Bullying, Ethnic Identity, Coping and Adjustment among Minority Ethnic Pupils, 2005-2006

<P>Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.</P><br>Bullying is experienced by many children, and has been shown to have a negative impact upon both psychological and social adjustment. Previous research examining the coping processes engaged in by bullied children has relied on samples drawn from the majority culture and has neglected children from minority groups. This study was the first to examine issues of ethnic identity, coping processes, and adjustment among bullied minority ethnic children in the UK.<br>
<br>
A total of 925 pupils (45.8 per cent female) aged between 8 and 12 years old participated in the survey. All pupils attended mainstream schools (nine in total) in western Scotland and north-west England. All children completed a self-report questionnaire relating to measures of identity, victimisation, self-esteem, and coping strategy use. Of the 925 participants, 580 reported belonging to minority national or religious groups, allowing the investigators to explore social identification and bullying among both minority and majority ethnic children.<br>
<br>
The version of the dataset available from the UKDA does not include any information that would allow individual schools to be identified: school names have been replaced with non-identifying identifiers (school 1, school 2, etc.) so that secondary analyses comparing across schools can still be conducted, whilst retaining anonymity. Data collected using the 'Children's Depression Inventory: Short Version' questionnaire have been excluded due to copyright restrictions.<br>
<br>
Further information about the project is available from the <a href="http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/esrcinfocentre/viewawardpage.aspx?awardnumber=RES-000-22-1428" title = "ESRC Award"> ESRC Award</a> web page.<br><B>Main Topics</B>:<BR><br>The questionnaire included several discrete sections covering:<ul><li>demographics</li><li>ethnic identity</li><li>self-esteem</li><li>victimisation (i.e. experience of bullying or peer-victimisation)</li><li>appraisal (i.e. what bad or good things the children thought might happen when other children were nasty to them, and whether they felt they could stop others being nasty to them)</li><li>coping strategies</li></ul>The coping strategies examined included:<ul><li>seeking social support</li><li>self-reliance/problem solving</li><li>distancing (e.g. trying to ignore it)</li><li>externalising (e.g. swearing)</li><li>internalising (e.g. worrying about the problem)</li></ul>