Perceived Discrimination and Students’ Behavioural Changes: The Role of Cultural Background and Societal Influence

Abstract

Discrimination among students in educational institutes is one of the key reasons for their behavioural changes. Research has increasingly recognized the discriminating behaviour of teachers, but the impact of perceived discrimination by teachers on students’ behavioural changes has not been investigated enough. Applying a theoretical model based on Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST), the present study aimed to investigate the manner in which students’ behavioural changes were determined by their teachers’ perceived discrimination, after knowing family background and how this relationship was moderated by societal influence and cultural background. A sample survey of 215 class 8 to class 10 students studying in rural and urban schools located in Krishnagiri district in Tamil Nadu, India was administered through questionnaires and partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to evaluate the gathered data. Overall, perceived teacher discrimination of students based on their caste, creed, and financial background significantly influenced students behaviour. The association between students’ behavioural changes and perceived discrimination was significantly influenced by cultural background. However, societal influence did not significantly change the effect of perceived students’ discrimination on their behavioural changes.