Are Immigrants Scapegoats? The Reciprocal Relationships Between Subjective Well-Being, Political Distrust, and Anti-immigrant Attitudes in Young Adulthood

This study examined the impact of native youth’s subjective well-being on exclusionary attitudes toward immigrants, seeking to understand the relationship between subjective well-being, political distrust, and anti-immigrant attitudes over time. Using longitudinal data, we followed three cohorts of native young adults ( N = 1352; Mage = 22.72, SD = 3.1) in Sweden over a period of 2 years. The results showed that subjective well-being did not predict an increase in anti-immigrant attitudes among native youth, but anti-immigrant attitudes had a significant impact on subjective well-being. The data also found bidirectional and mutually reinforcing relationships between subjective well-being and political distrust, and between political distrust and anti-immigrant attitudes. These results highlight that improving young adults’ subjective well-being represents an important basis for preventing the development of political distrust, which in turn could reduce native youth’s susceptibility to adopt hostile attitudes toward immigrants.

Living the past? Do historical legacies moderate the relationship between national chauvinism/cultural patriotism and xenophobic attitudes toward immigrants

This study seeks to understand how national chauvinism and cultural patriotism are related to xenophobic attitudes toward immigrants. It does this by examining the extent to which historical legacy, in terms of geopolitical threats and national identity, moderates this relationship. A multilevel analysis across 24 European countries combines measures of national chauvinism, cultural patriotism, and xenophobic attitudes at the individual level with historical data, the geopolitical threat scale, and the national identity longevity index at the country level. Findings demonstrate that, according to these measures, historical legacies of threats and conflicts do not have an interaction effect, but the longevity of national identity moderates the relationship between national chauvinism/cultural patriotism and xenophobic attitudes. That is, in countries with greater national identity longevity, the positive relations between national chauvinism and xenophobic attitudes are weaker, but the negative relations between cultural patriotism and xenophobic attitudes are stronger. These findings contribute to the understanding of national identity by suggesting how it is related to a nation’s historical legacy.

Implicit Bias and Multilingual Assessment in School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists

Purpose: The purpose of this research was (a) to examine school-based speech-language pathologists' (SLPs') implicit attitudes toward immigrants and how these relate to prioritization and use of best practices when assessing multilingual children and (b) to determine if key demographic factors relate to the use and prioritization of these best practices. Method: Eighty-six certified SLPs ranked how they prioritize and use best practices in multilingual assessments and completed an online immigrant Implicit Association Test. Results: The majority of participants exhibited a strong implicit bias against immigrants (median D-score of 0.84, interquartile range: 0.49), but no significant relationship was found between increasing bias and lower prioritization or use of best practices. Increased years working as an SLP and increasingly distant personal relationships to immigration were related to lower prioritization and use of some best practices. An unexpected association included increased reported use of interpreters with increasing implicit bias against immigrants. Conclusions: This research found a strong implicit bias against immigrants among participating school-based SLPs, consistent with previous work detailing health professionals' preferences for ingroups over outgroups. It adds to the call for further research into the impact of implicit biases on clinical practice, and the methods and merits of addressing implicit biases in targeted populations such as SLPs. This study also identified demographic factors associated with decreased prioritization and use of certain best practices when assessing multilingual children. More work is needed to learn how to mitigate these factors to ensure culturally sensitive clinical practice. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.16799638

A Multi-Level Research Framework for the Analyses of Attitudes Toward Immigrants

<p>Contemporary research on acculturation tended to focus on the sojourners' or immigrants' perspectives on adaptation. The current dissertation however, centers on recipient nationals' attitudes toward immigrants and perceptions of multiculturalism. Three distinctive frameworks to study host nationals' perceptions are adopted; they include: (1) intergroup relations, (2) individual differences, and (3) cultural differences. Five separate studies were done based on the three frameworks using attitudes toward Chinese immigrants as the dependent measure in all except the final study. Based on the intergroup framework, Study 1 and 2 examined the influence of intergroup contact, national pride, perceived permeability, fairness, threat and host community acculturation strategies. Results showed that decreased contact and increased threat predicted less favorable perception towards immigrants (Study 1); respondents who espoused a need for immigrant assimilation and exclusionism, and those who adopted a less individualistic perception towards migration tended to express a more negative attitude (Study 2). Based on an individual differences framework, Study 3 and 4 examined the influence of social dominance orientation, self-esteem, individualism-collectivism, national pride and personal values. Increased self-esteem and collectivism predicted more favorable attitudes toward immigrants, and increased social dominance orientation predicted less favourable perceptions among host nationals who rated high on individualism (Study 3); respondents who placed greater emphases on security and achievement motivation have expressed more negative attitudes, but endorsement of stimulation value predicted more favourable perceptions (Study 4). In the final study, cultural differences were adopted as correlates of attitudes. Secondary data from the Eurobarometer (2000) and Schwartz's and Hofstede's typologies of cultural differences were used. Based on Schwartz's model, increased mastery was associated with less multicultural optimism; increased egalitarian commitment was linked to lesser support for policies that promote co-existence; and increased harmony was related to less demand for cultural assimilation. Based on Hofstede's model, increased masculinity was associated with less multicultural optimism and lower demand for cultural assimilation; and increased uncertainty avoidance was related to decreased multicultural optimism. Overall, two broad dimensions of acculturation experience have emerged from the research, first one is based on an 'invasion' perspective and the second one reflects an 'enrichment' experience.</p>

A Multi-Level Research Framework for the Analyses of Attitudes Toward Immigrants

<p>Contemporary research on acculturation tended to focus on the sojourners' or immigrants' perspectives on adaptation. The current dissertation however, centers on recipient nationals' attitudes toward immigrants and perceptions of multiculturalism. Three distinctive frameworks to study host nationals' perceptions are adopted; they include: (1) intergroup relations, (2) individual differences, and (3) cultural differences. Five separate studies were done based on the three frameworks using attitudes toward Chinese immigrants as the dependent measure in all except the final study. Based on the intergroup framework, Study 1 and 2 examined the influence of intergroup contact, national pride, perceived permeability, fairness, threat and host community acculturation strategies. Results showed that decreased contact and increased threat predicted less favorable perception towards immigrants (Study 1); respondents who espoused a need for immigrant assimilation and exclusionism, and those who adopted a less individualistic perception towards migration tended to express a more negative attitude (Study 2). Based on an individual differences framework, Study 3 and 4 examined the influence of social dominance orientation, self-esteem, individualism-collectivism, national pride and personal values. Increased self-esteem and collectivism predicted more favorable attitudes toward immigrants, and increased social dominance orientation predicted less favourable perceptions among host nationals who rated high on individualism (Study 3); respondents who placed greater emphases on security and achievement motivation have expressed more negative attitudes, but endorsement of stimulation value predicted more favourable perceptions (Study 4). In the final study, cultural differences were adopted as correlates of attitudes. Secondary data from the Eurobarometer (2000) and Schwartz's and Hofstede's typologies of cultural differences were used. Based on Schwartz's model, increased mastery was associated with less multicultural optimism; increased egalitarian commitment was linked to lesser support for policies that promote co-existence; and increased harmony was related to less demand for cultural assimilation. Based on Hofstede's model, increased masculinity was associated with less multicultural optimism and lower demand for cultural assimilation; and increased uncertainty avoidance was related to decreased multicultural optimism. Overall, two broad dimensions of acculturation experience have emerged from the research, first one is based on an 'invasion' perspective and the second one reflects an 'enrichment' experience.</p>

School Matters: The Effects of School Experiences on Youth’s Attitudes toward Immigrants

Although schools have been described as an important socialization context for the development of intergroup attitudes, longitudinal multilevel studies are still rare within this field. This 3-wave study (with annual assessments) of German adolescents (N = 1292; Mage = 13.86; 51.8% female) examined the role of school experiences (perceived multicultural education, supportive peer relations in class, democratic classroom climate) in the development of youth’s negative attitudes toward immigrants. Longitudinal multilevel analyses revealed that a democratic classroom climate predicted youth’s attitudes at the individual level. At the classroom level class-average perceptions of a democratic classroom climate, supportive peer relations in class, and multicultural education (the latter solely among male, higher track students) were associated with less negative attitudes toward immigrants. In addition, age moderated the effect of school experiences on attitudes, showing that perceptions of a democratic climate at the classroom level mattered in particular among older adolescents. The findings suggest that school experiences are related to youth’s negative attitudes toward immigrants and can therefore help to reduce the risk of prejudice development.

North American Attitudes toward Immigrants and Immigration in the Time of COVID-19: The Role of National Attachment and Threat

Using a cross-national representative survey conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, we examine predictors of attitudes toward immigrants and immigration in Canada and the United States, including general and COVID-related nationalism, patriotism, and perceived personal and national economic and health threats. In both countries, nationalism, particularly COVID-related nationalism, predicted perceptions that immigration levels were too high and negative attitudes toward immigrants. Patriotism predicted negative immigration attitudes in the United States but not in Canada, where support for immigration and multiculturalism are part of national identity. Conversely, personal and national economic threat predicted negative immigration attitudes in Canada more than in the United States. In both countries, national health threat predicted more favorable views of immigration levels and attitudes toward immigrants, perhaps because many immigrants have provided frontline health care during the pandemic. Country-level cognition in context drives immigration attitudes and informs strategies for supporting more positive views of immigrants and immigration.

Distinguishing Interpersonal and Ideological Prosociality: Introducing the Construct of Ideological Prosociality

Prosociality refers to dispositions and behaviors intended to benefit others, and the present study assumed that these dispositions reflect people’s values. Much of the research on prosociality has examined prosociality in what can be called the interpersonal domain, e.g., helping others. I propose that prosociality also exists in the ideological domain. People hold prosocial values that concern collectives, not specific individuals. Multilevel analyses of data collected in Wave 8 of the European Social Survey (44,000 respondents in 23 countries) found significant positive relationships between ideological prosocial values and attitudes toward immigrants and refugees, attitudes about the environment and climate change, gays and lesbians, social benefits, and income equality. Moreover, these relationships remained after controlling participants’ sex, income, happiness, and political orientation. In contrast, with the exception of attitudes about the environment, relationships between these attitudes and interpersonal prosocial values were either negative or not significant.

National identity, cosmopolitanism, and attitudes toward immigrants

This study examines the effects of national and cosmopolitan self-identity on xenophobic attitudes across 33 countries with a multilevel analysis of data from the National Identity Module III of the International Social Survey Programme. Of primary interest is how country contexts are intertwined with the sense of national belonging to predict individuals’ anti-immigrant attitudes. The study finds that individuals with a stronger ethnicity-based national identity tend to evidence stronger xenophobia. Net of the individual-level effect of ethnic national identity, citizens of countries with a higher average of ethnic national identity also tend to be more xenophobic. Interestingly, the link between ethnic national identity and xenophobia is stronger in countries where this perspective is not shared as strongly. In the seemingly more ‘open’ country context, individuals’ belief in the requirement of ancestral roots for national membership may entail stronger exclusivism as a fringe ideology.

Why Do Immigrant and Swedish Adolescents Engage in Ethnic Victimization? Common and Distinct Underlying Factors

Youth of immigrant background are at risk of experiencing victimization due to their ethnic or cultural background. However, limited knowledge is available regarding why youth victimize their immigrant peers, and whether the factors associated with engagement in ethnic victimization vary across adolescents of different background. To address this gap in knowledge, the present study aimed to elucidate the common or differential factors associated with engagement in ethnic victimization among immigrant and native youth. The analytical sample included seventh grade students residing in Sweden from 55 classrooms (N = 963, Mage = 13.11, SD = 0.41; 46% girls; 38% youth of immigrant background). The results showed that being morally disengaged and engaging in general victimization are the common denominators of engagement in ethnic victimization for immigrant and Swedish youth. Low levels of positive attitudes toward immigrants provide a foundation for ethnic victimization among Swedish youth, but not youth of immigrant background. Classroom ethnic composition was not significantly related to engagement in ethnic victimization in either group. Predictors of engagement in ethnic victimization seem to have similarities and differences among immigrant and Swedish youth. The factors involved require further attention in developing strategies to combat bias-based hostile behaviors in diverse school settings.