WHY THEY DON’T LIKE ME: SOCIO-EMOTIONAL CHALLENGES OF PEER VICTIMIZATION AMONG YOUTH IN LAHORE, PAKISTAN

Abstract

Peer victimization is a significant social problem in higher education globally influencing the emotional well-being and social adjustment. Peer Victimization is a repeated activity of aggression, abuse and violence by a peer or group through coercive power physically, verbally, emotionally and socially. The present study aims to explore the experiences of peer victimization among university students including the patterns, sources and consequences, focusing on how these experiences reshape their meanings of social belonging or exclusion. The research is positioned epistemologically in the interpretive paradigm and thus it has been conducted using qualitative research method. For the aforementioned purpose, 20 in-depth interviews were conducted with young adults (18-25) using a purposive sampling technique. The data was analyzed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke). The findings of the study suggest that sources of peer victimization among university students are physical appearance, trends following, financial status, and power display through informal patterns of ridiculing and intense emotional torture or threats. Social exclusion, emotional distress, poor self-esteem and identity suffering were the consequences of peer victimization. The findings of this research can be used by student counselors and can support the emotional well-being of victims and inform interventions aimed at perpetrators.