RT Article
T1 Hate Crime Victimization Among Youth in Iceland: The Role of Immigrant Background and Classroom Diversity
JF Journal of contemporary criminal justice
VO 41
IS 4
SP 787
OP 800
A1 Valdimarsdóttir, Margrét
LA English
YR 2025
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1942659210
AB This study investigates violent hate crime victimization among adolescents in Iceland, focusing on the role of immigrant background and classroom diversity. Drawing on data from the International Self-Report Delinquency Study (ISRD4), I analyzed responses from more than 3,000 randomly selected students aged 13 to 17 in the capital area using multilevel logistic regression. I examined (a) whether immigrant youth are at greater risk of experiencing hate crime victimization than native peers and (b) whether classroom composition moderates this relationship. Hate crime victimization is measured as exposure to threats or physical violence based on race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, or similar characteristics. Results show that first- and second-generation immigrant youth report significantly higher rates of hate crime victimization than their native peers, with the risk especially elevated for first-generation youth. While classroom diversity has no overall effect, cross-level interactions reveal that more diverse classrooms reduce victimization among first-generation immigrants but increase it among second-generation youth. These findings offer nuanced support for both minority threat theory and intergroup contact theory. The study contributes to the limited quantitative literature on hate crime in Iceland and underscores the importance of considering classroom context when examining the social mechanisms shaping adolescent victimization.
K1 Iceland
K1 prejudice-based violence
K1 immigrant youth
K1 hate crime victimization
DO 10.1177/10439862251385374