Can they be friends?: Variability and stability of friendship choices among German and Turkish preadolescents entering ethnically heterogeneous schools

This thesis dealt with the question how preadolescents entering ethnically heterogeneous secondary schools make decisions about peer-group relationships. The overarching question, how cross-ethnic friendships form, was dealt with by examining: (1) the trajectory of friendship choices in newly formed school classes over the course of one school year; (2) the role of several key predictors of preference for same-ethnic friends (PSF), namely outgroup orientation, intergroup attitudes, peer norms, contact conditions, and shared identity; (3) the role of ethnic group membership in determining differences in friendship choices and in predicting PSF; (4) the stability of same- and cross-ethnic friendships; and (5) the role of empathy and peer norms in predicting the stability of cross-ethnic friendships. The main findings were: First, Turkish preadolescents showed marked PSF at the beginning of the year while German preadolescents did not. Second, the trajectories of PSF were different for German and Turkish preadolescents. While German preadolescents showed a curvilinear trend, Turkish preadolescents showed a linear downward trend. Importantly, both groups did not show significant PSF at the end of the year anymore. Further individual variation in PSF was explained by the predictor variables. Specifically, outgroup orientation, intergroup attitudes, peer norms, and perceived contact conditions helped explain observed variability among German preadolescents. Among Turkish preadolescents, intergroup attitudes, peer norms, and the time-varying effect of class identification explained variance in PSF. The analysis of friendship stability revealed that, as predicted, cross-ethnic friendships were less stable than same-ethnic friendships. It was further shown that for German but not Turkish preadolescents, empathy and positive peer norms about cross-ethnic friendships had a facilitating role in maintaining cross-ethnic friendships over a five-month-period

Persönlichkeit und Sozialisation

Interindividuelle Unterschiede in Persönlichkeitsfaktoren, ideologischen Einstellungen (Autoritarismus, soziale Dominanzorientierung), Empathie und Ekelsensitivität erklären einen substantiellen Anteil der Varianz in Vorurteilen, einem Schlüsselfaktor bei der Entstehung von Intergruppenkonflikten. In diesem Kapitel werden Forschungsbefunde zu diesen Zusammenhängen vorgestellt und es wird auf die Grenzen der Erklärungskraft interindividueller Unterschiede verwiesen, die häufig in einer Interaktion mit situationalen Merkmalen des sozialen Kontextes Vorurteile bedingen. Zudem stellen wir Forschung zur Sozialisation von Vorurteilen, von Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen, Empathie und ideologischen Einstellungen vor. Wir beschreiben mit dem Dual Process Motivational Model einen integrativen Ansatz, der eine Brücke zwischen persönlichkeitstheoretischen und situationalen Erklärungsmodellen baut und sie mit sozialisationstheoretischen Annahmen verknüpft und stellen aktuelle Forschungsbefunde dazu vor. Wir schließen mit einem Fazit, in dem wir auf angewandte Implikationen zur Reduktion von Intergruppenkonflikten eingehen

Changes in Turkish- and resettler-origin adolescents' acculturation profiles of identification: A three-year longitudinal study from Germany

Little is known on how ethnic minority adolescents develop acculturation profiles of identification (i.e., how they combine their ethnic and national identification, such as being high on both and thus rather “integrated” or high on ethnic and low on national and thus rather “separated”). In a first step, this 3-year longitudinal study classified Turkish (n = 344) and resettler-origin (n = 121) ethnic minority adolescents living in Germany (Mage = 14.2, SD = 1.54, 51.6% female) according to their levels of ethnic and national identification. Latent profile analyses identified four profiles (separated, integrated, medium-ethnic, low-ethnic) for the former and three profiles (separated, integrated, low-and-medium ethnic) for the latter group. Latent transition analyses revealed considerable instability of profile attributions over time. Integration declined among both groups and results provided no evidence that national group boundaries are more permeable for resettler-origin than for Turkish-origin adolescents. Additional analyses revealed that perceived ethnic discrimination affected the probability to be in a particular profile but did not moderate transition probabilities. Overall, results suggest that during early-to-mid adolescence it is increasingly difficult to uphold a dual identity

Young European citizens : An individual by context perspective on adolescent European citizenship

This study examined the effects of individual, school-level and country-level variables and their interactions on two components of adolescents’ active European citizenship: trust in European institutions and participation at the European level. For comparison, country-related institutional trust and participation were also predicted. Using multilevel regression models, we re-analysed a subsample of survey data from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study, collected from 14-year-old students (n = 72,466) in 22 European countries in 2009. Results showed that higher cognitive engagement with politics (e.g., political interest), more opportunities for learning about Europe at school, and country wealth and social equality were positively associated with both aspects of adolescents’ active European citizenship. In contrast to country-related participation, the participatory dimension of active European citizenship was also positively related to a higher socioeconomic status of adolescent’s classroom and family, an association that was more pronounced in less wealthy and post-communist countries