title: Individual and Contextual Factors Associated with Immigrant Youth Feeling Unsafe in School: A Social-Ecological Analysis.
abstract: Despite the increasing proportion of immigrant youth in U.S. school districts, no studies have investigated their perceptions of their school. This study examines factors associated with perceptions of school safety among immigrant youth within individual, family, peer, and school contexts. Data were drawn from Wave II of the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study (n = 4288) and hierarchical logistic regression analyses were conducted. African-Americans, females, and youth with limited English proficiency were more likely to perceive their school as unsafe. Youth who reported that family cohesion was important and those who had close friends perceived their school as safe. Also, those who experienced illegal activities in school reported feeling unsafe. Assessment and intervention in schools needs to consider individual and contextual factors associated with perceptions of school safety. Additional research is needed to examine individual and contextual factors related to immigrant youths' perceptions of school.
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Wayne State University, 4756 Cass Avenue, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA. fl4684@wayne.edu.|Department of Social Welfare, Sungkyunkwan University, Humanities and Social Science Campus, 61505 Suseon Hall, 25-2 Sungkyunkwan-ro, Jongro-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea. fl4684@wayne.edu.
authors.forename: Jun Sung
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Division of Child Development, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 210 Education Building, 1310 S. Sixth Street, Champaign, IL, 61820, USA.
authors.forename: Gabriel J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Merrin
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Wayne State University, 4756 Cass Avenue, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA.
authors.forename: Shantel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Crosby
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Ave, CHN rm 2162, Windsor, ON, N9B 3P4, Canada.
authors.forename: Debra M Hernandez
authors.initials: DMH
authors.lastname: Jozefowicz
authors.affiliation: School of Social Work, Wayne State University, 4756 Cass Avenue, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA.
authors.forename: Jeoung Min
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, East Tower, 808 South Wood Street, 3rd Floor, Room 373 (MC 735), Chicago, IL, 60612, USA.
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Allen-Meares
mesh_terms: D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology*; D005195:Family Relations / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010465:Perception; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000523:psychology; D012449:Safety; D012574:Schools; D012737:Sex Factors; D012931:Social Environment; D014481:United States
keywords: Immigration; Safety; School; Social-ecological framework; Youth