Adolescent voting for right‐wing extremist parties and readiness to use violence in political action: parent and peer contexts

Abstract

Almost all shapes of adolescent risky and deviant behaviour take place in the context of peer‐relations. The present study examined the role of parents and peer‐relations with respect to two indicators of deviant political development. In the fall 1998, directly after the German parliamentary elections, 1309 East German adolescents were asked about their voting for a right‐wing extremist party and their readiness to use violence in political action. Friend′s voting was a strong predictor of individual voting for a right‐wing extremist party, particularly when the friend was the best friend with a reciprocal nomination, and when the friends frequently communicated about political themes. In addition, voting behaviour and willingness to use violence were associated with membership in peer groups who met frequently. Finally, the violence‐disposed adolescents spent more of their spare time with peers and less with their parents. Similarities of our results with the findings of research on deviant behaviour in non‐political areas support the idea that deviant political behaviour could be an expression of a problematic life situation.

Friendships Fighting Prejudice: A Longitudinal Perspective on Adolescents’ Cross-Group Friendships with Immigrants

“…These findings have practical meaning, for the native adolescents, for their immigrant peers, and for society. For native adolescents, lower levels of prejudice mean greater tolerance and lower levels of intergroup violence (Kuhn 2004;van Zalk and Kerr 2014). Even more, promoting positive, more inclusive outgroup attitudes in adolescence will help prevent the perpetuation of widespread discriminatory practices in adult life (e.g., unequal pay, job and housing discrimination) that are justified by staunchly unchanging prejudicial attitudes in adults (Abrams and Killen 2014).…”

“…Prejudice in adolescence is a threat to the cohesion of multicultural and diverse societies, as it has been found to be related to lower levels of tolerance (van Zalk and Kerr 2014) and even to violence against immigrants (Kuhn 2004). As such, it is important to identify the factors that can reduce prejudice and negative attitudes.…”

“…There is evidence, for example, that immigrant adolescents report higher levels of discrimination when they attend schools, in which their native peers reported higher levels of prejudice (Brenick et al 2012). The link between natives' prejudice and immigrants' perceived discrimination can be explained by the behavior of native adolescents, as native adolescents' prejudice relates to higher levels of violence against immigrants (Kuhn 2004) and lower levels of tolerance (van Zalk and Kerr 2014). Moreover, these negative outgroup attitudes, still malleable in adolescence, form the basis of deep-seated explicit and implicit stereotypes in adulthood that justify and perpetuate economic and social inequalities throughout adulthood (Abrams and Killen 2014).…”

Relationships between individual endorsement of aggressive behaviors and thoughts with prejudice relevant correlates among adolescents

“…In particular, research on intergroup relations shows that childhood and adolescence developmental stages are critical to uncover the change over time in prejudice (Kuhn, 2004; Titzmann, Brenick, & Silbereisen, 2015). Within the current social-developmental research literature on this topic (e.g., Raabe & Beelmann, 2011; Tenenbaum & Ruck, 2012), researchers are especially focused on trying to uncover individual and social factors that might contribute to the crystallization of prejudice and other forms of biased intergroup attitudes during adolescence favoring the formation of steady prejudice late in life.…”

De relatie tussen opvoeding, socialisatie, ontwikkeling en radicalisering: overzicht van en hiaten in de beschikbare kennis

“…De duidelijke boodschappen en herkenbare groepen van geradicaliseerde moslims zijn dan aantrekkelijke alternatieven. Verscheidene empirische studies tonen inderdaad aan dat er een relatie is tussen daadwerkelijke en vermeende De relatie tussen opvoeding, socialisatie, ontwikkeling en radicalisering: overzicht van en hiaten in de beschikbare kennis deprivatie en radicalisering, evenals gevoelens van machteloosheid en lage zelfwaardering aan de ene kant en radicalisering aan de andere kant (Buijs et al 2006;Kuhn, 2004).…”