Intergroup relations and precursors of ethnic identity among immigrant children living in Italy

1. Intergroup relations and precursors of ethnic identity among immigrant children living in Italy Ugo Pace – UKE, University Kore Enna – Italy Nationalism and National Identities Today: Multidisciplinary Perspectives Centre for Research on Nationalism, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism (CRONEM) 12 – 13 June 2007

2. ISSUES WHATfactors can influence both self and others’ descriptions and the quality of interethnic relationship in a multiethnic society? HOWethnic distinctions are employed in the process of adapting to a multiethnic context? Developmental and Social Psychologists tasks Analysis of feelings and attitudes mutually developed by individuals belonging to different ethnic-cultural groups sharing the same living space

3. PRESENT AIMS In order to answer these questions, it seems important to analyze how, since childhood, feelings of belonging influence the individual’s identity, attitudes and social relationships In this perspective, the present study sought to examine how the objective ethnic belonging and the emergence of self-ideas wrapped to an ethnic group membership influence the quality of peer interethnic relationships

4. Ethnic Belonging, Ethnicity and Ethnic Identity Several studies on interethnic relationships in a multicultural society have focused interest on two constructs referring to people ethnic belonging: Ethnicity Ethnic identity

5. In the early works, ethnicity was defined as the objective belonging to an ethnic group More recently, researchers have stressed the narrow meaning of such a definition and have underlined that ethnicity can be considered as something more than the simple ethnic belonging linked to the state of birth

6. Strictly related to ethnic belonging is ethnic identity, defined as the feeling of belonging to an ethnic group or as that part of one’s thoughts, beliefs, behaviours, attitudes and values which result from membership of such a group In the course of development, individuals acquire a wider and more appropriate awareness and, during adolescence, besides the achievement of a personal identity, all knowledge about the “Ethnic Self” becomes part of a generalized representation of the self and enables the formation of a mature kind of ethnic identity

7. From an operational viewpoint, studies on influence of ethnicity or ethnic identity on psychosocial development are very different: Studies on influence of ethnic identity have stressed the importance of it as developmental process, focusing on its Studies on influence of ethnicity have stressed the importance of objective belonging on some psychological, attitudinal and social outcomes precursors during infancy

8. the emergence of children’s ethnic identity can be inferred by criteria such as the type of self-description (Rotheram & Phinney, 1987), the understanding of ethnic constancy across time and situations (Aboud, 1984, 1987) and the use of ethnic group behaviors (Bernal, Knight, Garza, Ocampo & Cota, 1990). Self-description can be defined as the ability to select an attribute, such as descent or kinship, nationality, religion, language, skin colour or group name, defining the membership of an ethnic group in a particular manner Understanding of constancy concerns the awareness that one’s own ethnic identity is constant across time and situations despite external changes Use of ethnic group behavioursuch as values,styles and customs that reflect ethnic culture can be considered initially determined by family’s educative practice and may begin very early in life

9. Ethnic Belonging and Intergroup Relationships Attitudes toward the ethnic in-group are generally positive and comprise pride in and pleasure, satisfaction and contentment with one’s own group (Aboud, 1987; Phinney, 1990); they are commonly defined as preference, ethnocentrism or acceptance – the second particularly in studies involving Black subjects ? Attitudes towards other ethnic groups are generally negative and the term ethnicprejudice is often used to define them. These two dimensions are independent and are not as the opposite ends of a continuum where preference for the in-group has, as its automatic consequence, prejudice towards out-groups (Aboud, 2003; Nesdale, 2004).

10. Ethnicity and Ethnic Attitudes How could ethnicity affect ethnic attitudes? First, belonging to an ethnic group means to share a common set of beliefs, values and attitudes towards the own and the other ethnic groups Moreover, when the focus is directed to immigrant people, belonging to an ethnic group usually means belonging to a minority group within a larger culture (Rotheram & Phinney, 1987). The social status of an ethnic group is an extremely important variable in the quality of ethnic relationships: belonging to a majority or minority group significantly influences feelings, beliefs and attitudes towards one’s own and other ethnic groups

11. Ethnic Identity and Ethnic Attitudes What kind of relationships does occur between subjective ethnic belonging and ethnic attitudes? Social and developmental psychologists have often related the expression of this kind of attitudes to self-identification phenomena. In this way, Social Identity Theory (SIT) explicitly links intergroup bias to identification with the in-group and to self-categorization Research examining the relationship between identification with cultural and ethnic groups and the formation of children and adolescents’ ethnic attitudes in multiethnic societies has produced contradictory results (Bennett, Lyons, Sani & Barrett, 1998)

12. On the one hand, it has been found that national or ethnic identification can be related to the preference for one’s own group and to a less favourable attitude towards other groups (Verkuyten, 1998); on the other hand, it has been underlined that identification with one’s own social group is not always related to children’s attitudes towards their own or other groups (Barrett, 2004). Barrett (2004) has provided a possible explanation for these discrepancies regarding national identity. Children, daily, have access to socially shared information regarding social groups. The nature of this information is not neutral, but may contain evaluations and judgments regarding their own and other groups. Therefore, in this way, children’s cognitions and attitudes toward social groups have, to some degree, a social origin, and result from social influence processes Accessibility and use of ethnic labels constitute more than an individual difference variable, but it is also inherent in the culture of the society (Verkuyten, et al., 1995)

13. Goals of the Research The study was aimed at exploring the influence of objective ethnic belonging (ethnicity) and some precursors of ethnic identity on the quality of ethnic attitudes of Maghrebian and South-Asian children living in Italy. Particularly, two kind of ethnic attitudes were considered: a positive attitude toward the in-group (ethnic preference) and a negative attitude toward the other groups (ethnic prejudice). With regard to ethnic identity, in line with Social Identity Theory, it was expected that a strong ethnic identity would be associated with higher levels of ethnic preference. Although results from the studies focused on this topic are often contradictory, this prevision is supported by several recent studies (Davey, 1983; Davey & Norburn, 1980; Nesdale, 2000; Verkuyten, 1992; Verkuyten & Neukee, 1999). As regards the influence of objective ethnic belonging on ethnic preference and prejudice, on the basis of previous research performed with Maghrebian and South-Asian children living in Sicily (Lo Coco et al., 2000, 2002), it was predicted that South-Asian children would show higher levels of ethnic preference than Maghrebian children but they would not differ with regard to the levels of ethnic prejudice

14. Method Participants 95-second generation immigrant children (41 boys and 54 girls), aged from 6 to 10 years old, were tested. The mean age was 8 years and 4 months. The children belonged to the two larger ethnic groups leaving in Palermo city (Italy): Maghrebians (including children from Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco) and South-Asians (including children from India, Sri-Lanka, and Bangladesh). They were drawn from three elementary schools situated in the historical centre of the city. Children belonged to intact families with medium-low social economic status.

15. Measures Ethnic Identity Ethnic Self-Identification. Each child was presented four boxes in which photographs depicting the different target ethnic groups were applied, and was asked “In what box would you put your picture?”. Use of Ethnic Behaviours. Each child was asked six questions about religion, traditions, language, food, etc.. The child had to say the own-ethnic group’s behaviours he/she generally used. The experimenter said the child “There are things that only a ............. (for example, Maghrebian) child do, and the other children do not do: which of these are things that you do?”.

16. Measures Ethnic Attitudes Preference and Rejection toward Partners in Sharing Activities. Each subject was shown some photographs depicting children (boys and girls) of the four target ethnic groups and was asked (a) “With whom would you like ................ ? and (b) “With whom would not you ever like ................ ? Children had to answer to 4 questions. Two total scores were obtained: - preference for ethnic in-group, by summing the positive choices addressed to the same ethnic group partners and - rejection towards the ethnic out-groups, by summing the negative choices towards the partners of ethnic out-groups

17. Measures • Ethnic Attitudes • Stereotypes Test. In order to assess subjects’ attribution of traits to children belonging to the four target ethnic groups, each child was provided five little boxes, four corresponding to the four target ethnic groups and one named “nobody”. The child was presented ten cards, each of them showing an adjective (five positives and five negatives) and was asked to put each of them into one of the boxes corresponding to the four ethnic groups. If the child thought that some adjective did not fit any ethnic group, he/she could put the card in the “nobody” box. • Two scores were obtained: • positive stereotypes towards the ethnic in-group and • negative stereotypes towards the ethnic out-groups.

18. Results Ethnicity and Intergroup Relationships Table 1. Means (and standard deviations) of Maghrebian and South-Asian children on preference and rejection scores ** p<.01 South-Asian children preferred to share their activities with same group partners more than Maghrebians children.

19. Results Table 2. Means (and standard deviations) of Maghrebian and South-Asian children on stereotypes scores ** p>.02 South-Asian children showed more positive in-group and more negative out-group stereotypes than Maghrebians counterparts.

20. Results Ethnic Identity and Intergroup Relationships Children were classified into two extreme groups for ethnic identity on the basis of their ethnic self-identification and their score at the Use of Ethnic Behaviours test. Children who choose an “incorrect” ethnic group in the “Ethnic identification” test and contemporary scored below the 33th percentile in the “Use of Ethnic Behaviours” test were classified as “weak ethnic identity subjects”. Children who choose an “incorrect” ethnic group in the “Ethnic identification” test and contemporary scored below the 33th percentile in the “Use of Ethnic Behaviours” test were classified as “weak ethnic identity subjects” (N=21) Children who choose the “correct” ethnic group in the “Ethnic identification” test and contemporary scored above the 66th percentile in the “Use of Ethnic Behaviours” test were classified as “strong ethnic identity subjects” (N=26)

21. Results Table 3. Cross-tabulation between ethnic groups and children’ extreme groups for ethnic identity X2 = 6.30, df = 1, p<.01 Most of children with a strong ethnic identity were South Asians, whereas most of children with a weak ethnic identity were Maghrebians.

22. Results Table 4. Means (and standard deviations) of children’ extreme groups for ethnic identity onpreference and rejection scores ***p<.001 Subjects with strong ethnic identity preferred partners belonging to the same ethnic group more significantly than subjects with weak ethnic identity.

23. Results Table 5. Means (and standard deviations) of children’ extreme groups for ethnic identity on stereotypes scores *p<.04 Subjects with strong ethnic identity expressed more positive stereotypes toward their own ethnic group than subjects with weak ethnic identity.

24. Discussion Ethnicity and Ethnic Attitudes South-Asian children displayed higher levels of in-group favouritism and higher levels of negative stereotypes, but not rejection, towards the ethnic out-groups than Maghrebian peers Since centuries the relationships between Italian and Maghrebian people are common and frequent; this tradition of exchanges has made more and more similar behavioural traits, somatic features, life styles and the city planning of the two groups. Growing up in Italy could be a different experience depending on the ethnic group a child belongs to; particularly in Sicily, being a Maghrebian seems to be very different from being a South-Asian

25. Discussion Ethnicity and Ethnic Attitudes Differently, South-Asian children seem to prefer to establish relationships with peers of their own ethnic group On the one hand these they show a strong attachment to the group and the ethnic dimension is very salient in their social preferences. On the other hand South-Asian children probably tend to consider in a negative fashion individuals who belong to a different ethnic group

26. Discussion Ethnic Identity and Ethnic Attitudes A strong ethnic identity was evidenced mostly among South-Asian children than among Maghrebian ones. The clear-cut distinction between South-Asians and majority group’s cultures, as underlined above, seems to lead South-Asian children to structure a stronger identification to their own group In this sense the social context characterizing the encounter between minority and majority groups influences not only interethnic relationships but also that part of personal identity linked to ethnic belonging

27. Discussion Ethnic Identity and Ethnic Attitudes Children with a strong ethnic identity exhibit high levels of in-group biases, measured by preference and stereotypes tests Brewer (1999) has underlined how in-group favouritism could represent such as an ancestral link that people feel with in-group membership, due to a real or just perceived relationship, that grants individuals survival: in a developmental perspective, self-identification, that is a very young children’s cognition acquired around 3 years of age, could be the cognitive representation associated to this feeling.

28. Discussion Ethnic Identity and Ethnic Attitudes Rejection and stereotypes toward out-group are not correlated to the level of ethnic identity Different studies have underlined that only in-group attachment emerges from self-identification process (Brewer, 1999), whereas out-group prejudice would implicate the ability of children to transform a visual difference between them and peers from other ethnic groups into an evaluation (Aboud, 2003)