Over the past decade, in European countries, as Italy, there has been an increase of immigration. One of the challenges in the interethnic peer relationships is represented by Prejudicial Ethnic Bullying (PEB), namely a form of discriminatory bias-based bullying, perpetrated towards individuals who belong to groups that differ for ethnicity, race, or religion (Russell et al., 2012).

PEB is perpetrated face-to-face and on-line and has serious consequences for youth adjustment (Donghi, 2016). Recent studies indicate that PEB is present in Italy (Elam, 2013), and that, besides causal mechanisms already identified for general bullying, PEB is influenced by specific psychological and socialization processes that are connected to prejudice (Caravita et al. 2016). However, more studies are needed to develop clear theoretical models on the psychological mechanisms underlying PEB at different ages and to design interventions to tackle PEB effectively.

The project, which is articulated in two phases, consists of a multidimensional study aimed to:

1. Examine the prevalence, the correlates, and the causal mechanisms of PEB in the Italian context, in order to develop a model of explanation;
2. Transfer the knowledge into evidence-based interventions that will tackle PEB in three age groups and test the effectiveness of the model in relation to outcomes reduction.

In the first phase of the project, a longitudinal mixed method study will be realized to investigate correlates and psychological mechanisms of PEB at three age levels: childhood (primary school), early adolescence (middle school) and adolescence (high school). We will explore the interplay and the relative weight in causing PEB of several processes that the literature on bullying and discrimination indicate as possible causal mechanisms of PEB and that lie at the individual and the proximal context levels. These are: moral disengagement reasoning and moral emotions, implicit and explicit prejudice, classroom characteristics and dynamics (social status, school climate, group norms), socialization processes related to the peer group and the teachers. Participants will be the pupils of 40 classrooms per each of the three school levels and their classroom teachers. They will answer a battery of quantitative measures twice, with an interval of six months. Among pupils, three to six focus groups (Krueger, 1994) will be organized, including only ethnic majority group members, only ethnic minority groups members, and members of both groups. The focus groups will complement and deepen the analysis of factors causing PEB providing children and adolescents the opportunity to express their voices directly. The teachers will answer questionnaires about their teaching styles, and prejudice. Furthermore, they will be interviewed on the possible causes of PEB. In subsamples of participants (teachers and adolescents) implicit prejudice will be also assessed by means of experimental prompts and recording neuro-physiological indexes.

In the second phase of the project, based on the results of the first phase, evidence-based intervention modules, specific for the three age groups, will be developed to reduce PEB and underlying mechanisms. Each module will be designed to be included in already existing anti-bullying intervention programs (the NoTrap! for the adolescent groups and the KiVa for children) or used as single independent components. Participants of the intervention phase will be pupils and teachers of 15-20 classrooms per each school level, selected among those participating in the first phase. In order to test the effectiveness of the intervention, students will be randomly assigned to the following four groups: the PEB experimental group (only the PEB intervention will be implemented), the PEB plus generic intervention group (the PEB intervention will be implemented together with the NoTrap! or the KiVa intervention), the only generic intervention group (only the NoTrap! or the Kiva intervention will be implemented), and the control group (no anti-bullying intervention will be implemented). Pupils and teachers will respond to measures to assess PEB, generic bullying, peer group dynamics, psychological adjustment potentially associated with the involvement as bullies, victims or bystanders in PEB, twice: before (pre-test) and after (post-test) the implementation of the anti-bullying interventions.

Altogether the project will enable:

• to increase the knowledge on prevalence, nature, characteristics, and correlates of PEB in the Italian context; 
• to contribute to a developmental theoretical model explaining PEB and its causal mechanisms;
• to develop intervention modules tackling PEB at school, specific for three age levels;
• to give schools, teachers, practitioners, and psychologists new insights and concrete methods to understand and address PEB and relational problems in mixed ethnic school contexts.

Gruppo di lavoro:
Giovanni Giulio Valtolina - Faculty of Political and Social Sciences 

Partner:

1. Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Coordinator);
2. Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca;
3. Università degli Studi di Firenze.