UC Riverside

Bullying victimization is a problem that permeates schools today, and the current literature base reveals an association between bullying victimization and negative mental health outcomes. Further, students of minority ethnic backgrounds (e.g., Asian American adolescents) have been shown to be at an increased risk of bullying victimization. This victimization based on ethnic group membership has been coined peer ethnic victimization. One group of students that are more at-risk for peer victimization is Sikh American adolescents, which may result from them being stereotyped as foreigners by others. The purpose of this study was to examine victimization and mental health outcomes in Sikh American adolescents. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized to examine the relationships among wearing a religious head covering, being perceived as a foreigner, different types of victimization (i.e., physical, verbal, and relational) and mental health outcomes (i.e., self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and anxiety related to perceptions of school safety) for these students. The final model suggested that being perceived as a foreigner mediated the relationship between wearing a religious head covering and all three types of victimization, and that victimization mediated the relationship between being perceived as a foreigner and mental health outcomes. Implications for school psychologists are discussed.