienced by South Asian students in high school. The most frequent perceived reasons for peer victimization reported by participants were: (1) certain stereotypes associated with their culture, (2) their ethnicity or nationality, (3) their cultural beliefs, customs and traditions, (4) their way of dressing, (5) and their skin color. Socio-demographic factors such as language fluency, religion, SES, gender, and school context were not found to be significantly related to peer victimization experiences. First generation students were not likely to experience more peer victimization than second generation v students, however, first generation students did report more ethnic victimization, being victimized due to ethnic background, than second generation students. Correlational analyses found that higher levels of peer victimization and ethnic victimization were related to lower levels of acculturation to the American culture. South Asian students who reported higher levels of victimization also reported higher levels of pressure to acculturate and acculturative stress in high school. Furthermore, South Asian students who were victimized in high school reported lower psychological well-being as college students. Regression analyses indicated that peer victimization and ethnic victimization experiences in high school significantly predicted the ethnic identity of South Asian students in college. Lastly, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that family support moderated the relationship between peer victimization and psychological well-being of South Asian students, but not between peer victimization and ethnic identity. These findings and conclusions suggested areas for future research. Educational implications were addressed. vi Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my amazing mom. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for making me the person that I am today and for supporting me every step of the way. You have been through this entire journey with me and you never questioned my ability to finish. You always believed that I could accomplish all my goals. None of this would have been possible without you. vii Acknowledgements First, I would like to thank my advisor Dr. Cliff Yung-Chi Chen. In this very long journey of finishing graduate school, his guidance, encouragement, and motivation is what got me to the end. He was always very patient with me, always there when I needed him and supported me throughout all these years. His input and feedback for this project has been invaluable and it’s been an absolute honor to work with him. I cannot thank him enough and I will always be grateful to him. I would like to thank Dr. Bhattacharya for her guidance and valuable input. She continuously checked on my progress and I greatly appreciate her thorough edits and comments. She is and always will be an inspiration to me. I would like to thank Dr. Kelly for making this project better and for his great support throughout this process. I thank Dr. Lucariello and Dr. Markus for agreeing to serve as outside readers. It means a lot to me to have their knowledge and expertise on this project. I express my sincere gratitude to all of the South Asian student organizations, sororities and fraternities, religious organizations, and community organizations who helped me with recruiting participants and data collection. A very special thank you to all the participants for taking the time and for the willingness to complete the survey. I am grateful to Diana Kellner, Ronald Singh, and Shehan Chin, my former students at Hunter, who devoted their time to help me with data collection. Many thanks to my incredible friends, Stevens Mathai, Ria Banerjee, Abbie Turner, Theresa Bhoopsingh, Ryan Vahey, Karece Lopez and others for always being there, for the laughter and conversations and for helping me so much along the way. I am indebted to my colleagues at Guttman Community College for their encouragement and inspiration. viii I thank my lovely sister for her understanding and support and for everything she has done for me. I could not have reached this far without her. I thank my wonderful mom-in- law for all her support and prayers and my brother-in-law for always caring. A very special thank you to my awesome husband, who has been very understanding and patient throughout this process, for believing in me, for listening to me talk endlessly about this project and for always making me smile. I am so very lucky to have found him. ix Table of Contents Title Page…………………………………………………………………………………………... Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………...iv Dedication………………………………………………………………………...........................vi Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………vii Table of Contents………………………………………………………………………………....ix List of Tables………………………………………………………………………….................xv List of Figures………………………………………………………………………………….xviii CHAPTER 1: Introduction………………………………………………………………………..1 Bullying...…………………………………………………………....................................1 South Asian Americans…………………………………………………………………...2 Socio-demographic factors………………………………………………………………..3 Psychological functioning………………………………………………………………...6 Family support………………………………………………………………….................6 Ethnic identity……………………………………………………………………………..7 Current study………………………………………………………………………………8 CHAPTER II: Literature Review……………………………………………………………….....9 Bullying/Peer Victimization………………………………………………………………9 South Asian Americans………………………………………………………………….12 Victimization in Asian American students……………………………................13 Socio-demographic factors influencing victimization…………………………………...16 Acculturation……………………………………………………………………..17 Definition………………………………………………………...............17 x Changes…………………………………………………………………..18 Responses………………………………………………………...............19 Factors influencing acculturation………………………………...............20 South Asian Americans and acculturation……………………………….22 Level of acculturation and victimization………………………...............24 Acculturative stress……………………………………………................25 Pressure to acculturate…………………………………………………...31 Ethnic background……………………………………………………………….33 Generational status……………………………………………………………….36 Religion…………………………………………………………………………..39 Language fluency………………………………………………………...............40 School……………………………………………………………………………42 Gender……………………………………………………………………………46 SES……………………………………………………………………………….47 Psychological well-being…………………………………………………………...........48 Peer victimization and psychological well-being………………………………..48 Asian Americans and psychological well-being…………………………............50 Acculturation and psychological well-being…………………………………….51 Family support……………………………………………………………………...........53 Ethnic identity……………………………………………………………………………57 Definition…………………………………………………………………...........57 Models of ethnic identity development…………………………………..............57 Ethnic identity and acculturation………………………………………………...59 xi Ethnic identity and
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