Reducing Adolescents’ Approval of Political Violence
The Social Influence of Universalistic and Immigrant-Friendly Peers
Abstract
Abstract. This study examines the role of peers in adolescents’ development of universalistic values and positive sentiments toward immigrants, and the extent to which a network of more universalistic or immigrant-friendly peers can reduce approval of violent political means among adolescents. Using longitudinal data on 997 adolescents, the study employed a social network approach to examine these aspects. Results showed no peer influence and peer selection effects for how adolescents develop universalistic values but that peers transfer positive immigrant sentiments to other adolescents over time and also that adolescents tend to select peers with similar sentiments toward immigrants. In addition, whereas peers’ positive sentiments toward immigrants were found not to reduce adolescents’ approval of violent political means over time, such a reducing effect was found for universalistic values. However, further studies are needed to better understand the role of peers with regard to mechanisms underlying adolescents’ development of political orientations.
References
(2009). Political socialization and human agency: The development of civic engagement from adolescence to adulthood. Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrift, 111, 27–40. http://oru.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:231686/FULLTEXT01.pdf
(1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
(1975). Some explorations in initial interaction and beyond: Toward a developmental theory of interpersonal communication. Human Communication Research, 1, 99–112. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2958.1975.tb00258.x
(1982). The features and effects of friendship in early adolescence. Child Development, 53, 1447–1460. https://doi.org/10.2307/1130071
(2012). The relationship between education and levels of trust and tolerance in Europe. The British Journal of Sociology, 63, 146–167. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-4446.2011.01397.x
(2012). Micro-mobilization into armed groups: Ideological, instrumental and solidaristic paths. Qualitative Sociology, 35, 361–383. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11133-012-9237-1
(1987). The development of companionship and intimacy. Child Development, 58, 1101–1113. https://doi.org/10.2307/1130550
(1965). Attraction as a linear function of proportion of positive reinforcements. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1, 659–663. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0022073
(1974).
A reinforcement-affect model of attraction . In T. L. HustonEd., Foundations of interpersonal attraction (pp. 143–170). New York, NY: Academic Press.(2009). Untangling the roots of tolerance: How forms of social capital shape attitudes toward ethnic minorities and immigrants. American Behavioral Scientist, 52, 1664–1689. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764209331532
(1999). Social movements: An introduction. Oxford, UK: Blackwell.
(2016). Introduction to the special section value development from middle childhood to early adulthood – new insights from longitudinal and genetically informed research. Social Development, 25, 471–481. https://doi.org/10.1111/sode.12177
(1995).
Attitude strength, attitude stability, and the effects of analyzing reasons . In R. E. PettyJ. A. KrosnickEds., Attitude strength: Antecedents and consequences (pp. 433–454). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.. (2014). Results of the 2014 European elections. Brussels, Belgium: European Parliament.
(2013). Policing of political protest. The security police’s control of the extra-parliamentary opposition in Sweden during and after the cold war. Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention, 14, 81–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/14043858.2013.771912
(2010). Political tolerance, racist speech, and the influence of social network. Social Science Quarterly, 91, 724–740. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6237.2010.00716.x
(2005). What the future may bring: Xenophobia among Swedish adolescents. Acta Sociologica, 48, 292–307. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001699305059943
(1988). A structural equation test of the value-attitude-behavior hierarchy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 638–646. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.54.4.638
(2008). Migration to European countries: A structural explanation of patterns, 1980–2004. International Migration Review, 42, 476–504. http://www.jstor.org/stable/27645259
(2008). Treatment of non-response in longitudinal network studies. Social Networks, 30, 297–308. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2008.04.004
(1978). Homophily, selection, and socialization in adolescent friendships. American Journal of Sociology, 84, 427–436. https://doi.org/10.1086/226792
(2008). Values as protective factors against violent behavior in Jewish and Arab high schools in Israel. Child Development, 79, 652–667. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01149.x
(1990). Networks of political action: Toward theory construction . Social Forces, 68, 1041–1063. https://doi.org/10.2307/2579133
(2004). Adolescent voting for right-wing extremist parties and readiness to use violence in political action: Parent and peer contexts. Journal of Adolescence, 27, 561–568. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.adolescence.2004.06.009
(1954).
Friendship as a social process: A substantive and methodological analysis . In M. BergerT. AbelC. H. PageEds., Freedom and control in modern society (pp. 18–66). New York, NY: Van Nostrand.(2008). Mechanisms of political radicalization: Pathways toward terrorism. Terrorism and Political Violence, 20, 415–433. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546550802073367
(2001). Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 415–444. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.415
(2009). Changing attitudes toward immigration in Europe, 2002–2007: A dynamic group conflict theory approach. Social Science Research, 38, 352–365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2008.09.006
(2013). The 2012 Stein Rokkan lecture. Three decades of populist radical right parties in Western Europe: So what? European Journal of Political Research, 52, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2012.02065.x
(1993). Attitudes and attitude change. Annual Review of Psychology, 44, 117–154.
(2009). Prejudice reduction: What works? A review and assessment of research and practice. Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 339–367. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.60.110707.163607
(2010). Friendship stability and change in childhood and adolescence. Developmental Review, 30, 257–272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dr.2009.01.001
(2016). Manual for SIENA version 4.0 (version May 12, 2016). Oxford, UK: Department of Statistics, University of Oxford; Nuffield College. Retrieved from http://www.stats.ox.ac.uk/siena/
(2010). Personal values and behavior: Taking the cultural context into account. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 4, 30–41. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00234.x
(2013).
Starkare oro för främlingsfientlighet än för invandring [Stronger worry of xenophobia than of immigration] . Mittfåra och marginal. Göteborg, Sweden: SOM-institutet, 71–82.(1994).
Are there universal aspects in the structure and contents of human values? . In A. BergströmH. OscarssonEds., Journal of Social Issues (pp. 19–45). 50. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1994.tb01196.x(2004). Evaluating the structure of human values with confirmatory factor analysis. Journal of Research in Personality, 38, 230–255. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-6566(03)00069-2
(2001). The statistical evaluation of social network dynamics. Sociological Methodology, 31, 361–395. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org.db.ub.oru.se/stable/3097281
(2014). Antal personer med utländsk eller svensk bakgrund efter region
[Number of persons with foreign or Swedish background by region] . Stockholm, Sweden: Statistics Sweden. Retrieved from http://www.statistikdatabasen.scb.se/pxweb/en/ssd/START__BE__BE0101__BE0101E/InrUtrFoddaRegAlKon/?rxid=b6eb07d1-1c64-4431-a918-988886fc9e18(2012). Similarity in self-enhancement and self-transcendence values between young adults and their parents and friends. Family Science, 3, 34–45.
(2012). A psycho‐political profile of party activists and left‐wing and right‐wing extremists. European Journal of Political Research, 51, 166–203. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-6765.2011.01991.x
(2013). Xenophobia and tolerance toward immigrants in adolescence: Cross-influence processes within friendships. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 41, 627–639. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-012-9694-8
(2013). Network-behavior dynamics. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 23, 399–412. https://doi.org/10.1111/jora.12070
(1999). Are there typical age curves in political behavior? The “age invariance” hypothesis and political socialization. Political Psychology, 20, 477–499. https://doi.org/10.1111/0162-895X.00153
