Children's tendency to show ethnic/racial prejudice is greater when their friends exclude individuals on the basis of race and when their peer groups felt threatened by outsiders, finds a new study published in the May/June issue of the journal Child Development.
The study, conducted by researchers from Griffith University in Queensland, Australia, Universita' di Padova in Padova, Italy, and University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland, was designed to examine the impact of group norms – the expectations that particular groups have concerning the appropriate attitudes, beliefs and behaviors group members should display – on the ethnic prejudice of young children who are group members. Specifically, the research focused on whether a group norm of excluding children who are different increases children's tendency to show ethnic/racial prejudice. The study also examined whether a threat from outsiders increased children's prejudice.
Such research is important because other studies find that peer groups are important and meaningful to children as young as 5. Those studies find that if there is the possibility of inclusion in a group, children seek to be included rather than excluded, and show an immediate bias in favor of their group. At the same time, children spontaneously compare their group with other groups and prefer their group to have higher status than other groups. Indeed, when the "in-group" has lower status, members are more willing to leave if an opportunity presents itself. Moreover, when children consider themselves to be members of a group, rejection or threat of rejection by the group causes a loss of self-esteem and heightened social anxiety.