Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2451-2463 |
| Number of pages | 13 |
| Journal | Developmental Psychology |
| Volume | 55 |
| Issue number | 11 |
| Early online date | 12 Sept 2019 |
| Publication status | Published - Nov 2019 |
Abstract
Prejudice is one of the major threats to the cohesion of multicultural societies and adolescent years play a key role in its development. How social contexts contribute to adolescent prejudice is, however, not yet well-known. This 3-wave study of Swedish majority adolescents (N = 659; MageT1 = 13.41; MageT3 = 17.33) examined the effects of parents' and peers' attitudes on changes in youth attitudes toward immigrants as well as an interplay between parent, peer, and school context. The results of multilevel analyses revealed that within-person fluctuations in youth attitudes were positively related to fluctuations in peers' but not parents' attitudes. Both parents' and peers' attitudes, however, significantly predicted the differences in level and rate of change in attitudes between adolescents. In addition to these direct effects, mediation analysis showed that parents' attitudes predicted youth attitudes indirectly, via the attitudes of the peers youth associate with, suggesting an overall greater importance of parental bias. Peers' attitudes did not moderate the effects of parents but youth from ethnically diverse classrooms were less affected by their parents' prejudice than youth from less diverse classrooms. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the role of social context in the development of prejudice. They suggest that while parents set the stage, peers explain the day-to-day variation in prejudice, and that classroom diversity offsets some of the negative effects of parental bias.
Keywords
- Adolescent prejudice, Anti-immigrant attitudes, Classroom diversity, Parents, Peers
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences(all)
- Demography
- Psychology(all)
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Social Sciences(all)
- Life-span and Life-course Studies
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In: Developmental Psychology, Vol. 55, No. 11, 11.2019, p. 2451-2463.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Driven by Context? The Interrelated Effects of Parents, Peers, Classrooms on Development of Prejudice Among Swedish Majority Adolescents
AU - Miklikowska, Marta
AU - Bohman, Andrea
AU - Titzmann, Peter F.
N1 - Funding Information: This research was supported by grants from the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences (Grant P16-0446:1), the Swedish Research Council (Grant 2016-04165), and the Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (Grant 2016-07177). This study was made possible by access to data from the Political Socialization Program, a longitudinal research program at YeS (Youth & Society) at Örebro University, Sweden. Responsible for the planning, implementation, and financing of the collection of data were professors Erik Amnå, Mats Ekström, Margaret Kerr, and Håkan Stattin. The data collection was supported by grants from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.
PY - 2019/11
Y1 - 2019/11
N2 - Prejudice is one of the major threats to the cohesion of multicultural societies and adolescent years play a key role in its development. How social contexts contribute to adolescent prejudice is, however, not yet well-known. This 3-wave study of Swedish majority adolescents (N = 659; MageT1 = 13.41; MageT3 = 17.33) examined the effects of parents' and peers' attitudes on changes in youth attitudes toward immigrants as well as an interplay between parent, peer, and school context. The results of multilevel analyses revealed that within-person fluctuations in youth attitudes were positively related to fluctuations in peers' but not parents' attitudes. Both parents' and peers' attitudes, however, significantly predicted the differences in level and rate of change in attitudes between adolescents. In addition to these direct effects, mediation analysis showed that parents' attitudes predicted youth attitudes indirectly, via the attitudes of the peers youth associate with, suggesting an overall greater importance of parental bias. Peers' attitudes did not moderate the effects of parents but youth from ethnically diverse classrooms were less affected by their parents' prejudice than youth from less diverse classrooms. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the role of social context in the development of prejudice. They suggest that while parents set the stage, peers explain the day-to-day variation in prejudice, and that classroom diversity offsets some of the negative effects of parental bias.
AB - Prejudice is one of the major threats to the cohesion of multicultural societies and adolescent years play a key role in its development. How social contexts contribute to adolescent prejudice is, however, not yet well-known. This 3-wave study of Swedish majority adolescents (N = 659; MageT1 = 13.41; MageT3 = 17.33) examined the effects of parents' and peers' attitudes on changes in youth attitudes toward immigrants as well as an interplay between parent, peer, and school context. The results of multilevel analyses revealed that within-person fluctuations in youth attitudes were positively related to fluctuations in peers' but not parents' attitudes. Both parents' and peers' attitudes, however, significantly predicted the differences in level and rate of change in attitudes between adolescents. In addition to these direct effects, mediation analysis showed that parents' attitudes predicted youth attitudes indirectly, via the attitudes of the peers youth associate with, suggesting an overall greater importance of parental bias. Peers' attitudes did not moderate the effects of parents but youth from ethnically diverse classrooms were less affected by their parents' prejudice than youth from less diverse classrooms. The findings contribute to a better understanding of the role of social context in the development of prejudice. They suggest that while parents set the stage, peers explain the day-to-day variation in prejudice, and that classroom diversity offsets some of the negative effects of parental bias.
KW - Adolescent prejudice
KW - Anti-immigrant attitudes
KW - Classroom diversity
KW - Parents
KW - Peers
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85072619151&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1037/dev0000809
DO - 10.1037/dev0000809
M3 - Article
C2 - 31512893
AN - SCOPUS:85072619151
VL - 55
SP - 2451
EP - 2463
JO - Developmental Psychology
JF - Developmental Psychology
SN - 0012-1649
IS - 11
ER -