Peer Victimization and Ethnic-Cultural Peer Victimization: Self-Esteem and School Relations between Different Cultural Groups of Students in Andalusia, Spain

The objective of this research consisted of studying peer victimization (10 types) and ethnic-cultural peer victimization (10 types), together with their relation to self-esteem, social adjustment and number of friends at school, focusing especially on the cultural variable. A representative sample of pre-adolescent and adolescent students was recruited (mean age = 14.48 years) from schools in Andalusia (Spain). The sample consisted of 7,037 students from different cultures (80.1% majority, 2.7% gypsies, 6.1% first-generation immigrants and 4% second-generation immigrants). The participants filled in a self-informed questionnaire. Results show that multivictimization does not depend on the cultural group. Nevertheless, ethnic-cultural multivictimization is different in each group, more frequent in first-generation immigrants and gypsies. First-generation immigrants show lower levels of social adjustment if compared to other groups. Taking into account Tajfels' theory, it can be inferred that first-generation immigrants and gypsies are the groups with the highest risk of social exclusion. The situation seems even more difficult in the former because of the lack of social support.