Can Interethnic Friends Buffer for the Prejudice Increasing Effect of Negative Interethnic Contact? A Longitudinal Study of Adolescents in the Netherlands

Abstract

This study examined interethnic prejudice among 4,238 secondary school pupils in the Netherlands. It builds upon previous research in two ways. First, it advances our understanding of the interplay between positive and negative intergroup contact experiences by testing whether positive intergroup contact serves as a buffer for the prejudice-enhancing effect of negative intergroup contact, as well as the other way around. Secondly, by using longitudinal data, it provides a stricter test of the relationship between negative contact and prejudice among adolescents. Hybrid models with two-wave panel data showed that the transition from having no friends from an ethnic outgroup to having a share of friends from an ethnic outgroup results in lower interethnic prejudice, both for Dutch majority and minority group pupils. Furthermore, we found the transition from having no foes to having one or more foes from an ethnic outgroup to be associated with higher levels of prejudice. We did not find evidence for buffering effects of intergroup contact.