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Immigrant children’s peer acceptance andvictimization in kindergarten: The role of locallanguage competence

Renate von Grunigen1, Sonja Perren2, Christof Nagele3

and Francoise D. Alsaker1*1Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland2Jacobs Center for Productive Youth Development, University of Zurich, Zurich,Switzerland

3Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (SFIVET), Zollikofen,Switzerland

The study investigates peer acceptance and victimization of immigrant and Swisschildren in kindergarten classes. Our first aim is to compare peer acceptance andvictimization of Swiss and immigrant children. Secondly, we explore the role of theirlocal language competences (LLCs).

The sample was drawn from kindergartens in communities in the German-speakingpart of Switzerland. A representative sample of 568 boys and 522 girls (mean age5.8 years) took part in the research. Teachers completed questionnaires on children’svictimization, bullying, and LLC. The nationality background of parents was indicated byteachers and parents. To assess peer acceptance, a peer nomination method was used.

Immigrant children showed less acceptance by peers and were more often victimizedthan their Swiss peers. There was a significant interaction effect for LLC and nationalbackground of mothers, showing that LLC was positively associated with peeracceptance for children of an immigrant background but not for Swiss children.Furthermore, peer acceptance mediated the effect of national background of motherson victimization. Results are discussed in terms of the need to improve immigrantchildren’s LLC.

There is a high degree of ethnocultural diversity in kindergartens and schools in

Switzerland: 22% of schoolchildren come from families with an immigrant background

(Bundesamt fur Statistik [BFS], 2007). In the following, when speaking of children of

immigrant background we mean children with parents of foreign nationalityirrespective of whether the children themselves or their parents migrated to

Switzerland. Like all other children entering kindergarten, immigrant children have to

* Correspondence should be addressed to Professor Dr Francoise D. Alsaker, Department of Psychology, University of Bern,Muesmattstrasse 45, CH 3000 Bern 9, Switzerland (e-mail: alsaker@psy.unibe.ch).

TheBritishPsychologicalSociety

1

British Journal of Developmental Psychology (2009), in press

q 2009 The British Psychological Society

www.bpsjournals.co.uk

DOI:10.1348/026151009X470582

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find their place within the group. However, these children often meet some special

challenges. First, they may be confronted with a language different from their mother

tongue. Second, depending on their parents’ integration into Swiss society, they may

come into contact with new cultural norms and rules. And finally, they have to spend

time with children who are not necessarily prepared to meet the special needs of

immigrant children, particularly in terms of local language competence (LLC). Thus, thequestion arises of whether the peer group is able and willing to integrate immigrant

children. The aim of this study is to analyse whether this highly challenging situation can

make these children more vulnerable to low peer acceptance and victimization. In

particular, we analyse the role of LLC.

Peer acceptance of children with immigration backgroundSeveral studies in Switzerland and Germany have shown that foreign children are at risk

of rejection (in terms of sociometric status) in their school classes (Eckhart, 2005; Hinz,

1993; Kronig, Haeberlin, & Eckhart, 2000; Ridder & Dollase, 1999). A review of studies

from the last 20 years found a notable continuity of discrimination against foreign

schoolchildren in Germany, showing that they had outsider roles (Ridder & Dollase,

1999). Analyses of interviews with 726 juveniles yielded similar results and showed that

German students preferred peers of their own nationality for leisure time activities and

friendship relations (Popp, 1994).A recent Swiss study including 2,129 elementary schoolchildren confirmed these

findings (Kronig et al., 2000). Foreign children were clearly less accepted than their

Swiss classmates even if they had comparable school achievements. Furthermore, their

position did not improve during the course of the school year. Two other studies of

Swiss and foreign elementary schoolchildren yielded similar results. Swiss children

showed more social distance from and fewer social integration behaviours towards

immigrant children than towards other Swiss children (Eckhart, 2005).

Other European and Anglo-American studies of minority or ethnic background havegiven similar results (Dollase, 1999; Mitulla, 1997; Popp, 1994; Quintana et al., 2006;

Ridder & Dollase, 1999; Verkuyten, 1998, 2006; Verkuyten & Nekuee, 1999). Research

on behaviour in non-segregated schools showed that cross-ethnic avoidance is common

even if cross-ethnic interaction is usually positive or neutral in tone (Schofield, 1995).

Ladd and Burgess (2001) found African-American kindergarten children to be at higher

risk of chronic peer rejection and teacher–child conflict than Caucasian children.

A further study of Latino/Asian, White and African-American 11-year-old children

demonstrated a same-ethnicity bias, with greater acceptance and less rejection of same-ethnicity peers (Bellmore, Nishina, Witkow, Graham, & Juvonen, 2007).

Peer acceptance and victimizationPopularity or peer acceptance denotes a child’s position or prestige within the peer

group, and represents the peer group’s view of an individual (Bukowski & Hoza, 1989).

Peer rejection and victimization are highly correlated (Pellegrini, Bartini, & Brooks,

1999). Rejection has been shown to be predictive of later victimization, andvictimization of later peer rejection (Hodges & Perry, 1999; Ladd & Troop-Gordon,

2003). Being rejected by their peers increases children’s vulnerability to victimization, in

part because rejected children are less likely to have friends who will protect them by

directly intervening during episodes of victimization or by clearly disapproving of acts of

2 Renate von Grunigen et al.

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victimization (Hodges, Boivin, Vitaro, & Bukowski, 1999; Hodges & Perry, 1999;

Pellegrini et al., 1999; Schwartz, Dodge, Pettit, & Bates, 2000). Several studies indicate

that both passive and aggressive victims are less liked than bullies or non-involved

children (Alsaker, 2003; Alsaker & Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger, in press; Boulton & Smith,

1994). The question then is whether immigrant children are not only less accepted by

their peers, but more often victimized.

Victimization of children of immigrant backgroundThere are only a few studies giving data on victimization of children of immigrant

background in German-speaking countries. Existing results are contradictory because

they use different definitions of aggressive and bullying behaviour and of immigration,

and also because heterogeneous and small samples of foreign children were used

(Strohmeier, Atria, & Spiel, 2005).

Fuchs (1999) found that foreign students more often bullied other students

physically and psychologically than German students did. This is in line with a further

German study in which Turkish secondary school students showed more aggressivebehaviour than their German classmates. At the same time, they experienced more

negative labelling and felt less accepted in their class (Popp, 2000). However, some

other studies give different results. In one sample of seventh to eighth-grade classes no

differences in bullying behaviour between German and foreign students were found, but

German students were observed to be victims more often than were their foreign peers

(Losel, Bliesener, & Averbeck, 1999). A further study of Austrian and immigrant children

aged 11 to 14 years found the Austrian students to be more often involved in both

bullying and victimization. In this study, ‘bullying’ was defined according to Olweus(1993). Austrian children showed prevalence rates of 9% for victims and of 12% for

bullies, while prevalence rates among immigrant children varied between 2 and 8% for

victims and 3–7% for bullies depending on their country of origin (Strohmeier & Spiel,

2003). This result was replicated in a further Austrian study conducted with 11- to

15-year-old students in multicultural classes. German-speaking students were found to

be more often involved in bullying and victimization than Turkish-speaking children and

adolescents. Turkish students reported that their language and ethnicity were the most

important reasons for being excluded or physically attacked by peers (Strohmeier et al.,2005). It therefore seems important to investigate the role played by language

competence in peer rejection and victimization.

LLC, peer acceptance, and victimizationThe role of language competence and communication skills in peer group integration

has been demonstrated in children with specific language impairments. Children with

such impairments show difficulties in their social and behavioural development (Asher

& Gazelle, 1999; Brinton & Fujiki, 1999; Conti-Ramsden & Botting, 2004; Gertner, Rice,

& Hadley, 1994; Redmond & Rice, 1998). They show more withdrawn social behaviour

(Conti-Ramsden & Botting, 2004; Redmond & Rice, 2002) or externalization of

problems (Beitchman et al., 2001; Tomblin, Zhang, Buckwalter, & Catts, 2000), are lesswell integrated in preschool play groups (Guralnick, Conner, Hammond, Gottman, &

Kinnish, 1996) and school settings (Fujiki, Brinton, & Todd, 1996), report feelings of

loneliness (Fujiki et al., 1996), and show less prosocial behaviour according to teacher

ratings (Brinton & Fujiki, 1999; Conti-Ramsden & Botting, 2004; Coplan & Armer, 2005).

Immigration, and peer acceptance 3

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Furthermore, they are less accepted by their peers (Conti-Ramsden & Botting, 2004;

Jerome, Fujiki, Brinton, & James, 2002) and have difficulty making friends (Conti-

Ramsden & Botting, 2004; Olswang, Coggins, & Timler, 2001).

The few studies of children with communication difficulties due to their immigrant

background show parallels to the social problems of children with language

impairment. In two studies of English-speaking preschoolchildren, immigrant childrenwith English as a second language (ESL) were disadvantaged in social contacts (Gertner

et al., 1994; Rice, Sell, & Hadley, 1991). Compared to English-speaking preschoolchil-

dren with normally developed language skills, and those with specific language

impairments, they were least likely to initiate interactions and were most likely to be

avoided by their peers. The findings were interpreted as evidence that preschoolchil-

dren are sensitive to communication skills and make adjustments in their social

interactions accordingly, avoiding peers with whom they cannot communicate easily

(Rice et al., 1991). In a further sample, analyses of a group of immigrant children withESL showed that positive peer nominations were clearly related to the children’s

proficiency in English (Gertner et al., 1994).

In the same vein, a Swedish study showed that children’s social position was not

related to their immigrant background but rather to their proficiency in Swedish. While

proficiency in Swedish was not associated with aggressive behaviour, immigrant

children with low competence in Swedish had lower scores for sociability and

leadership compared to all other children (Vedder & O’Dowd, 1999). Jerusalem (1992)

reported that immigrant male Turkish adolescents with poor competence in Germansuffered significantly more from social fears, general fears, feelings of loneliness, and

low self-esteem than those with good proficiency in German. In summary, there is

substantial evidence for an association between poor language skills and lowered peer

acceptance in children of immigrant backgrounds.

There is little research on language impairment and victimization. However, the

consistent results showing that language difficulties are associated with poor

acceptance by peers lead us to expect immigrant children with low competence in

the local language will be particularly vulnerable to victimization. In a sample of 5-year-old children a negative association between children’s verbal ability and victimization

was shown (Perren, Stadelmann, & von Klitzing, in press). Alsaker (2003) also found

kindergarten children with linguistic problems to be more often categorized as bully-

victims, while Conti-Ramsden and Botting (2004) reported that children with impair-

ments in language comprehension were more likely to be victimized by their peers.

The first aim of our study is to compare peer acceptance of Swiss and immigrant

children, taking children’s LLC into account. In general, we expect children of

immigrant background to be less accepted than Swiss children (Eckhart, 2005; Hinz,1993; Kronig et al., 2000; Ridder & Dollase, 1999). We will investigate the differential

impact of mothers’ versus fathers’ immigration background. In line with the findings of

other studies of immigrant children (Gertner et al., 1994; Vedder & O’Dowd, 1999), we

hypothesize that this effect is at least partially mediated by LLC.

Our second objective is to examine Swiss and immigrant children’s victimization in

relation to LLC as an individual risk factor and peer acceptance as a social risk factor.

Based on the available observations of poor peer acceptance of immigrant children and

the high negative association between peer acceptance and victimization (Hodges &Perry, 1999; Ladd & Troop-Gordon, 2003), we expect immigrant children to be

victimized more frequently. Again, we hypothesize that LLC mediates the effect of

immigrant background.

4 Renate von Grunigen et al.

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Research on victims shows that, there may be children with highly aggressive

behaviour: the so-called bully-victims or aggressive victims (Alsaker & Valkanover, 2001;

Olweus, 1993; Pellegrini, 1998; Pellegrini et al., 1999). At kindergarten age, the

association between bullying and victimization is rather strong (Perren & Alsaker, 2006).

We therefore also examine the role of Swiss and immigrant children’s own bullying

behaviour as a risk factor for victimization.Further, we examine gender differences. A study with kindergarten children revealed

that boys are at higher risk to be bully-victims and bullies than girls (Alsaker, 2003).

Other studies with schoolchildren showed that boys are more often bullies, bully-

victims, and also victims than girls (Olweus, 1996; Siann, Callaghan, Glissov, Lockhart, &

Rawson, 1994). In our study, we therefore expect boys to be more often victimized and

bullying others than girls. Moreover, we expect that boys are less accepted than girls

because aggressive children are not well liked by their peers (Hay, Payne, & Chadwick,

2004). We will also investigate whether gender moderates the impact of children’s LLCon peer acceptance and victimization.

Method

Sample and study designChildren were recruited using a clustered sampling design, in which the initial samplingunit was the community, then the school, and finally the kindergarten class. Larger

communities and their surroundings in the German-speaking part of the canton of

Bern were chosen on the basis of official statistics from the Swiss Federal Statistical

Office (www.bfs.admin.ch) to ensure that children of different economic, educational,

or cultural backgrounds were included. A quarter of the children in our sample came

from families with a migrant background, which corresponds with percentages in

the population (Bildungsplanung und Evaluation, Erziehungsdirektion des Kantons

Bern, 2005).Once communities had been selected, we first asked the school authorities

for the permission to conduct the study in their school/kindergarten. Second, we

asked the teachers, and finally, we asked the parents for permission to include

their child.

The study was conducted in a total of 67 kindergarten classes. Of all children

registered in these classes, 1,106 children were allowed to participate (informed

consent from 97.5% of the parents). For miscellaneous reasons, such as the family

moving to another location, illness, or in a few cases parents revoking their consent, thevalid sample contains 1,090 children (96% of the initial sample), consisting of 568 boys

(52.1%), and 522 girls (47.9%). Most children in Switzerland attend preschool education

in kindergarten before they go to primary school after their seventh birthday. In certain

cases, children may remain in kindergarten for an additional year (delayed entry into

school). Attendance at kindergarten is voluntary. Nevertheless, almost all children

attend kindergarten for at least 1 year at the age of about six. All children are together in

the same mixed-age group. Overall, the mean age of the sample was 5.8 years

(SD ¼ 0:58). For 97% of the children in the sample, age ranged between 4 years 8months and 6 years 7 months. The remaining children (3%) were older due to a delayed

entry into schooling.

Because of schools’ and teachers’ difficulties in allocating enough time to participate

in the study at the time proposed, it was decided to split data collection into two parts.

Immigration, and peer acceptance 5

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A first subsample participated during school year 2003/2004 (N ¼ 692) and a second

subsample during school year 2004/2005 (N ¼ 398). A few children had missing values

in different variables.

Instruments

Victimization and bullyingTeachers’ ratings in kindergarten showed high concordance with peer nominations in a

former study (Perren & Alsaker, 2006). In the present paper, we rely on teachers’

reports. However, even if results generally indicate that teachers’ reports are valid

(Griffin & Gross, 2004; Ladd & Kochenderfer-Ladd, 2002), it seems that teachers mayhave difficulty distinguishing bullying from other forms of conflict in kindergarten

(Alsaker & Valkanover, 2001). Therefore, in the present study, teachers were offered a

workshop (community-based) prior to data collection, during which they received

in-depth information about victimization and the differences between bullying and

conflicts. Teachers had an opportunity to become familiar with the questionnaires and to

ask questions for clarification. This procedure was expected to increase reliability

since all teachers using the instrument were provided with the same background

information. Teachers rated each child on four victimization and four bullying items(physical, verbal, acts against victim’s belongings, and exclusion; e.g. ‘child is victimized

verbally, i.e. laughed at, called names, teased : : : ’) using a five-point scale (never,

seldom, once, or several times a month, once a week, several times a week; Cronbach’s

avictimization ¼ :82, Cronbach’s abullying ¼ :84).

Parental backgroundBoth teachers and parents were asked to indicate the country of origin of father and

mother separately. If available, we relied on parents’ information because it was more

likely to be accurate; otherwise teachers’ responses were used (25% of the cases).

Interratings between teachers’ and parents’ data showed a good validity of teachers’ data

with 99.0% accordance between teachers and mothers, and 95.9% between teachers

and fathers.To detect whether having a foreign mother versus father contributed differentially to

the children’s peer acceptance and victimization two dichotomized variables were used

in the analyses (background mother: foreign ¼ 0; Swiss ¼ 1; background father:

foreign ¼ 0; Swiss ¼ 1).

Peer acceptanceThe ‘bus-trip interview’ (Alsaker & Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger, in press; Perren & Alsaker,

2006), based on a peer nomination method, was used to assess the acceptance of

each child in its kindergarten class. Children were interviewed by trained students.

A cardboard model of a bus with windows was used and photos from all classmates

were placed in front of the child. The children were asked to imagine going on a bus

trip and being allowed to sit next to the driver and to invite some children from thekindergarten class to come with them. The children could choose up to six peers and

were asked to stick the photos of the peers they would want to invite in the windows

of the bus. Nominations were transformed into percentages of possible nominations

in the class.

6 Renate von Grunigen et al.

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Local language competenceThe LLC of the child was measured by teachers’ ratings of the child’s proficiency in Swiss

German or German (‘How well does the child speak Swiss German or German?’). The

degree of competence was expressed on a five-point scale: 1, does not speak the local

language; 2, poor; 3, mediocre; 4, good; 5, very good competence.

Results

Overview of the statistical analysesFirst, we report descriptive results (gender, maternal and paternal background) and

bivariate associations between all study variables. Next, general linear model (GLM)

analyses are used to examine the impact of LLC on peer acceptance and victimization.

Finally, interaction effects of LLC and background of parents on peer acceptance and

victimization are investigated and potential mediating effects of LLC and peer

acceptance are analysed.

Descriptive resultsA multivariate GLM analysis was conducted to examine gender and parental background

effects on LLC, peer acceptance, victimization, and bullying (main effects only).

The analysis yielded significant gender differences for all variables. Girls showed

higher LLC and peer acceptance, whereas boys had higher scores for victimization and

bullying (Table 1).

Mothers’ and fathers’ background was significantly associated with LLC. As

expected, children with a mother or a father from Switzerland had a higher LLC thanchildren with a foreign mother or father. However, only mothers’ background yielded a

significant effect on peer acceptance and victimization. Children with a foreign mother

showed significantly lower peer acceptance and higher victimization than children with

a Swiss mother. No differences for mothers’ and fathers’ background were found

regarding bullying (Table 1).

Bivariate associationsMost of the study variables were significantly associated as can be seen in Table 2.

There was a high correlation between LLC and background of mothers and fathers.Furthermore, LLC showed a positive association with peer acceptance and was

negatively associated with victimization. Victimization was negatively associated with

peer acceptance and positively correlated with bullying.

Parental background and LLC predicting peer acceptanceTo analyse the impact of parental background and LLC on peer acceptance, a GLM

analysis was computed, with peer acceptance as dependent and parental background,

gender, and LLC (covariate) as independent variables. Additionally, the interaction

effects of LLC and parental background as well as the interaction effects of LLC andgender were analysed.

Again, there was a significant main effect for mothers’ but not fathers’ background

when controlled for LLC (Table 3). Children with a foreign mother were less accepted

than those with a Swiss mother (B ¼ 20:29).

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There was also a significant main effect for LLC. However, we found a significant

interaction effect between LLC and mothers’ background and LLC and gender. B values

showed that LLC did not significantly affect peer acceptance of children with a Swiss

mother (B ¼ 0:02), but it played a significant role for children with a foreign mother

(B ¼ 0:07), showing that for these children LLC was positively associated with peeracceptance. The interaction effect of LLC and gender showed that LLC was more

strongly associated with peer acceptance for girls (B ¼ 0:04) than for boys (B ¼ 0:02).

In sum, the analyses reveal that mothers’ background is relevant for children’s peer

acceptance while fathers’ background does not play a significant role. Comparing Tables

1 and 3, the analyses show that the effect of mothers’ background on peer acceptance is

partially mediated by LLC because the effect size of background substantially decreased

(Kraemer et al., 2001). The interaction of LLC and mothers’ background reveals that

good LLC plays a more important role for children with a foreign mother than for thosewith a Swiss mother.

Parental background and LLC predicting victimizationIn a first step, we conducted GLM analyses with victimization as dependent variable. To

analyse the potential mediating effect of peer acceptance, we conducted the analysis in

Table 1. Descriptive statistics of all variables by gender and parental background

Gender

Girls (N ¼ 467) Boys (N ¼ 495)

M SD M SD df F h

LLC 4.22 1.09 4.10 1.17 1 4.30* .00Peer acceptance 0.38 0.21 0.34 0.20 1 9.98* .01Victimization 1.42 .60 1.66 0.80 1 27.17*** .03Bullying 1.57 .70 1.82 0.91 1 22.51*** .02

Parental background

Mother foreign(N ¼ 340)

Mother Swiss(N ¼ 622)

M SD M SD df F h

LLC 3.21 1.17 4.68 0.70 1 230.28*** .19Peer acceptance 0.29 0.197 0.40 0.20 1 51.55*** .05Victimization 1.66 0.76 1.48 0.69 1 7.97** .01Bullying 1.77 0.88 1.66 0.79 1 3.49 .00

Father foreign(N ¼ 322)

Father Swiss(N ¼ 640)

M SD M SD df F h

LLC 3.21 1.23 4.64 0.71 1 230.28*** .19Peer acceptance 0.32 0.20 0.39 0.21 1 0.10 .00Victimization 1.62 0.75 1.50 0.70 1 0.02 .00Bullying 1.73 0.85 1.68 0.82 1 0.17 .00

Note. R2: LLC, .49; peer acceptance, .08; victimization, .04; bullying, .03; *p , :05; **p , :01;

***p , :001.

8 Renate von Grunigen et al.

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several steps. First, parental background, gender, and LLC (covariate) served as

independent variables. Again, the interaction effects of LLC and background of parentsand the interaction effects of LLC and gender were analysed. Second, peer acceptance

was entered. And third, children’s bullying behaviour was added as additional

independent variable.

We found a significant effect for mothers’ background, gender, and LLC (Table 4).

Children with foreign mothers (B ¼ 0:62) were more often victimized than children

with Swiss mothers. Girls were less often victimized (B ¼ 20:53) than boys and LLC

was negatively associated with victimization (B ¼ 20:11).

When peer acceptance was entered as additional variable, the significant effects ofgender, and LLC remained similar. The analysis showed that girls (B ¼ 20:58) were

significantly less often victimized and LLC (B ¼ 20:10) was negatively associated with

victimization (Table 4). However, there was an interaction effect between gender and

LLC. In boys, low LLC is more strongly associated with peer victimization (B ¼ 20:10)

than in girls (B ¼ 20:01). Additionally, the effect of peer acceptance (B ¼ 20:69)

was significant with a negative association to victimization. Compared to the first step

(Table 4) the effect of mothers’ background was no longer apparent when controlled for

peer acceptance. The analyses indicate that peer acceptance has a mediating functionfor the effect of mothers’ background on victimization.

Table 2. Associations between main study variables (Pearson correlations)

2. Backgrfather 3. Gender 4. LLC

5. Peeracc 6. Vict 7. Bull

1. Background mother(foreign ¼ 0, Swiss ¼ 1)

.59(**) .01 .62(**) .26(**) 2 .11(**) 2 .05

2. Background father(foreign ¼ 0, Swiss ¼ 1)

– 2 .01 .60(**) .16(**) 2 .07(*) 2 .01

3. Gender(girls ¼ 1; boys ¼ 2)

– 2 .04 2 .09(**) .17(**) .17(**)

4. LLC – .33*** 2 .17*** 2 .005. Peer acceptance – 2 .26*** 2 .066. Victimization – .55***7. Bullying –

*p , :05; **p , :01; ***p , :001 (two-tailed).

Table 3. Peer acceptance by parental background, gender, and LLC

df F h

Background mother (foreign ¼ 0; Swiss ¼ 1) 1 11.79** .01Background father (foreign ¼ 0; Swiss ¼ 1) 1 0.63 .00Background mother £ background father 1 3.11 .00Gender 1 1.92 .00LLC 1 50.02*** .05LLC £ background mother 1 7.47** .01LLC £ background father 1 0.000 .00LLC £ gender 1 4.77* .01

Note. R 2 ¼ :14; N ¼ 1; 001; *p , :05; **p , :01; ***p , :001.

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In a third step, bullying was additionally entered in the GLM analyses. Again, the

results showed significant effects for gender (B ¼ 20:33) with girls less often

victimized, and a negative association of LLC (B ¼ 20:11) and peer acceptance

(B ¼ 20:63) to victimization. There was also a significant effect for bullying (B ¼ 0:45),with a positive association to victimization.

Discussion

Our study using a large sample of kindergarten children of Swiss and immigrantbackgrounds, showed that immigrant children’s deficit in LLC is a risk factor for low

peer acceptance and higher peer victimization.

Peer acceptanceOverall, we found children with a Swiss mother to be more accepted by their peers than

children with an immigrant mother. These results correspond well with results from

other studies on peer acceptance of children in Swiss schools with immigrant children

less accepted than their Swiss peers (Eckhart, 2005; Kronig et al., 2000).

However, our results were qualified by an interaction between mothers’ background

and LLC. LLC was not significantly related to peer acceptance for children with a Swiss

mother, but there was a positive association between LLC and peer acceptance for

children with a foreign mother, showing that good LLC becomes important when thereis an immigrant background of the mother. These findings support results from other

studies which show that poor local language proficiency of children of immigrant

background impairs their integration into the group more than their ethnic background

does (Gertner et al., 1994; Vedder & O’Dowd, 1999).

Table 4. Victimization by parental background, gender, LLC, peer acceptance and bullying

Victimization

Step 1a Step 2b Step 3c

df F h df F h df F h

Background mother(foreign ¼ 0, Swiss ¼ 1)

1 4.23* .00 1 2.17 .00 1 0.25 .00

Background father(foreign, 0; Swiss, 1)

1 2.38 .00 1 2.17 .00 1 0.79 .00

Background mother £background father

1 0.59 .00 1 0.11 .00 1 0.88 .00

Gender 1 9.81** .01 1 11.89** .01 1 5.14* .01LLC 1 11.73** .01 1 4.55* .01 1 13.38*** .01LLC £ background mother 1 3.47 .00 1 2.02 .00 1 0.589 .00LLC £ background father 1 1.60 .00 1 1.86 .00 1 0.453 .00LLC £ gender 1 3.79 .00 1 5.72* .01 1 2.924 .00Peer acceptance 1 35.20*** .04 1 40.81*** .04Bullying 1 371.55*** .28R2 .06 .09 .35

Note. (a) N ¼ 980, (b) N ¼ 976, and (c) N ¼ 962; *p , .05; **p , .01; ***p , .001.

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On the basis of these results we suggest that LLC works as a protective factor against

prejudice and rejection for immigrant children. In the selection of friends, proximity,

age, and similarity are the most basic factors (Epstein, 1989), and various sociometric

studies show that students prefer similarity of ethnicity (Dollase, 1999). Perceptions of

cultural differences can form the basis for negative stereotypes and discriminatory

practices (Verkuyten, 2006). In a study of cultural minority groups in Spain and Englandpupils reported the main reason for cultural victimization as ‘being different’ (Monks,

Ortega-Ruiz, & Rodriguez-Hidalgo, 2008). According to the contact hypotheses, actual

contact between children of different ethnic backgrounds can improve relationships

by reducing prejudice (Allport, 1979; Eckhart, 2005). It goes without saying that a

lack of proficiency in a common language will hamper the contact between children.

A study of Swiss and immigrant children showed, that speech-contacts reduced

prejudice from Swiss against immigrant children (Eckhart, 2005). We conclude that

children in our study who have immigrant backgrounds and good LLC are betterplaced to overcome cultural differences and prejudice by speech contacts than are those

with poor LLC.

However, speech contact is not sufficient for inter-ethnic peer acceptance. More

important seems to be the development of relationships and warm, friendly interactions

(Dollase, 1999). Linguistic competence is part of developing social competence and

vital for children’s successful participation in everyday social life (Botting & Conti-

Ramsden, 2008; Cutting & Dunn, 2006; Schieffelin & Ochs, 1986). We suggest that

children with poor LLC are perceived as less competent in social contacts. They are lessable to communicate, to react to peers’ initiatives, to set limits in conflicts, to show

prosocial behaviour, and to follow instructions from the teacher.

Several studies reveal that a substantial proportion of children with specific language

impairment also experience interaction problems (Brinton & Fujiki, 1999; Conti-

Ramsden & Botting, 2004; Redmond & Rice, 1998). Immigrant preschool children with

ESL were found to have similar interaction patterns to children with speech

impairments. They showed shy behaviour and low initiative in interactions (Rice

et al., 1991).In summary, we assume that children with an immigrant background of the mother

and poor LLC have less opportunity to overcome prejudice and distance by speech

contacts than those with good LLC. Furthermore, we suppose that they are perceived as

less competent in social situations which decreases their attractiveness to other

children.

VictimizationOur descriptive analyses revealed that children with a foreign mother were at greater

risk of victimization than children with a Swiss mother. Further, like other studies that

showed negative associations between language competence and victimization

(Alsaker, 2003; Conti-Ramsden & Botting, 2004; Langewin, Bortnick, Hammer, &

Wiebe, 1998), we found LLC to be a risk factor for victimization. As expected,

descriptive results showed that children with a foreign mother or father had significantly

lower LLC than those with a Swiss mother or father. However, the main effect of LLCshowed that Swiss children with poor LLC are also at risk of victimization, for example

when they live in a bilingual town, when their parents are naturalized foreigners, or

when they suffer from a specific language impairment. Victimization of children may

focus on individual factors or on social category membership such as immigration

Immigration, and peer acceptance 11

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Copyright © The British Psychological SocietyReproduction in any form (including the internet) is prohibited without prior permission from the Society

background (Verkuyten, 2006). In our study, the individual factor LLC and the social

factor of mothers’ background played both an important role.

To analyse a further social risk factor for victimization, we included peer acceptance

in our analyses. Although controlled for LLC and gender, peer acceptance showed a

significant negative association with victimization. This is in line with other studies on

victimization and peer acceptance (Hodges & Perry, 1999; Ladd & Troop-Gordon, 2003).When controlled for peer acceptance children with a foreign mother showed no longer

higher levels of peer victimization. This indicates a mediating function of peer

acceptance for the effect of mothers’ background on victimization.

While pure victims do not behave aggressively towards their peers bully-victims

show aggressive behaviour (Alsaker & Valkanover, 2001; Olweus, 1993; Pellegrini et al.,

1999; Salmivalli & Nieminen, 2002; Unnever, 2005). To control for this group,

we entered bullying as a further variable in our analysis. As expected, bullying was

positively related to victimization. This result replicates findings of other studieswith positive associations between aggressive behaviour and victimization (Alsaker

& Gutzwiller-Helfenfinger, in press; Hanish & Guerra, 2000; Roland & Idsoe, 2001).

However, there was no association between bullying and parental background,

showing that children of an immigrant background are not at risk of victimization due to

their own aggressive or bullying behaviour. The result is consistent with Austrian studies

which found that immigrant children were less often bullies than were their Austrian

peers (Strohmeier & Spiel, 2003). This is interesting in view of the current intense

discussion of aggression by children and adolescents of immigrant backgrounds. Swisscriminal statistics for the year 2003 reveal that juveniles of immigrant backgrounds are

5.5 times more likely to be involved in violent crime than are Swiss adolescents. The

greatest differences are documented in acts of physical aggression, assault, and fighting

(BFS, 2005). Physical aggression is a highly stable characteristic (Tremblay, Hartup, &

Archer, 2005), and violence in both adolescence (Tremblay & Schaal, 1996) and

adulthood (Loeber, 1990; Pulkkinen & Pitkanen, 1993) can be predicted to a large

extent by aggressive and bullying behaviour in childhood (Baldry & Farrington, 2000).

In our analysis, we could not show that children with an immigrant background wereat higher risk for such development. Other factors seem to be important in a

developmental path leading to violent delinquency, including low socio-economic

status (Eisner, Ribeaud, & Bittel, 2006), deficits in education, the effect of the media,

norms of manhood (Baier & Pfeiffer, 2005), and parents’ culturally influenced beliefs

about aggression (Baier & Pfeiffer, 2005; Chen, French, & Schneider, 2006; Schneider,

Attili, Vermigli, & Younger, 1997; Tietjen, 2006).

Immigrant children may also be at risk of developing aggressive and antisocial

behaviour as a result of low peer acceptance and victimization. Social rejection leads toincreased aggression (Kirkpatrick, Waugh, Valencia, & Webster, 2002; Twenge et al.,

2007). The US Surgeon General’s Report on Youth Violence (2001) found that social

exclusion (operationalized as ‘weak social ties’) was the strongest risk factor for

adolescent violence. A further study of 5,396 adolescents aged from 15 to 18 years

showed that peer rejection and shaming experiences, i.e. being ridiculed or humiliated

by others were strongly related to physical and verbal aggressive behaviours (Aslund,

Starrin, Leppert, & Nilsson, 2009). As proposed by the confluence model of antisocial

behaviour (Dishion, Patterson, & Griesler, 1994), rejected peers tend to affiliate withother rejected peers; in these groups deviant behaviour may be reinforced. Low peer

acceptance and peer victimization experiences of immigrant children in kindergarten

might thus be a first step in a negative developmental pathway.

12 Renate von Grunigen et al.

CORRECTED PROOF

Copyright © The British Psychological SocietyReproduction in any form (including the internet) is prohibited without prior permission from the Society

The role of genderOur study yielded certain important gender differences. On the one hand, mothers’

background emerged as a stronger factor regarding children’s peer relations than

fathers’ background. As in Switzerland mothers are mostly the main caregivers, they

assumingly have a stronger influence on children’s behaviour and attitudes than fathers

– at least in this age group. Culture influenced beliefs can be transmitted throughparent–child interactions and parenting (Nelson, Nelson, Hart, Yang, & Jin, 2006;

Schneider et al., 1997; Tietjen, 2006).

In addition, child gender also emerged as an important variable. Boys were more

frequently victimized and also were more frequently bullying other children themselves

than girls. This goes in line with studies consistently showing that boys are more frequently

involved in bully/victim problems than girls (Olweus, 1996; Siann et al., 1994). In addition,

boys were also less accepted than girls. We assume that this gender difference is related

to the finding that boys show higher levels of overt aggression and that overt aggression isa risk factor for low peer acceptance (Hay et al., 2004; Smith, Rose, & Schwartz-Mette,

2009; Tomada & Schneider, 1997).

In addition, the significant interaction effects between LLC and gender also indicated

that gender is a moderating factor. However, this differential effect was not consistent.

In boys, low LLC was more strongly associated with peer victimization, whereas in girls

the association was stronger regarding peer acceptance. Further studies should

elaborate more on the potential effect of gender in the emergence of peer problems in

immigrant children.

Strengths and limitations of the studyThe present study is based on a large representative sample with a high proportion of

children of immigrant backgrounds. However, we did not have data on parental

nationality for all children because of missing values in the teachers’ or parent’s data.This reduced our sample for some analyses.

As in other studies, peer acceptance was measured by a peer nomination method.

We did not include negative nominations to assess peer rejection as well. Further

research on immigrant children and victimization might address this issue.

To assess bullying and victimization, teachers’ reports were used. Earlier results

showed that kindergarten teachers’ reports on victimization and bullying correspond

well with children’s nominations of bullies and victims (Alsaker & Valkanover, 2001;

Ladd & Kochenderfer-Ladd, 2002; Perren & Alsaker, 2006).To measure LLC, we relied on a single item and only included teachers’ reports.

Nevertheless, the analysis yielded the expected effects. Further studies should include

other informants, such as the child him- or herself (tests), or peers and parents, because

multiple informants yield more valid and reliable data (Kraemer et al., 2003). More

language competence tests should also be used to find out the underlying reasons for the

language problems and to distinguish general verbal and cognitive problems from

specific aspects of LLC.

Further studies in Switzerland and in other countries are needed to prove whetherresults can be generalized because results might be context dependent.

Implications for prevention and interventionVictimization has serious short- and long-term consequences for both victims and bullies

(Alsaker & Olweus, 2002; Deater-Deckard, 2001; Hawker & Boulton, 2000). Measures to

Immigration, and peer acceptance 13

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Copyright © The British Psychological SocietyReproduction in any form (including the internet) is prohibited without prior permission from the Society

protect children from victimization should therefore be taken. As an intervention

protecting against low peer acceptance and victimization we suggest improving the LLC

of immigrant children. Nursery schools for preschoolchildren before they enter

kindergarten may play an important role here. Lanfranchi (2002) found that immigrant

children of 4 or 6 years of age, who had additional caregivers in playgroups and day

nurseries or a day carer, showed better social integration at the age of 5 or 7 years inkindergarten or first school class than children without these complementary

arrangements. In addition to reduce vulnerabilities of potential victims, it is also

important to consider the role of the peer group and classroom context. Specifically,

children should be educated to be more open towards diversity and cultural

differences in order to improve their readiness to integrate immigrant children into their

peer group.

In our study, we have tried to connect two concepts which are not often analysed in

relation to victimization: immigration background and LLC. While shaping children’sfamily circumstances, such as parents’ cultural beliefs, family systems, or socio-

economic factors, is difficult and complex, improving their LLC is an early and concrete

step towards their better peer acceptance and therefore less victimization in our

school classes.

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (National

Research Programme 52, ‘Childhood, Youth and Intergenerational Relationships’ Grant No. 4052-

69011) to F. D. A.

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