Abstract
Social norms in general have an important role in the regulation of intergroup relations. However, the effects of one specific type of social norms-in-group norms about intergroup contact-have not yet been extensively studied, especially among groups of different status or in different intergroup contexts. The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of three types of contact norms (peer, parental and school) on four intergroup outcomes (in-group bias, social distance, tendency to discriminate, prosocial behaviour towards the outgroup) among ethnic majority and minority adolescents from four different intergroup contexts of the Republic of Croatia, as well as to test for moderating effects of age, social status and intergroup context in the strength of these effects. The research was carried out on a sample of 1440 elementary and high school students, members of Croatian majority, and Serbian, Hungarian, Czech, and Italian minority. The results indicated that although all three types of norms predict most of the intergroup outcomes, their relative importance depends on the specific type of intergroup outcome (attitudinal or behavioural), group social status (majority or minority), intergroup context (history of a recent intergroup conflict or not), and for peer norms on the age of the adolescent.
Highlights
Social norms have long been considered important determinants of intergroup relations [1,2]
Comparisons on social distance variable revealed no significant differences in mean values of peer (p = .100), parental (p = .132), and school norms (p = .255) variables, showing that the probability of missing data on dependent variables is unrelated to the predictor variables
The purpose of this research was to examine the relative effects of peer, parental and school norms about intergroup contact on positive and negative indicators of intergroup relations in a diverse sample of majority and minority adolescents of various ages living in four different majority-minority contexts
Summary
Social norms have long been considered important determinants of intergroup relations [1,2]. Some authors even argue that stereotypes and prejudices are predominantly the result of shared in-group norms [3,4]. The idea is based on the assumption that individuals belonging to subjectively meaningful social groups learn and share information about the appropriate treatment of relevant outgroups and that such information influences their intergroup attitudes and behaviours. A substantive body of research involving adults, children and adolescents has confirmed that in-group norms, as perceived by the group members, predict a wide range of intergroup outcomes, such as in-group favouritism [5], outgroup attitudes [6,7,8], quantity and quality of intergroup contact [9], as well as positive and negative intergroup. Normative approach to intergroup relations of adolescents. The funder has no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
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