Parents' and classmates' influences on adolescents' ethnic prejudice: A longitudinal multi-informant study.

The family and classroom are important contexts that can contribute to the socialization of ethnic prejudice. However, less is known about their unique, relative, and synergic contributions in influencing youth's affective and cognitive prejudice. The current longitudinal study examined these processes and possible moderators among 688 Italian youth (49.13% girls; Mage = 15.61 years), their parents (nmothers = 603, nfathers = 471; Mage = 49.51 years), and classmates between January/February 2022 and January/February 2023. Cross-lagged panel models highlighted that parents and classmates exert unique and relative influences on different dimensions of adolescents' prejudice. Additionally, different interaction effects also emerged for affective (i.e., adverse compensatory effect) and cognitive (i.e., amplifying effect) prejudice. Thus, adolescents draw from the multiple contexts of development to orient themselves in the social world.

A war on prejudice: The role of media salience in reducing ethnic prejudice.

INTRODUCTION: Ethnic prejudice poses a great challenge to the cohesion of current multicultural societies. Prior research has found that media portrayals of immigration-related issues might skew individual attitudes and feelings toward ethnic minorities. While these studies have focused on negative representations of ethnic minorities, less is known about the effects of media reports of unfortunate events affecting the victims of war, as in the case of the Ukrainian group in the Russia-Ukraine war. Therefore, the current research aims to examine whether media salience of this situation might change adolescents' ethnic prejudice against the Ukrainian minority. METHODS: A total of 1016 ethnic-majority Italian adolescents (Mage = 15.66, SDage = 1.17, 49.61% females) completed online questionnaires during school hours before (T1: January/February 2022) and after (T2: April/May 2022) the Russia-Ukraine war onset. Additionally, the media salience of the war was quantified separately for the national newspaper and Twitter. RESULTS: Levels of prejudice significantly decreased from T1 to T2 for multiple ethnic minority groups but especially so for the Ukrainian group. The results of bivariate Latent Change Score models highlighted that increased salience of the war in the national newspaper was significantly associated with decreased prejudice against Ukrainians, regardless of adolescents' levels of self-reported newspaper consumption. Conversely, changes in the salience of the war on Twitter were not associated with changes in prejudice. CONCLUSIONS: These findings highlight the importance of media attention for the war's victims in skewing individuals' outgroup perceptions and feelings.

Navigating Across Heritage and Destination Cultures: How Personal Identity and Social Identification Processes Relate to Domain-Specific Acculturation Orientations in Adolescence.

Personal identity and social identification processes can be challenging for adolescents belonging to an ethnic minority, who have to cope with the acculturation task of navigating several (and often conflictual) alternatives put forth by their cultural heritage community and destination society. Because identity and acculturation tasks are embedded in core domains of adolescents' life, this three-wave longitudinal study with ethnic minority adolescents (N = 244, 43.4% male; Mage = 14.9) examined how personal identity processes and social identifications are related to acculturation orientations in the education and friendship domains. Results of traditional cross-lagged models showed that, in the educational domain, adolescents who scored higher on cultural heritage maintenance compared to their peers, scored higher on commitment later on. In the friendship domain, stronger associations were found, such that adolescents who scored higher on cultural heritage maintenance compared to their peers, reported higher commitment and in-depth exploration later on, while those who scored higher on identification with friends reported over time also higher cultural heritage maintenance and destination culture adoption. Random-intercept crossed-lagged models indicated that, when adolescents reported above their own average on reconsideration of educational commitment, they reported increased cultural heritage maintenance later on. Furthermore, consistent associations (at baseline and over time) emerged. Overall, this study points to virtuous alliances between the fulfillment of tasks related to adolescents' identity development and acculturation.

I was, I am, I will be: Identity and time perspective before and during COVID-19.

The ways in which youth reach a stable identity, a core developmental task of emerging adulthood, are intertwined with their perceptions of the past, present, and future. Additionally, these dynamics are embedded in and are strongly influenced by the socio-historical context and concurrent events, such as COVID-19. This study examines how different groups of emerging adults (university students and workers) engage in identity processes in educational/vocational and interpersonal domains and frame their perspective of time before (N = 299, Mage  = 21.90; 51.4% females) and during the pandemic (N = 497; Mage  = 23.11; 68.2% females). Significant differences in identity processes and time perspective emerged between the two cohorts. Moreover, significant associations between identity and time perspective were found to be similar across different identity domains and cohorts.

"I Feel You!": The Role of Empathic Competences in Reducing Ethnic Prejudice Among Adolescents.

Empathic competences might help adolescents navigate current multicultural societies by supporting harmonious intergroup relations. Yet it is unclear how each component of empathy (empathic concern and perspective-taking) is associated with different dimensions (affective, cognitive, behavioral) of ethnic prejudice. The current study aims to fill this gap. A total of 259 Italian adolescents (Mage = 15.60, 87.6% female) completed online questionnaires at three time points (i.e., April, May, and October 2021). The results of cross-lagged models indicated that empathic concern was directly and indirectly associated with reduced affective, cognitive, and behavioral ethnic prejudice, while perspective-taking was linked to increases in cognitive and one facet of behavioral (i.e., lower contact willingness) prejudice. Furthermore, the prevalence of affect over cognition was found, with the affective component of both empathic competences (i.e., empathic concern) and ethnic prejudice exerting the strongest influence on the cognitive ones.

Us, them and we: How national and human identifications influence adolescents' ethnic prejudice.

Although there have been numerous studies on the relations between group identification and ethnic prejudice, it is less clear whether their associations reflect stable individual tendencies or rather situational or temporal fluctuations. This longitudinal multilevel study aimed to fill this gap by examining the between- and within-person associations of identification with the national and superordinate human groups and levels of prejudice against multiple ethnic minorities. A total of 883 Italian majority adolescents (Mage = 15.66, SD = 1.15 at T1, 49.7% females) completed questionnaires at four time points over the course of 1 year. Results showed that national identification was related to more prejudice at the between-person level but to decreases in prejudice at the within-person level. Additionally, human identification contributed to lower levels of and steeper decreases in prejudice at both the between- and within-person levels. Common and unique associations also emerged across different ethnic minority targets, but only for between-person effects. Overall, this study highlights the importance of distinguishing stable individual levels and momentary fluctuations of both ingroup identifications and ethnic prejudice in order to orient future interventions aimed at improving the quality of intergroup relationships.

Student-teacher relationships and sense of academic futility: Longitudinal associations among early adolescents of immigrant and non-immigrant background.

Sense of academic futility entails feelings of having no control over ones' educational success. Although mounting evidence points to its negative consequences for students' educational outcomes, less is known about its socio-contextual antecedents. Relatedly, the current study explored how fair and supportive relationships with teachers are related to the sense of academic futility and if class belonging mediates this link in a sample of adolescents with immigrant and non-immigrant backgrounds. A total of 1065 seventh-grade students (Mage = 13.12; SD = 0.42; 45% girls) from 55 classrooms completed questionnaires at two time points 1 year apart. Results of multilevel analyses indicated that fair and supportive relationships with teachers contributed to decreases in sense of academic futility at the individual but not at the classroom level. No mediation or moderation effects emerged. These findings highlight the crucial role of democratic student-teacher relationships in supporting the positive school adjustment of all students in increasingly multicultural societies.

A near-mint view toward integration: Are adolescents more inclusive than adults?

The increasing ethnic and cultural diversity of contemporary societies has raised the importance of integration policies for people with a migrant background. Tools like the Migrant Integration Policy Index have been developed to evaluate different countries' integration approaches. If, on the one hand, focusing on what governments are doing to promote integration is necessary, on the other hand, it is of utmost importance to consider individuals' attitudes toward these policies. Study 1: A pilot study with 356 adolescents (41.1% female, 58.9% male; Mage = 15.38) and 200 adults (69% female, 31% male; Mage = 47.43) was conducted to test the psychometric proprieties of the Attitudes Toward Migrant Integration Policies scale. Study 2: A total of 1,156 adolescents (51.6% female, 48.4% male; Mage = 15.69), 1,288 parents (56.9% mothers, 43.1% fathers; Mage = 49.39), and 284 teachers (68.3% female, 31.7% male; Mage = 45.55) were involved in a study to evaluate how attitudes toward integration policies differ within generations (e.g., ethnic majority and minority groups), within families (e.g., adolescents vs. their fathers), and across generational groups (i.e., adolescents, parents, and teachers). Latent mean comparisons indicated that attitudes toward integration policies varied significantly across sex (for adolescents and parents), ethnic background (parents only), and school track (adolescents) groups. Regarding differences within family dyads, adolescents reported more positive attitudes toward integration policies than their fathers and mothers. Finally, teachers showed more positive attitudes compared to adolescents and their parents. Overall, this study highlights nuanced intergenerational differences, with adolescents standing in between the different positions of their parents and teachers. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The warm glow of kindness: Developmental insight into children's moral pride across cultures and its associations with prosocial behavior.

Moral pride is a key component of virtue development. This study provides developmental insight into children's moral pride across cultures, and the potential for moral pride to underlie prosocial behavior. Participants included children and adolescents ages 6, 9, and 12 years from Canada (n = 186; 50% girls; ethnically diverse sample), Japan (n = 180; 48% girls), and a subsample from Italy (n = 86; 54% girls), as well as their primary caregivers or teachers. Moral pride was measured using a vignette procedure wherein children reported their emotions, emotion intensities, and reasoning following moral actions (harm omission and prosocial contexts). Global prosocial behavior was assessed via caregiver reports. Results revealed that moral pride increased from 6 to 9 years of age in Japanese and Canadian children (some similar trends were found in the Italian subsample) and that Canadian children reported stronger feelings of moral pride than Japanese children (Italian children's moral pride intensities were akin to those of Canadian children). Moral pride was positively associated with global prosocial behavior in Japanese children (and marginally in Italian children) but not in the Canadian children. These novel findings showcase the role of culture in shaping children's moral pride, and the potential for this moral emotion to reinforce children's commitment to prosocial action in childhood and early adolescence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Wheelchair hockey improves quality of life in people with neuromuscular disease.

BACKGROUND: Participation in sports is known to have positive effects on people's health and psychosocial well-being. Recently, physical activity implications for people with disabilities have been explored, showing promising results on quality of life and self-concept. However, few studies have specifically investigated the effects of participation in adaptive sports on quality of life in patients with neuromuscular disease. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate differences in psychosocial well-being between people affected by a neuromuscular disease who play wheelchair hockey and those who do not. Individuals playing an adaptive sport would report better quality of life, higher physical self-efficacy scores, and more effective coping strategies, as assessed by self-reported measures. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: Data were collected during clinical follow-ups at the NEMO Clinical Center in Milan (Italy). PARTICIPANTS: A total of 25 patients affected by neuromuscular diseases, ages 18 to 40 years, participated in the study. INTERVENTIONS: Not applicable. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was to compare quality of life between groups. Secondary outcomes were the comparisons of physical self-efficacy and coping strategies through self-reported measures. RESULTS: Wheelchair hockey players scored significantly higher on the Quality of Life Index (specifically on the health/functioning and psychological/spiritual sub-scales) and reported better physical self-efficacy and perceived physical ability compared to the control group (i.e., patients who do not participate in any adaptive sport), controlling for age and pathology. On the contrary, no difference was found in coping strategies between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study identified a significant association between participation in wheelchair hockey and improved physical and psychological well-being of people affected by neuromuscular diseases compared to those who are not involved in adaptive sports.