Peer victimization and self‐esteem of ethnic minority group children

An experimental study was carried out among Turkish children (10 to 12 years) living in the Netherlands for examining the relationship between peer victimization and self‐esteem. Related to the social psychological distinction between personal and social identity, a distinction was made between personal and ethnic self‐esteem and between personal and ethnic victimization. It was found that personal self‐esteem negatively predicted personal victimization but not ethnic victimization, and ethnic self‐esteem tended to predict ethnic victimization but not personal victimization. Furthermore, peer victimization had a negative causal effect on momentary self‐feelings independent of the level of self‐esteem. In addition, peer victimization based on ethnic group membership had a somewhat stronger negative effect on self‐feelings than victimization based on personal characteristics.