Peer Attitudes and the Development of Prejudice in Adolescence

Introduction

Studies have shown that many young people form their attitudes, political values, and prejudices during adolescence. According to a study by Raabe and Beelmann (2011), in which they conducted a meta-analysis of prejudice in adolescence and childhood, prejudice is linked to developmental stage and age in childhood, and to social influences in adolescence and later in life. However, few studies focus on this link because of the limited longitudinal data available on the topic (Raabe & Beelmann, 2011). Changes in prejudice at the individual level have not been exhaustively explored. Nevertheless, theory suggests that social influence plays a significant role in driving individuals to develop negative attitudes or beliefs about certain groups. Several social psychological theories emphasize the key role of the social environment — close friends, peers, and parents — in the adoption and development of negative attitudes (Hjerm, Eger & Danell, 2018).

Moreover, sociological research shows that social networks largely influence attitudes and beliefs, yet relatively few studies examine how prejudice develops over time. This is the gap this research proposal sets out to address. The objective is to understand the relationship between attitudinal change and social context in individuals. Specifically, this study aims to investigate how peer groups affect the formation and development of attitudes.

Research Question: How does peer attitude influence the development of prejudice in adolescents?

Hypothesis: Prejudice within peer groups affects and ultimately determines individual prejudice over time.

Literature Review

Many social psychology studies have shown that the social environment influences or determines adolescents' behavior and attitudes. One prominent example is Social Identity Development Theory (SIDT) (Raabe & Beelmann, 2011). The behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes of children are largely shaped by social identity — including social class, gender, nationality, and race — which pressures them to conform to other group members. SIDT is widely accepted among social scientists and combines elements of social development and cognitive development theory. Another framework, Social Domain Theory (SDT), provides an empirical and theoretical approach for investigating how moral development in young people results in prejudice or discrimination (Hjerm, Eger & Danell, 2018). According to SDT, when making social evaluations, individuals typically draw on three separate domains of social knowledge: the personal domain (their own ideas, choices, and beliefs), the social-conventional domain (social customs, norms, group functioning, and societal conventions), and the moral domain (rights, justice, and welfare) (Hjerm, Eger & Danell, 2018).

Through the integration of SDT and SIDT elements, a new framework — the Social Reasoning Developmental (SRD) perspective (Rutland, Killen & Abrams, 2010) — was developed. This framework examines the factors that influence social behavior, including group status, group norms, and group processes. Like SIDT, the SRD perspective argues that social associations can shape prejudice and influence how social groups relate to their members' decisions. The SRD perspective also examines how prejudice develops within the social-cognitive developmental context and how group identity and morality interact in young people.

The SRD perspective suggests that both group processes and moral principles largely influence young people's decision-making, since both develop in parallel from childhood, as evidenced by the early onset of morality and prejudice (Nesdale, 2017). Research has similarly shown how adolescents and children balance group identity concerns with moral concerns when making decisions (Killen et al., 2013). A notable example is the Hitti and Killen (2015) study, which investigated non-Arab American adolescents' views on the inclusion and exclusion of Arab American and non-Arab American peers with similar interests, both within and across groups. The researchers found that adolescents frequently choose to form relationships with peers who share similar interests and tend to include them in their groups regardless of ethnicity. However, they also found that adolescents who held prejudices and believed in stereotypes about Arab Americans were significantly less likely to include Arab American peers in their groups than those who held no such prejudices.

A more recent study, Hitti et al. (2019), used the SRD framework to investigate the developmental patterns and reasoning of Asian American children and adolescents regarding cross-ethnic integration. This study revealed that adolescents in the Asian American community generally prioritize relationships based on shared interests over shared ethnicity. In another study, adolescents with perspective-taking ability — a social cognitive skill — were more likely to revise their prejudice against immigrants than those without this skill, highlighting the importance of social-cognitive skills in forming and developing intergroup attitudes and perspectives (Miklikowska, 2018).

While many studies confirm that individuals are heavily influenced by the attitudes of the groups they belong to during adolescence, it remains uncertain whether specific relationships matter and whether the broader social environment influences prejudice independently. The social environment is not simply a collection of independent relationships; it is a network of interpersonal connections embedded within a larger social context. Research has indicated that social network peer pressure influences behaviors such as delinquency, drug use, charitable giving, and academic performance (Hjerm, Eger & Danell, 2018).

Past studies underscore the importance of social context in attitude development, supported by theories including social learning theory, identity theories, intergroup contact theory, and symbolic racism theory. While many of these frameworks highlight the social environment's role in shaping prejudice, Social Identity Development Theory and group norm theory more specifically explain how in-group norms and attitudes shape personal attitudes. Critically, few studies have investigated the longitudinal link between peer relationships and the development of prejudice over time, making it difficult to track how peer attitudes change alongside individual prejudice (Hjerm, Eger & Danell, 2018). Nevertheless, seminal sociological and social psychological research consistently suggests that peer prejudice influences individual prejudice over time.

Research Methods and Design

A longitudinal study design incorporating both survey and interview techniques will be used for data collection. This research will be carried out over more than three years, with participants surveyed and interviewed on an annual basis.

Surveys are applicable across many contexts and are especially suitable when participants are asked to describe their behaviors, attitudes, or both. Three features distinguish survey designs from other methods. First, all survey research depends on verbal or written self-reports of individuals' behaviors, feelings, and attitudes — a method that is relatively straightforward and allows some access to psychological processes. Second, surveys can capture internal states that cannot be determined through direct observation. By asking individuals about their thoughts, behaviors, and feelings, researchers gain insight into underlying psychological processes. Third, survey designs allow researchers to gather large amounts of data with relatively few resources. Because surveys can be distributed to many participants simultaneously, they stand out as an efficient study design (Newman, 2016).

Interviews offer additional advantages compared to written surveys. Individuals are often more willing and motivated to speak than to write, and verbal responses tend to be richer and more detailed than written ones. Interview formats also allow researchers to confirm that respondents understand the questions. Poorly worded written questions force respondents to guess at intended meanings, introducing variance errors; in an interview, respondents can ask for clarification on the spot. Finally, interviews allow researchers to reach a broader cross-section of individuals, including those who may be unable to read or write in the survey language (Newman, 2016).

Conclusion

The seminal scholarship on socialization suggests that individuals' attitudes are swayed by their social relationships, particularly during adolescence, when attitudes are most susceptible to change. According to social learning theory, prejudicial attitudes are adopted from significant others such as parents and peers. While this idea is rarely contested, it has seldom been explicitly tested in longitudinal designs. Moreover, whereas past studies have concentrated on dyadic friendships, this research aims to examine the effect of broader social contexts. It assesses how peer attitudes embedded in social networks influence the development of bias during adolescents' formative years, contributing to a clearer empirical understanding of how prejudice forms and evolves over time.

References

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Hitti, A., & Killen, M. (2015). Expectations about ethnic peer-group inclusivity: The role of shared interests, group norms, and stereotypes. Child Development, 86(5), 1522–1537.

Hitti, A., Elenbaas, L., Noh, J. Y., Rizzo, M. T., Cooley, S., & Killen, M. (2019). Expectations for cross-ethnic inclusion by Asian American children and adolescents. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 23(5), 664–683.

Hjerm, M., Eger, M. A., & Danell, R. (2018). Peer attitudes and the development of prejudice in adolescence. Socius, 4, 2378023118763187.

Killen, M., Rutland, A., Abrams, D., Mulvey, K. L., & Hitti, A. (2013). Development of intra- and intergroup judgments in the context of moral and social-conventional norms. Child Development, 84(3), 1063–1080.

Miklikowska, M. (2018). Empathy trumps prejudice: The longitudinal relation between empathy and anti-immigrant attitudes in adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 54(4), 703.

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Nesdale, D. (2017). Children and social groups: A social identity approach. The Wiley handbook of group processes in children and adolescents, 3–22.

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Raabe, T., & Beelmann, A. (2011). Development of ethnic, racial, and national prejudice in childhood and adolescence: A multinational meta-analysis of age differences. Child Development, 82(6), 1715–1737.

Rutland, A., Killen, M., & Abrams, D. (2010). A new social-cognitive developmental perspective on prejudice: The interplay between morality and group identity. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(3), 279–291.