How do Saudi Children and Their Mothers Evaluate Religion-Based Exclusion?

Abstract

This study focuses on Saudi mothers’ and their children’s judgments and reasoning about exclusion based on religion. Sixty Saudi children and their mothers residing in Saudi Arabia and 58 Saudi children and their mothers residing in the United Kingdom were interviewed. They were read vignettes depicting episodes of exclusion based on the targets’ religion ordered by peers or a father. Participants were asked to judge the acceptability of exclusion and justify their judgments. Both groups rated the religious-based exclusion of children from peer interactions as unacceptable. Saudi children and mothers residing in the UK were less accepting of exclusion than were children and mothers residing in Saudi Arabia. In addition, children and mothers residing in the UK were more likely to evaluate exclusion as a moral issue and less likely as a social conventional issue than were children and mothers residing in Saudi Arabia. Mothers in the UK were also less likely to invoke psychological reasons than were mothers in Saudi Arabia. Children’s judgments about exclusion were predicted by mothers’ judgments about exclusion. In addition, the number of times children used moral or social conventional reasons across the vignettes was positively correlated with mothers’ use of these categories. The findings, which support the Social Reasoning Development model, are discussed in relation to how mothers and immersion in socio-cultural contexts are related to children’s judgments and reasoning about social exclusion.

“Honestly, they are just like us”: U.S. parents choose middle-class gender and racial ingroup peers for their children.

“…Finally, although fewer studies have focused on social class, one study found that most Nepalese adolescents (ages 12-15 years) thought that a rich parent would not want their child to be friends with a poor peer (Grütter et al, 2021). These perceptions have an impact; children and adolescents who perceive their own parents to be hesitant about outgroup peers find it more acceptable to socially exclude someone who is different from them in race (ages 14-17 years; Edmonds & Killen, 2009), nationality (ages 14-17 years; Brenick & Romano, 2016), or religion (ages 8-12 years; Alsimah et al, 2021). Given the importance of positive intergroup interactions for social and emotional well-being in childhood and adolescence (Tropp et al, 2022), this points to a serious lack of perceived parental support for such interactions among youth.…”

Is moral disgust socially learned?

“…In addition, children and adults recruit other types of reasons to situations that may also be deemed involving physical and/or psychological harm (Alsimah et al, 2021). For example, young people often invoke dimensions related to psychological aspects (referring to psychological aspects of the actors involved), outcomes (concerning the consequences of the situation), physical (referring to physical aspects of the situation), and authority (concerning aspects related to hierarchy and power) in situations in which exclusion and rights are entailed (Alsimah et al, 2021). Because social knowledge is embedded in social situations, people often negotiate their understanding of a situation with recourse to multiple domains of reasoning (Besiveric & Turiel, 2020; Ruck & Tenenbaum, 2014).…”

“…The present study focuses on parent–child emotion talk because everyday conversations support children in appropriating the cultural norms of their communities (Aznar & Tenenbaum, 2015; Tenenbaum & Hohenstein, 2016). Through conversations parents socialize children’s general emotion understanding (Aznar & Tenenbaum, 2013, 2020; Laible & Song, 2006), moral understanding (Eisenberg, 2000), and values (Alsimah et al, 2021). After controlling for children’s previous emotion understanding, mothers’ use of emotion words in conversations with their children predicted children’s future emotion understanding (Aznar & Tenenbaum, 2013).…”