title: School context protective factors against peer ethnic discrimination across the high school years.
abstract: Ethnically diverse high school contexts present unique social opportunities for youth to form interethnic relationships, but they may also subject students to certain social challenges such as peer ethnic discrimination. With a sample of 1,072 high school students (55% girls; 54% Latino, 20% African American, 14% Asian, 12% White) attending 84 high schools, school context factors that protect students' exposure to peer ethnic discrimination across the high school years were investigated with a three-level hierarchical linear model. Each spring for four consecutive years (grades 9-12), self-reported peer ethnic discrimination, interracial climate at school, and perceived school ethnic composition were assessed. At the school level, objective high school ethnic composition data were collected. Peer ethnic discrimination was found to decline slightly across the high school years. Above and beyond this decline, more positive perceptions of the school interracial climate and both objective and perceived numerical ethnic majority status predicted lower levels of peer ethnic discrimination. Taken together, the results highlight the significance of both objective (e.g., ethnic composition) and subjective (e.g., interracial climate) aspects of the school ethnic context to students' high school social experiences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Educational Psychology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1025 W. Johnson St., Madison, WI 53706, USA. abellmore@wisc.edu
authors.forename: Amy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bellmore
authors.forename: Adrienne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nishina
authors.forename: Ji-In
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: You
authors.forename: Ting-Lan
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology; D001213:Asian / Q000523:psychology; D018864:Cultural Diversity; D005260:Female; D006608:Hierarchy, Social; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group; D011287:Prejudice; D011822:Race Relations / Q000523:psychology*; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000523:psychology*; D012574:Schools; D012931:Social Environment; D012933:Social Identification; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D014481:United States; D044465:White People / Q000523:psychology