"Do I belong?" - How negative stereotypes influence the social relationships of adolescents with migration background in school contexts
Final Report Abstract
The integration of ethnic minority youth can only be successful if they are motivated to establish and maintain social relationships in important societal institutions such as school. At the same time, worries about negative stereotypes (social identity threat) about one’s ethnic group can undermine ethnic minority students’ motivation to approach others (social approach motivation). In the current project, we tested whether social identity threat predicts ethnic minority adolescents’ social approach motivation via reduced sense of belonging. We also examined whether multiple social identities (i.e., high endorsement of ethnic and national identity) buffer against the negative effects of social identity threat. In a sample of 426 9th grade ethnic minority students, social identity threat was indirectly related to social approach motivation via reduced sense of belonging to the school and class. The interplay of students’ ethnic and national identity moderated the relationship of social identity threat and sense of belonging. The relationship was particularly negative for students who strongly identified either with the ethnic or the national group. However, it was less negative for students with integrated multiple social identities and non-significant for students who identified neither with the ethnic nor the national group. Results generalized for social approach motivation towards ethnic majority and minority classmates. These patterns were only found for social approach motivation in face-to-face contact situations, but not in online situations. Practical implications include measures to foster students’ sense of belonging and to reduce social identity threat.
Publications
-
Social identity threat is related to ethnic minority adolescents’ social approach motivation towards classmates via reduced sense of belonging. Social Psychology of Education, 27(3), 751-776.
Froehlich, Laura; Bick, Nathalie; Nikitin, Jana & Martiny, Sarah E.
