Ethnic Attitudes Among Elementary School Students in a Multiethnic School Community

Abstract

Very little is known about children's ethnic attitudes in multicultural contexts. The current two studies examined the ethnic attitudes of students in a multiethnic elementary school in Hawai'i. In Study 1, children were interviewed and surveyed about their attitudes toward the different ethnic groups present at their school. Previous research on the children's ethnic attitudes suggests an interaction between developing abilities to process information and direct experiences with different groups of people. Consistent with this perspective, the results from Study 1 indicated age-related differences in the way children described different ethnic groups. In Study 2, participants were asked to nominate children in their school to fulfill certain roles that connoted positive and negative judgments of the nominees. Results of Study 2 indicated some differences from that of research in homogenous communities. In general, children's nominations were influenced more by sex in-group preferences than ethnic in-group preferences.