Individual and Contextual Factors Associated with Immigrant Youth Feeling Unsafe in School: A Social-Ecological Analysis
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Individual and Contextual Factors Associated with Immigrant Youth Feeling Unsafe in School: A Social-Ecological Analysis Jun Sung Hong1,2 • Gabriel J. Merrin3 • Shantel Crosby1 • Debra M. Hernandez Jozefowicz4 • Jeoung Min Lee1 • Paula Allen-Meares5
Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015
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. & Jun Sung Hong [email protected]; [email protected] Gabriel J. Merrin [email protected]
Keywords Immigration Safety School Social-ecological framework Youth
Introduction A safe school environment is critical to youths’ academic success. For some youth, however, school safety is a serious concern, creating a barrier to learning [1, 2]. Although violent incidences in schools (e.g., rampage shootings) are rare, subtle violence occurs daily, sometimes undermining youths’ sense of security. A recent national survey of public school districts revealed that a higher percentage of youth reported being afraid of harm in school than outside of school (4 vs. 2 %) [3]. In response to the growing concerns about school safety, youths’ perceptions of their school have been researched extensively over the years.
2
Department of Social Welfare, Sungkyunkwan University, Humanities and Social Science Campus, 61505 Suseon Hall, 25-2 Sungkyunkwan-ro, Jongro-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
3
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
4
School of Social Work, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Ave, CHN rm 2162, Windsor, ON N9B 3P4, Canada
5
College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, East Tower, 808 South Wood Street, 3rd Floor, Room 373 (MC 735), Chicago, IL 60612, USA
Shantel Crosby [email protected] Debra M. Hernandez Jozefowicz [email protected] Jeoung Min Lee [email protected] Paula Allen-Meares [email protected] 1
School of Social Work, Wayne State University, 4756 Cass Avenue, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
123
J Immigrant Minority Health
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