Ethnocentrism in Secondary School Students in the Netherlands: Agreement, Absence of Opinion, and Education

Abstract

Research on norms and values of pupils in secondary education in The Netherlands has systematically shown that pupils of lower education are more conservative, authoritarian, and ethnocentrist than pupils at higher levels of education. We analysed whether such results can be explained as a methodological artifact, in particular whether there is evidence of a tendency to agree with items irrespective of item content due to less educated pupils having less well developed opinions. 2,000 pupils in The Netherlands, randomly selected from various educational levels participated. Analysis confirmed that pupils at lower educational levels scored higher on items regarding ethnocentrism than those at higher educational levels. Also pupils at lower educational levels had greater difficulty in forming an opinion on the issues mentioned in the ethnocentrism scale. Their agreement, however, was related to the content of the items: reversed items on ethnocentrism, designed to measure a positive attitude towards ethnic minorities, received less agreement among pupils at lower educational levels. A relationship between difficulty in forming an opinion and agreement was not found.