Virginia Lam

The Influence of Race and Gender on Children's Conversations and Playmate Choices

The present study examined the influence of race and gender on childrens conversations and friendship choices. Four hundred and twenty-eight children (M age = 7.5 years, SD = 0.34) from 2 racial minority groups (i.e., African Caribbean and South Asian) and the racial majority group (i.e., European) chose a picture of a playmate together with a peer. Race influenced the levels of assertion and affiliation in childrens conversations. The effects of race on conversation also varied according to the gender of the children involved in interaction. Same-race pairs tended to choose in-group playmates, but same-race minority pairs showed less marked in-group preference. Cross-race pairs selected a majority-group child as a playmate most often.

African and Caribbean adolescents in Britain: ethnic identity and Britishness

Abstract Ethnic and national identities of 11–16-year-old British Africans and Caribbeans were examined by the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (Phinney 1992) and Britishness questionnaire (Barrett 2000). Adolescents ranked ethnicity as more important than age, gender or nationality, stereotyped Caribbeans/Africans more positively than British and derived more pride from ethnicity than nationality. England was the least popular answer to ‘where are you from’, but more Caribbeans versus Africans chose this category and older Caribbeans described themselves as more ‘British’ than older Africans. Girls reported stronger ethnic identity than boys, who rated Britishness as more important, reported stronger British pride and liked British people more than girls did. Stereotypes of ethnic and national group members were associated with the strength of self-identification with the group. It is concluded that theory and research should depart from conventional notions that equate each racial label with one culture and one identity.

National and ethnic identification, intergroup attitudes, and sport participation in the context of the London Olympics

In the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics, the sense of national identity was salient. We tested children (N = 401) aged 5-15 years living near the Olympic site on national (British) and ethnic identification, national ingroup and outgroup attitudes, and sport participation. It was found that the strength of British identification peaked at age 9 years, but the strength of ethnic identification remained stable with age. Both liking for, and stereotyping of, different national groups diverged from age 9 years, but whilst stereotyping remained diverged liking converged by 15 years. The in group was one of the most liked, but one of the least positively stereotyped groups. Sport participation declined with age and was higher among boys, whilst the lowest socio-economic group showed the greatest discrepancy between normal and recent reported participation. The strength of British identification was associated with liking for, and stereotyping of, the British as well as sport participation, but the degree of associations varied between different groups of children.

National and supranational identities and ingroup-outgroup attitudes of Hungarian adolescents

Abstract Although there is an extensive literature on children’s national identities and attitudes, relatively less research in this area has come from beyond Western Europe. This study examined Hungarian adolescents’ national/Hungarian and supranational/European identities and attitudes towards the ingroup and outgroups. One hundred and sixty-six adolescents aged 13–18 years completed measures on relative importance of self-descriptors, strength of identification, and affect for, and trait attributions to, Hungarians and three salient outgroups (Romanians, Russians and Americans). Socioeconomic status (SES) was measured by the Family Affluence Scale. Results showed that Hungarian was the most important self-descriptor compared with gender, age and European, but clear age, gender and SES variations were identified. 13–15 year-olds reported stronger European identification than 16–18 year-olds. Lower- to middle-SES, but not higher-SES, adolescents showed stronger Hungarian vs. European identification. Lower-SES adolescents liked all outgroups less than Hungarians, but middle- and higher-SES ones liked Hungarians and Americans more than Russians and Romanians. Still, Romanians were stereotyped less positively than all other outgroups regardless of socio-demographics. These findings are discussed drawing on social-psychological and developmental literature alongside Hungary’s sociohistorical backdrop. Despite Hungary’s ethnic homogeneity, its youngs national identities and attitudes can vary due to differing experiences related to socio-demographic backgrounds.