Till Örebro universitet

This scoping review examines school-based programs aimed at promoting the adjustment and well-being of recently arrived immigrant adolescents. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, five databases (Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, SCOPUS, ERIC) were systematically searched for studies published since 2000, focusing on interventions implemented in formal school settings for recently arrived adolescents. The review identified 15 studies evaluating outcomes of 17 programs. Most school-based programs for recently arrived adolescents aimed to promote social-emotional well-being, mitigate mental health problems, strengthen resilience and social support, or address trauma-related symptoms. Around 50% of the reviewed programs had some effects on the intended outcomes. Despite some promising findings, the current literature has several limitations that limit the ability to draw robust conclusions. Future research needs to focus on understanding why, how, and for whom programs lead (or do not lead) to intended outcomes, and on developing effective programs that can be implemented using available resources at school. 

This scoping review examines school-based programs aimed at promoting the adjustment and well-being of recently arrived immigrant adolescents. Following PRISMA-ScR guidelines, five databases (Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, SCOPUS, ERIC) were systematically searched for studies published since 2000, focusing on interventions implemented in formal school settings for recently arrived adolescents. The review identified 15 studies evaluating outcomes of 17 programs. Most school-based programs for recently arrived adolescents aimed to promote social-emotional well-being, mitigate mental health problems, strengthen resilience and social support, or address trauma-related symptoms. Around 50% of the reviewed programs had some effects on the intended outcomes. Despite some promising findings, the current literature has several limitations that limit the ability to draw robust conclusions. Future research needs to focus on understanding why, how, and for whom programs lead (or do not lead) to intended outcomes, and on developing effective programs that can be implemented using available resources at school. 

Introduction: Rising political polarization worldwide has created a social climate where adolescents with migrant backgrounds face increased risk of mistreatment based on their ethnic, cultural, or religious identities. Promoting prosocial bystander behavior in schools is one way to address this issue. Relatedly, this study examined how adolescents' moral identity and perspective-taking skills relate to defending behavior, and whether teachers' responses to ethnic victimization moderated these associations.

Methods: The sample included 792 adolescents (Mage = 16.47, SD = 0.67; 59.3% females; 31.1% adolescents with migrant backgrounds) living in Sweden.

Results: Adolescents with stronger perspective-taking skills and higher moral identity were more willing to defend classmates who were targets of ethnic victimization. These associations were particularly pronounced when adolescents perceived their teachers as actively intervening in such incidents. Notably, when teachers were perceived as inactive or indifferent, the positive association between perspective-taking and defending behavior weakened.

Conclusions: This study highlights that adolescents' willingness to intervene in ethnic victimization incidents is associated with their perspective-taking skills and moral values. Importantly, it also underscores the crucial role of teachers as key socialization agents who can either foster or hinder adolescents' potential to intervene in negative inter-ethnic interactions. Together, these findings emphasize the importance of raising teacher awareness about the impact of their responses and equipping them with the skills needed to effectively address negative inter-ethnic interactions.

Bias-based bullying (i.e., bullying due to marginalized identities) is a significant and ongoing challenge within contemporary educational settings. Teachers are crucial in mitigating such harmful behaviors and cultivating positive peer relationships. The present study explores teachers’ perceptions of and intervention intentions in bias-based bullying situations across diverse cultural and educational settings. Using a between-subjects experimental design, primary and secondary teachers from 13 international sites located in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America (n = 4990) were randomly assigned to read a hypothetical vignette depicting student victimization based on their ethnicity, learning difficulties, physical appearance, gender expression, or sexual orientation. Multilevel linear models revealed that teachers’ perceptions varied depending on the type of bias-based bullying, such that when teachers were presented with a situation of bullying based on gender expression or sexual orientation, they reported lower levels of perceived responsibility, self-efficacy, and importance of responding when compared to other types of bullying. At the same time, teachers were less likely to blame the victim of bullying and expressed greater empathy towards involved students when being presented with a situation of weight-based bullying. However, there were no significant differences in rated intervention intentions across conditions. Results have important implications for teacher education and development, as well as for existing anti-bullying intervention programs.

The aim of the present study was to assess the measurement invariance of the long version of the straightforwardly-worded Social Interaction Anxiety Scale (S-SIAS) across 10 countries and explore links with life satisfaction in a large sample of emerging adults attending university. Participants were N = 4284 university students (Mage = 19.89 years, SD = 1.83; 65 % females) from 10 countries (i.e., Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, South Korea, Norway, Turkey, and the United States), who completed self-report assessments of social anxiety and life satisfaction. Findings from a multiple-group factor analysis alignment method indicated approximate measurement invariance for the S-SIAS across the 10 country sites. University students from Norway reported the highest mean level of social anxiety of all groups, whereas participants from Argentina reported the lowest social anxiety. Results from multigroup regression analysis indicated that social anxiety was negatively associated with life satisfaction in all samples (except for Argentina and Australia, where the life satisfaction measure was not collected), but the strength of the association was stronger in Norway compared to samples from other countries. Results are discussed in terms of the meaning and implication of social anxiety across cultures.

Introduction: Despite recent efforts to understand the possible impact of contextual factors on adolescents’ involvement in ethnic bullying, most existing studies have focused on the effects of one context at a time. As adolescents are simultaneously exposed to the influence of multiple socialization agents, the aim of this study was to investigate whether teachers’ and classmates’ tolerance towards ethnic minorities could buffer the effect of perceived parental prejudice on adolescents’ involvement in ethnic bullying.

Methods: Data were collected between January and February 2020 from 9th grade adolescents (N = 582; Mage = 15.23; SD = 0.65; 50.9% female; 30.7% with an immigrant background), and their teachers (N = 72; aged between 27 and 65 years; 79% female), belonging to 37 classrooms located in Italy.

Results: A cross‐sectional multilevel analysis showed that teachers’ tolerance mod-erated the effect of perceived parental prejudice on adolescents’ involvement in ethnic bullying. Specifically, we found that in classrooms with low levels of teachers’ tolerance, perceived parental prejudice was significantly associated with students’ involvement in ethnic bullying. Conversely, in classrooms with high levels of teachers’ tolerance, parental prejudice was no longer associated with ethnic bullying. Furthermore, classmates’ tolerance was not significantly associated with students’ involvement in ethnic bullying and did not moderate the association between perceived parental prejudice and adolescents’ engagement in ethnic bullying.

Conclusions: Findings are discussed highlighting the important role of school as a context to promote positive multicultural relations and the unique role played by teachers in affecting adolescents’ behaviors.

Bias-based harassment has emerged as a significant concern in schools globally. Unsurprisingly, exposure to such negative treatment has detrimental effects on the psychological functioning, academic performance, and behavioural adjustment of children and adolescents. Thus, there is a pressing need to develop a comprehensive understanding of the factors that exacerbate or mitigate the negative consequences of bias-based harassment on its victims, as well as the factors that lead young people to engage in bias-based harassment. To address this need, this paper begins by providing a brief overview of the literature on bias-based harassment and bullying among early adolescents and adolescents. Subsequently, we introduce the studies featured in this special issue and present an integrated summary of their key findings. Our goal with this special issue is to compile scientific evidence on this social concern across diverse school settings and pave the way for future initiatives aimed at addressing bias-based harassment more comprehensively and efficiently.

Immigrant and refugee adolescents who migrate to a new country face acculturative challenges in addition to their ongoing developmental challenges. Nevertheless, most preventive interventions for recently arrived youth focus on a small segment of this population who may potentially be at risk for mental health issues related to psychological distress and past trauma. The PIA Youth Program was developed as a 6-week cognitive dissonance-based universal intervention to support newly arrived youth in promoting their adjustment and development in the host society. The program content was informed by the newly arrived youth’s own description of needs and research on the risk and protective factors related to migration and resettlement processes. The program is delivered to 3 to 6 recently arrived youth by trained group leaders in the home language of participants or Swedish. The youth engage in active discussions around potentially challenging acculturative and developmental issues, including learning (and improving) language, exploring the new environment, negotiating cultural differences, social interactions, seeking support, building a sense of belonging, and taking a stance for their future and setting goals. A single-group pre- and post-test pilot study (N = 29) demonstrated the feasibility of the implementation process, relevance of the program content, and appropriateness of the measures. Additionally, the findings from the pilot data suggested trends of improvements in most outcome measures, such as increased internal motivation to learn Swedish (d = .47), increased confidence in achieving academic goals (d = .28), and improved persistence in dealing with school difficulties (d = .22).The pilot test of the PIA Youth Program was followed by a randomized controlled trial with two arms (active intervention and waiting-list control condition) and a pre-, post-, and six-month follow-up design. Twenty-eight schools with students who came to Sweden in 2015 or later were identified based on records from the National Agency for Education and randomized into either the intervention or control condition. Seventh to ninth-grade students who can participate in the program sessions in Arabic, Dari, Kurdish, Somalian, Tigrinya, or Swedish were invited to participate in the study. In Fall 2023, a total of 17 groups (N = 71) were completed with pre- and post-test measures. The trial will continue until Spring 2025 and aims to complete a total of 55 groups. The current presentation (1) focuses on the implementation process of the RCT study and (2) the experiences of the program leaders and participants with the implementation process of the PIA Youth Program, and (3) presents preliminary findings. 

Sense of academic futility entails feelings of having no control over ones' educational success. Although mounting evidence points to its negative consequences for students' educational outcomes, less is known about its socio-contextual antecedents. Relatedly, the current study explored how fair and supportive relationships with teachers are related to the sense of academic futility and if class belonging mediates this link in a sample of adolescents with immigrant and non-immigrant backgrounds. A total of 1065 seventh-grade students (Mage = 13.12; SD = 0.42; 45% girls) from 55 classrooms completed questionnaires at two time points 1 year apart. Results of multilevel analyses indicated that fair and supportive relationships with teachers contributed to decreases in sense of academic futility at the individual but not at the classroom level. No mediation or moderation effects emerged. These findings highlight the crucial role of democratic student-teacher relationships in supporting the positive school adjustment of all students in increasingly multicultural societies.