Summary

It is well established that intergroup contact can decrease prejudice and improve intergroup relations. However, the mechanisms of this influence are not quite certain, and the studies being conducted so far have some important limitations. First, there are relatively few studies that follow effects of intergroup contact over a longer period of time and quite a few studies involve both majority and minority samples. Further, there is lack of studies looking specifically at the contact effects in minority groups and the studies that look at the contact effects at different level of analyses. The present project proposal seeks to overcome some of these limitations. The study aims to examine long-term effects of interethnic contact on ideological and interethnic attitudes and behaviors of majority and minority adolescents and their parents in four multiethnic communities in Croatia, by testing the role of intergroup threat and social norms in these effects. A unique context of the study is environment of majority and minority schooling, where teaching is provided in either majority (Croatian) or minority languages (Italian, Serbian, Czech and Hungarian). Inclusion of multiple minority communities simultaneously makes the project proposal rather unique. Intergroup threat (symbolic, realistic and intergroup anxiety) and especially social norms are hypothesized as being the key mechanisms of influence of the interethnic contact. A novelty of the research is in measuring multiple aspects of intergroup threat as the mediating mechanisms in the link between intergroup contact and intergroup attitudes and behaviors. While the role of intergroup threat in this link is well studied, this is not the case with the social norms and the present proposal postulates them as the key factor of influence. By assessing parental, peer and school norms we expect to shed light on the role of social norms in the link between interethnic contact and related attitudes and behaviors. Participants will be majority and minority elementary and high-school students in Croatia, aged 12-17 (N=1200) and their parents (N=2400). The research combines qualitative and quantitative approach. By using qualitative methodology (focus groups and interviews with students, teachers and school principals) an in-depth insight about interethnic contact school norms in majority and minority schools will be obtained. Observational method will be used for learning about how different ethnic identity markers and symbols are used on school premises. Both types of qualitative data will be used for developing an instrument for measuring explicit and implicit interethnic contact school norms. Quantitative data will be collected in a two-wave longitudinal study, and the effects of interethnic contact on ideological and intergroup attitudes and behaviors will be followed. It is proposed to test under what conditions, how and what social norms influence the link between the contact and intergroup attitudes and behaviors and what is the role of intergroup threat in this context. The present project proposal, besides its theoretical contribution, has also clear applied implications. It is expected that study results will be useful for learning about integration possibilities of school in multiethnic communities throughout the Europe, and for informing minority education policies.