European-American Children's Intergroup Attitudes about Peer Relationships

Y

24

Race; Friendship; Peer Relationship; Intergroup Relations; Whites; Grade 1; Grade 4; Hypothesis Testing; Intention; Moral Values; Meta Analysis; Racial Bias; Elementary School Students; Student Attitudes

10.1348/026151005x26101

0261-510X

Intergroup attitudes were assessed in European-American first grade (M=6.8 years) and fourth grade (M=9.9 years) boys and girls (N=94) to test hypotheses about implicit racial biases, perceptions of similarity between peer dyads, and judgments about cross-race friendships. Two assessments, an ambiguous situations task and a perceptions of similarity task, were administered to all participants. Contrary to prior findings, participants did not display implicit racial biases when interpreting children's intentions to commit a negative moral transgression towards a peer. Implicit biases were revealed, however, when asking children to judge cross-race friendship potential. The findings on children's similarity perceptions revealed that children focused on shared interests and race when judging similarity. Given that previous meta-analyses of prejudice have pointed to cross-race friendships as a significant predictor of a reduction in prejudice, these findings help to understand what may account for the relative infrequency of intergroup friendships in childhood. Further, the findings indicate the ways in which, implicit racial biases influence friendship decisions.

As Provided

2011

EJ941867