Unpacking Attitudes on Immigrants and Refugees: A Focus on Household Composition and News Media Consumption

David De Coninck,Leen D'Haenens,Marlies Debrael,Rozane De Cock,Koen Matthijs

doi:10.17645/mac.v7i1.1599

Abstract

This study examines how household composition and news media consumption and trust are related to attitudes towards two minority groups—immigrants and refugees—in a representative sample of the adult population (n = 6000) in Belgium, Sweden, France, and the Netherlands. We find that Swedes hold the most positive attitudes towards both groups, while the French are found to be most negative. The Belgians and Dutch hold moderate attitudes. There is also evidence that attitudes on refugees are more negative than attitudes on immigrants in Sweden and France, but not in Belgium and the Netherlands. Using structural equation modeling, we find that household composition is not directly related to attitudes, but indirect effects through socio-economic status and media consumption indicate that singles hold more negative attitudes than couples. Public television consumption, popular online news consumption, and trust in media are positively related to attitudes, whereas commercial television consumption is negatively associated with them.

Highlights

Research has shown that households are hubs of attitude formation, innovation, and diffusion, as household members socialize one another (Roest, Dubas, Gerris, & Engels, 2009; Woelfel & Haller, 1971)
With Belgium as the benchmark, we note that Sweden has significantly higher means on all items for both immigrants and refugees—indicating more positive attitudes
We focused on two minority groups, immigrants and refugees and considered the influence of household composition and media consumption and trust on public opinion on these two groups in the adult population in Belgium, Sweden, France, and the Netherlands

Summary

Introduction

Research has shown that households are hubs of attitude formation, innovation, and diffusion, as household members socialize one another (Roest, Dubas, Gerris, & Engels, 2009; Woelfel & Haller, 1971). This socialization shapes attitudes on a number of ideological domains (e.g., gender, politics, religion) (Glass, Bengtson, & Dunham, 1986; Moen, Erickson, & Dempster-McClain, 1997; Sabatier & Lannegrand-Willems, 2005). Despite the increasing importance of the migration issue, there is no research on the

Results

Discussion

Conclusion