Stopping Bias-Based Harassment of Adolescents

Stopping Bias-Based Harassment of Adolescents
A Q&A with Melissa Holt about the impact on teens of being targeted because of race, ethnicity, gender identity or sexual orientation
As bias-based harassment rises across the United States, adolescents, especially those with marginalized identities, are increasingly being targeted because of their race, ethnicity, gender identity, and sexual orientation. The negative impact on their well-being can be devastating.
Melissa Holt, BU Wheelock associate professor of counseling psychology, was recently awarded a National Institute of Justice grant to study bias-based harassment among adolescents. This will be the first national, longitudinal study on the subject. Jennifer Greif Green, also a BU Wheelock faculty member, and Gabriel Merrin, a faculty member at Syracuse University, are co-investigators on this grant.
We spoke with Holt to learn more about the issue and what’s being done to support adolescents.
Dr. Holt, before we dive in, can you tell us what you mean when you say “bias-based harassment”?
Melissa Holt: Absolutely. Bias-based harassment involves the victimization or perpetration of harassment, bullying, or even crimes related to gender identity, religion, immigration status, sexual orientation, and/or race or ethnicity.
Why is it important to specifically look at bias-based harassment right now?
Statistics indicate that hate crimes and other bias-based crimes and harassment incidents have increased over the past few years in the United States. But what’s particularly concerning are the bias-based harassment rates among adolescents, specifically—29% of 9th graders and 24% of 11th graders report experiencing harassment for a hate-crime reason on school property in the past year. And, the reported rates of bias-based harassment are even higher rates for youth with multiple marginalized identities.
How is bias-based harassment different from other forms of bullying adolescents may experience?
Although all forms of victimization are associated with adverse outcomes, there are particularly pronounced effects on well-being for targets of bias-based harassment, likely because the victimization is targeted at one’s identity. Bias-based harassment has been linked to suicidal ideation, substance use, and school functioning, such as decreased GPA or truancy, and has the strongest effects on youth who experience multiple forms of harassment.
Because of this, it is critical that we better understand risk and protective factors that predict bias-based harassment perpetration and victimization, and determine what factors buffer outcomes so that tailored school safety programs can be developed and implemented.
What are the current gaps in the research on bias-based harassment?
We’re lacking longitudinal studies on school safety that focus on bias-based harassment and assess both victimization and perpetration. This leaves a significant gap in understanding the root causes of and contributors to bias-based harassment at school.
And this study is going to fill in those gaps?
Exactly! This study fills gaps through two primary aims: It will identify the rates and outcomes of bias-based harassment among adolescents, and it will assess risk and protective factors that predict bias-based harassment and either buffer or exacerbate outcomes.
For this study, we have partnered with NORC to survey 800 adolescents ages 14 to 17, as well as their parents/guardians. We’ll be looking at direct and witnessed forms of bias-based harassment; bias-based harassment perpetration; psychological and school functioning; attitudes toward marginalized groups; peer norms; and social support. We’ll follow adolescents across four time points.
What do you hope to do with the information from this study?
We’ll be making interim and final reports to the National Institute of Justice, peer-reviewed conference presentations and publications, and developing a dataset to be archived at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data.
Findings from this study will inform how to optimally design school safety programs tailored at addressing bias-based harassment. We hope schools and districts across the United States will be able to use what we have learned to better address bias-based harassment in their own communities.