Status Dynamics in the Classroom: Roma Children’s Implicit and Explicit Preference for Majority Children Across Age Groups

Abstract

Roma children are often segregated within the Serbian education system: They are disproportionally placed in special schools or put in ethnically homogeneous classrooms. Even in nonsegregated environments, they face everyday discrimination—an 80% dropout rate from elementary school testifies to that. Being a stigmatized minority might contribute to negative social identity, manifested in reversed in-group–out-group preferences. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated (a) if Roma children exhibit implicit/explicit preference for the majority group, and compared their preferences with those of majority children; (b) if these preferences differ in two age groups (second/third and seventh-grade elementary school); and (c) if they relate to academic self-efficacy. A total of 89 children completed the implicit associations test (IAT) test, three measures of explicit ethnic preference (semantic differential, feeling thermometer, and social distance), and a measure of academic self-efficacy. While Serbian children showed consistent explicit and implicit in-group preference, in Roma, we found out-group preferences on both sets of measures. Age-wise, the older group of Roma showed less explicit out-group preferences only in social distance, but not in other measures; the older children showed higher implicit out-group preference (Roma), and slightly lower implicit in-group preference (Serbs), in comparison with the younger. Finally, implicit, but not explicit, out-group preference predicted lower academic self-efficacy in Roma. Our findings demonstrate that out-group preference in Roma children is a robust phenomenon, and that implicit preference is stronger with age. This implies that schooling alone will not reduce negative social identity and that the minority children need to be strategically empowered.