Patterns of Victimization Among Ethnic Minority High School Students: A Latent Class Analysis

Background: Victimization in adolescence is linked to mental health outcomes. Ethnic minority youth experience unique forms of peer victimization such as discrimination and racism. These challenges have been associated with increased risk for substance use and suicidal ideation. While there is breadth of literature that examines the connection between victimization and contextual factors among youth, most studies rely on homogenous samples. There are fewer studies that are ethnic minority focused and events of victimization may co-occur in distinct configuration. Thus, studies are needed that center ethnic minority youth as the primary population. This study aims to identify subgroups of ethnic minoritized high school students based on events of victimization and explore the covariation of suicide outcomes, demographics, adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), social connectedness, and substance use with class membership.

Methods: We tested five models using latent class analysis (LCA) and used cross-sectional data from the CDC's National Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (YRBS) (2023) (N=20,013). Data collection points include demographics, behavioral and physical health, substance use behaviors, and student experiences such as exposure to violence and social connectedness. For this study, the sample population was limited to students that identified as a member of an ethnic minoritized group (N=3,013). Hispanic/Latino accounted for 39.8% (N=1,200) of the ethnic identity and 67.8% (N=2,043) were age 16 or older. Indicators in the LCA included physical victimization, intimate partner violence, sexual victimization, bullying, and psychological victimization classified as threats or verbal abuse. Covariates included demographics, suicide outcomes, mental health, social connectedness, substance use, and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). Analysis. Analyses were conducted using LatentGOLD 6.1 software and the data were weighed to account for the complex sampling design of the YRBS.

Results: Among five models, the four-class solution showed better fit than the three- and five -class model based on lower BIC and AIC values. Wald tests indicated that all victimization indicators significantly predicted class membership (p < .001), with R² values ranging from 0.19 to 0.47. The largest class (50.3%) reflected the low probability of victimization exposure, the second class (23.9%) reflected mild probability exposure to victimization characterized by sexual violence, the third class (14.6%) reflected moderate probability of exposure to victimization, characterized by physical violence, the final class (11.2%) reflected the highest probability of exposure to all forms of victimization. Individual ACEs, suicide outcomes, poor mental health, marijuana and alcohol use, racism, and unfair discipline in school were highest in the poly-victimization class, with Hispanic/Latino and mixed-race youth showing the greatest likelihood of membership in this class compared to other ethnic minority groups such as Black and Asian.

Conclusion: Addressing victimization is critical in distress among adolescents. These types of experiences are likely to lead to future mental and behavioral health struggles in adulthood, but importantly, understanding how victimization experience impact youth of color can support the development of culturally tailored interventions that promote resilience, positive identity, positive coping strategies. Future research should examine the intersection how the experience of differing types of victimization impact the development of each ethnic group individually.

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