Factors Associated with Immigrant Youths' Perceptions of School Safety: An Application of the Social-Ecological Framework

Purpose: A safe school environment is paramount to youths’ academic success, but a recent survey reported that more youth are in fear of being harmed in school than outside of school. Currently, 25% of youth in the U.S. have at least one immigrant parent, and that proportion is estimated to increase to 33% in 30 years. U.S. school system has been perceived as an avenue for success and prosperity. However, immigrant youth are a neglected population, frequently confronted with discrimination and hostility, which are barriers to educational success and reinforces school-related fears. To our knowledge, no studies have investigated immigrant youths’ perceptions of their school. To fill this research gap, the goal of this study is to examine multiple level factors associated with perceptions of school safety among immigrant youth.

Method: Data were drawn from the Children of Immigrants Longitudinal Study, a dataset on immigrant parents and their adolescent children in San Diego and Miami. Adolescents of more than 70 countries-of-origins were interviewed. The CILS survey includes information on national origin, family relationships, and social and psychological adaptation of racially/ethnically diverse sample of immigrant youth in the U.S. (N=5,262) who were originally interviewed during 1992-1993 school year. Data were collected at three waves (Wave I=1992, Wave II=1995, and Wave III=2006). For the present study, Wave II data were used (N=4,118). Applying the social-ecological framework, variables representing individual (6 items - grade level, race/ethnicity, biological sex, residency status, English proficiency, and family SES), family (3 items - family time, close family, family togetherness), peer (1 item - close friend), and school contexts (7 items – crime victimization, cross-racial/ethnic friendships), were entered into four models. Models were estimated using multivariate regression analyses.

Results: In Model 1 (individual), we found that African Americans were 1.51 times more likely to report feeling unsafe at school compared to Whites. In Model 2 (family), we found that youth who reported that family togetherness is important once in a while or never had higher odds of feeling unsafe at school. In Model 3 (peer), we found that having more close friends and close friends whose parents were also immigrants were related to youths’ feeling safe. In Model 4 (school), we found that youth who reported having something stolen from them in school more than twice, being offered drugs more than twice at school, being threatened more than twice at school, having never gotten into a physical fight at school, witnessing fights between races occur at their school, and seeing many gangs at school had higher odds of feeling unsafe.

Implications: Our findings highlight the importance of understanding immigrant youths’ school perceptions. More specifically, given the multivariate nature, this study highlights the significance of the social-ecological perspective, a hallmark of school social work. Addressing policies and practices related to school safety can contribute to the overall well-being and school performance of immigrant youth. It is imperative that policymakers and practitioners assess and address risk and protective factors at various contexts to protect and support immigrant youth in schools.