Citation

Graham S. JAMA Netw. Open 2021; 4(7): e2117827.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, American Medical Association)

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.17827

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The study by Gálan et al1 on identity based bullying (IBB) in multiracial/multiethnic adolescents in urban schools is both timely and important. Experiences of IBB in school are part of everyday life for many youth from racially/ethnically minoritized populations, such as Black and Latinx youth, and those experiences can take their toll on the mental and physical health of these youth. We know that youth from racially/ethnically minoritized populations who experience racial/ethnic IBB often report feeling depressed and anxious in school. Gálan et al1 extend these findings particularly for Black and Latinx high school students who identified with sexual minority groups. When experiencing harassment owing to their race/ethnicity or sexual orientation, these youth were more likely to engage in nonsuicidal self-injury and suicide ideation and to reduce seeking health care.

This is a critical time to be studying consequences of IBB among multiple racial/ethnic groups, given the rise in hate crimes associated with COVID-19. Even preceding the pandemic, the US was already confronting a deep-seated political divide that has created new fears, threats, and feelings of discomfort among those who might be the targets of racist, ethnic, classist, homophobic, and anti-immigrant rhetoric and actions. Some studies have documented an increase in biased-based bullying in kindergarten through 12th grade schools in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic, such as a 2019 study by Huang and Cornell.2 We are indeed living in challenging times.

Against this backdrop--the data used in the study by Gálan et al1 were collected in 2019--this study raises a number of important issues that may be useful to researchers with a health focus studying IBB in school contexts. In this context, there are 3 issues worth further consideration: multiple stigmatized identities, the school context, and the developmental perspective. In these contexts, I focus is on individuals who experience IBB rather than those who perpetrate IBB or those who both experience and perpetrate IBB. I think that the mental and physical health correlates of experiencing and enacting IBB are quite different; adequately addressing those differences is beyond the scope of this commentary...

Language: en