The Contribution of School Victimization to Sadness, Hopelessness, and Suicidal Ideation Among Bias-Based and Non-Bias-Based Victims and the Moderating Role of School Climate

Ruth Berkowitz; Netta Achdut; Rami Benbenishty; Ron Avi Astor

doi:10.3102/0013189X251393659

The Contribution of School Victimization to Sadness, Hopelessness, and Suicidal Ideation Among Bias-Based and Non-Bias-Based Victims and the Moderating Role of School Climate

Ruth Berkowitz
, Netta Achdut
, Rami Benbenishty
, Ron Avi Astor

School of Social Work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We examine whether students’ victimization (nonvictims, non-bias-based, and bias-based victims) relates to reports on sadness and hopelessness (SH) and suicidal ideation (SI) and how school size, ethnic and socioeconomic status composite, and school climate relate to these outcomes through multilevel analyses of the California Healthy Kids Survey (2017–2019; N = 2,569 schools; N = 1,025,876 students). Bias-based or non-bias-based victims experienced greater SH and SI compared to nonvictimized students. School climate negatively associated with both outcomes, yet positive school climate exacerbated SH and SI of victimized students, particularly those subjected to bias-based violence. The findings confirm the healthy context paradox, indicating that adverse effects may occur for violence victims in schools with more positive climates. Implications for interventions and future research are discussed.

Original language	English
Journal	Educational Researcher
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X251393659
State	Accepted/In press - 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Author(s). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Lficense (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Keywords

adolescence
bias-based victimization
cross-level interactions
multilevel modeling
sadness and hopelessness
school climate
school victimization
suicidal ideation
the healthy context paradox

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Education

Access to Document

10.3102/0013189X251393659

Cite this

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title = "The Contribution of School Victimization to Sadness, Hopelessness, and Suicidal Ideation Among Bias-Based and Non-Bias-Based Victims and the Moderating Role of School Climate",

abstract = "We examine whether students{\textquoteright} victimization (nonvictims, non-bias-based, and bias-based victims) relates to reports on sadness and hopelessness (SH) and suicidal ideation (SI) and how school size, ethnic and socioeconomic status composite, and school climate relate to these outcomes through multilevel analyses of the California Healthy Kids Survey (2017–2019; N = 2,569 schools; N = 1,025,876 students). Bias-based or non-bias-based victims experienced greater SH and SI compared to nonvictimized students. School climate negatively associated with both outcomes, yet positive school climate exacerbated SH and SI of victimized students, particularly those subjected to bias-based violence. The findings confirm the healthy context paradox, indicating that adverse effects may occur for violence victims in schools with more positive climates. Implications for interventions and future research are discussed.",

keywords = "adolescence, bias-based victimization, cross-level interactions, multilevel modeling, sadness and hopelessness, school climate, school victimization, suicidal ideation, the healthy context paradox",

author = "Ruth Berkowitz and Netta Achdut and Rami Benbenishty and Astor, \{Ron Avi\}",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 The Author(s). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Lficense (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).",

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doi = "10.3102/0013189X251393659",

language = "English",

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AU - Achdut, Netta

AU - Benbenishty, Rami

AU - Astor, Ron Avi

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s). This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Lficense (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).

PY - 2025

Y1 - 2025

N2 - We examine whether students’ victimization (nonvictims, non-bias-based, and bias-based victims) relates to reports on sadness and hopelessness (SH) and suicidal ideation (SI) and how school size, ethnic and socioeconomic status composite, and school climate relate to these outcomes through multilevel analyses of the California Healthy Kids Survey (2017–2019; N = 2,569 schools; N = 1,025,876 students). Bias-based or non-bias-based victims experienced greater SH and SI compared to nonvictimized students. School climate negatively associated with both outcomes, yet positive school climate exacerbated SH and SI of victimized students, particularly those subjected to bias-based violence. The findings confirm the healthy context paradox, indicating that adverse effects may occur for violence victims in schools with more positive climates. Implications for interventions and future research are discussed.

AB - We examine whether students’ victimization (nonvictims, non-bias-based, and bias-based victims) relates to reports on sadness and hopelessness (SH) and suicidal ideation (SI) and how school size, ethnic and socioeconomic status composite, and school climate relate to these outcomes through multilevel analyses of the California Healthy Kids Survey (2017–2019; N = 2,569 schools; N = 1,025,876 students). Bias-based or non-bias-based victims experienced greater SH and SI compared to nonvictimized students. School climate negatively associated with both outcomes, yet positive school climate exacerbated SH and SI of victimized students, particularly those subjected to bias-based violence. The findings confirm the healthy context paradox, indicating that adverse effects may occur for violence victims in schools with more positive climates. Implications for interventions and future research are discussed.

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KW - bias-based victimization

KW - cross-level interactions

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KW - sadness and hopelessness

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KW - school victimization

KW - suicidal ideation

KW - the healthy context paradox

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SN - 0013-189X

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ER -

The Contribution of School Victimization to Sadness, Hopelessness, and Suicidal Ideation Among Bias-Based and Non-Bias-Based Victims and the Moderating Role of School Climate

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

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