Interethnic Prejudice Against Muslims Among White Dutch Children

Abstract

Interethnic prejudice in children has been studied mostly in the United States, but less often in Europe, where the public discourse is increasingly negative about ethnic minorities, especially the Muslim minority. This study examined in-group favoritism (White preference) and out-group rejection of children of Middle Eastern descent (representing the Muslim minority) among White children in the Netherlands. Social preference for and rejection of children of Middle Eastern descent are compared with preference for and rejection of Black children. Social preference and rejection were measured using a task in which participants were presented with pictures of children with different ethnic appearances, and asked to select who they wanted to (not) play with, (not) sit next to, and invite for their birthday party. In addition, maternal implicit prejudice against people of Middle Eastern descent and explicit attitudes toward their children’s interethnic contact were assessed. The study included 140 children aged 6 to 8 years ( M = 7.26, SD = 0.77) and their mothers. The results reveal both in-group favoritism and out-group rejection. The Middle Eastern out-group was preferred less than the Black out-group. Reporting absolutely no reservations about children’s interethnic contact by mothers was associated with less rejection of children of Middle Eastern descent. Findings reveal that young children already show interethnic prejudice and that particularly people of Middle Eastern descent are devalued. The results show that maternal acceptance of child interethnic contact seems to play a role, and provide starting points for further investigation of the relation between parental and child interethnic attitudes.

Navigating diversity: Maternal ideologies and associations with child interethnic prejudice in the Netherlands

“…The positive association with in-group evaluations among Turkish-Dutch participants suggests that multiculturalism is associated with improved attitudes towards underrepresented groups only (Verkuyten, 2005) diversity and interethnic relations. In addition, whereas there is evidence of interethnic prejudice among children in the Netherlands (de Bruijn et al, 2020;Verkuyten & Kinket, 2000), no research has previously linked these to parental diversity ideologies.…”

Understanding Intergroup Relations in Childhood and Adolescence

“…For example, within the US, there is a social hierarchy in implicit evaluations by race (Whites > Asians > Blacks > Hispanics) and religion (Christianity > Judaism > Hinduism or Buddhism > Islam) (Axt et al, 2014). These sorts of ethnic and religious social hierarchies are also found among children and adolescents in countries such as Australia (Augoustinos & Rosewarne, 2001), Spain (Enesco et al, 2005), Britain (Barrett & Short, 1992), and the Netherlands (Bruijn et al, 2020;Verkuyten & Thijs, 2010).…”

What do we read to our children? Messages concerning ethnic diversity in popular children’s books in the Netherlands

“…All stereotypes found at the story level, in contrast, referred to Middle Eastern settings and values, suggesting that children are especially exposed to stereotypes pertaining to this culture. This might reinforce the relatively large perceived distance to people of Middle Eastern descent and the relatively high degree of prejudice by the White majority in the Netherlands (de Bruijn et al 2020;Schalk-Soekar et al 2004). Therefore, the characteristics assigned by ethnicity and the representation of people of color, to answer the exemplary questions of CRT application (Huber et al 2018) were mostly positive but generic (i.e., without cultural details and thus accuracy).…”