Citation

Byrd CM, Carter Andrews DJ. J. Sch. Psychol. 2016; 57: 1-14.

Affiliation

Department of Teacher Education, Michigan State University, 620 Farm Lane, 352 Erickson Hall, East Lansing, MI 48824, United States. Electronic address: dcarter@msu.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Society for the Study of School Psychology, Publisher Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.jsp.2016.05.001

PMID

27425562

Abstract

Although there exists a healthy body of literature related to discrimination in schools, this research has primarily focused on racial or ethnic discrimination as perceived and experienced by students of color. Few studies examine students' perceptions of discrimination from a variety of sources, such as adults and peers, their descriptions of the discrimination, or the frequency of discrimination in the learning environment. Middle and high school students in a Midwestern school district (N=1468) completed surveys identifying whether they experienced discrimination from seven sources (e.g., peers, teachers, administrators), for seven reasons (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, religion), and in eight forms (e.g., punished more frequently, called names, excluded from social groups). The sample was 52% White, 15% Black/African American, 14% Multiracial, and 17% Other. Latent class analysis was used to cluster individuals based on reported sources of, reasons for, and forms of discrimination. Four clusters were found, and ANOVAs were used to test for differences between clusters on perceptions of school climate, relationships with teachers, perceptions that the school was a "good school," and engagement. The Low Discrimination cluster experienced the best outcomes, whereas an intersectional cluster experienced the most discrimination and the worst outcomes. The results confirm existing research on the negative effects of discrimination. Additionally, the paper adds to the literature by highlighting the importance of an intersectional approach to examining students' perceptions of in-school discrimination.

Copyright © 2016 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: en