Developmental Changes in Ingroup Favouritism among Bilingual and Unilingual Francophone and Anglophone Students

Abstract

Relations between bilingualism and intergroup attitudes are examined among 663 Francophone students in Quebec, 521 Anglophone cadets at an Ontario military college, and in a longitudinal Anglophone 271-student sample from an Ontario university. In each of the three samples, among older students, unilinguals display ingroupfavouritism; bilinguals do not. Educational level is positively related to ingroup favouritism among unilinguals. Among bilinguals, educational level and favouritism are negatively related in all samples but, while Anglophone bilinguals move from ingroup favouritism to equal evaluations at later levels, Francophone bilinguals move from outgroup favouritism at earlier levels to equal evaluations later. AmongAnglophone respondents, contact with the second-language group is associated with greater levels of ingroup favouritism among respondents with low levels of second-language proficiency. Longitudinal analyses, in the Anglophone university sample, suggest that unilinguals undergo negative contact effects, whereas at the military college, longitudinal analyses (n = 336) reveal increased ingroup favouritism by cadets experiencing failure in second-language training. Among Francophones, relations of bilingualism with attitudes toward other groups are mixed in direction, whereas among Anglophones, relations are uniformly positive. Results are discussed with respect to social identity theory and the social psychology of language.