Experiences of Peer-victimization and Teacher Support in Secondary School predict University Enrolment Five Years Later: Role of School Engagement

BACKGROUND: Peer victimization has an adverse effect on academic outcomes. However, longitudinal research on how peer victimization affects access to higher education is lacking. AIMS: In this study, we investigated the mechanisms through which peer victimization and teacher support affect aspirations for and enrolment at university 5 years later through engagement in secondary school. We also examined whether these effects were moderated by ethnicity, and whether teacher support may compensate for the effects of peer victimization. SAMPLE: The sample (N = 15,110, 51% male, 68% White, 12% Black and 20% Asian) was drawn from a nationally representative study of young people in England. We used data from four waves, following adolescents over 3 years of secondary education (T1–T2–T3, age 13 to 15 years) until university (T4, age 18 years). METHOD: Data were analysed in a longitudinal structural equation model in Mplus 8. RESULTS: Adolescents subjected to more peer victimization at T1 had lower university aspirations 2 years later and were less likely to attend university 5 years later. These effects were mediated via secondary school engagement. Teacher support at T1 was related to higher school engagement, leading to higher aspirations (T3) and higher likelihood of university enrolment (T4) over time. We also found evidence that teacher support may lessen the effect of peer victimization on school engagement, and that ethnic background may moderate the effect of teacher support. CONCLUSIONS: Peer victimization had a small long‐lasting negative effect on university choices via school engagement, while teacher support had a positive effect. In summary, relationships in secondary school have long‐lasting implications for university aspirations and enrolment

The Up- and Downside of Dual identity: Stereotype Threat and Minority Performance

Social identity and acculturation research mostly documents benefits of dual identity for immigrant minorities’ adaptation. Drawing on stereotype threat research, we argue that dual identity can be (1) beneficial in low-threat contexts and (2) costly in high-threat contexts. Two field experiments in schools induced stereotype threat by randomly assigning minority students (Study 1: N = 174, Study 2: N = 735) to stereotype threat (making ethnicity salient) versus control conditions before taking a test. We assessed dual identity as dual commitments to (combined) minority and majority cultures. In support of the predicted benefits of dual identity in low-threat contexts, dual identifiers outperformed and had higher self-esteem than did otherwise-identified students in the control condition, while the advantage of dual identity disappeared in the threat condition (Study 1). In support of the predicted costs of a dual identity in high-threat contexts, dual identifiers reported more anxiety (Study 1) and performed worse (Study 2) in the threat condition compared to the control condition. These experimental findings suggest that dual identities may either help or hinder minority performance depending on stereotype threat in academic contexts.status: publishe

Bridging group divides: a theoretical overview of the “what” and “how” of gateway groups

One of the most recent developments in the realm of intergroup relations is that of the gateway group notion. This conceptual framework addresses the potential of groups with multiple social backgrounds to play a role in the facilitation of positive intergroup relations between their distinct social counterparts (e.g., immigrants as a gateway between home and host countries). Given their shared identity with different social groups, people with multiple identities can potentially bridge the cleft between the two otherwise separate groups with which they are affiliated. In this article, we first provide a theoretical introduction to the gateway group notion and review preliminary experimental and social network‐based research on gateway groups' potential to improve intergroup relations. We then integrate this novel concept with the existing literature on intergroup contact and social categorization and discuss the potential social implications of gateway groups

To Be Both (and More) : Immigration and Identity Multiplicity

Immigrants and their descendants make up a growing share of the population in countries across Europe, North America, and Oceania. This large-scale immigration challenges once relatively stable notions of ethnic, national (or regional), and religious identities. Immigrants and their children confront the task of defining themselves in a new and unfamiliar context. Questions regarding immigrants’ identifications with their ethnic and national groups—but also with local, religious, and supranational groups—have animated national policy debates. This special issue brings together research on migrants’ sense of a “being both,” and the research and policy implications of this particular form of multiple identification. This introductory article discusses the conceptualisation of multiple identification, the importance of group dynamics for the adoption of dual identities, as well as the implications of identification with multiple social groups for immigrants and their receiving societies