Multiculturalism in the classroom: Ethnic attitudes and classmates’ beliefs

Abstract

As classmates form an important social reference group for preadolescents, this study examined the relation between classmates’ multicultural beliefs and the ethnic attitudes of fifth- and sixth-grade ethnic majority students (ages 9–13). Thirty-eight school classes in the Netherlands participated. We focused on the native Dutch (n=548) but information from all students (N=838) was used to assess classmates’ beliefs and other classroom variables. Multilevel analyses showed that classmates’ multicultural beliefs were positively related to students’ ethnic out-group attitudes, especially for children who felt more accepted by their peers, and negatively to their attitude toward the Dutch in-group. These links were mediated by students’ personal multicultural beliefs, and they were independent of the proportion of co-ethnics in the classroom. Results indicate that it is important to look at specific peer groups (i.e. classmates) to understand children's interethnic attitudes.