Rethinking Bias-Based Bullying: Stigma, Identity, and Context in Adolescent Bullying

Bullying constitutes a considerable threat to the physical, psychosocial, and academic wellbeing of children and adolescents around the world. Three hallmarks together define bullying behavior: intentional harm, repeated occurrence, and an imbalance of power. Of these three, unequal power represents an important, albeit understudied, feature of bullying, distinguishing it from other forms of peer aggression. One notable way that perpetrators may demonstrate power over victims is to invoke bias or context-relevant stigmas. Research suggests that such bias-based bullying results in worse outcomes compared to general bullying; however, previous studies have been limited by several conceptual and methodological concerns. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence, outcomes, and moderators associated with five discrete types of bias-based bullying victimization in ways that address those concerns. Participants were student and teacher respondents to the California School Climate, Health, and Learning Surveys during the 2013-2015 school years. Multilevel structural regression modeling was used to examine the role of various individual- and setting-level characteristics in relation to bias-based bullying victimization. Results demonstrate that bias-based bullying was pervasive, but certain demographic and identity factors also increased victimization risk substantially. Furthermore, bias-based bullying victimization was largely associated with significantly worse outcomes compared to general bullying. Students’ identities were found to moderate these associations, but often in unanticipated ways. In contrast, individual- and school-level climate indicators were neither consistent nor robust moderators of bias-based bullying victimization. Implications are discussed in relation to previous research, and specific recommendations are offered to researchers and educators alike.