Relative group size and minority school success: The role of intergroup friendship and discrimination experiences

Abstract

Article (Unspecified) http://sro.sussex.ac.uk Baysu, Gülseli, Phalet, Karen and Brown, Rupert (2013) Relative group size and minority school success: the role of intergroup friendship and discrimination experiences. British Journal of Social Psychology, 53 (2). pp. This version is available from Sussex Research Online: http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/52953/ This document is made available in accordance with publisher policies and may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the URL above for details on accessing the published version. Copyright and reuse:Sussex Research Online is a digital repository of the research output of the University.Copyright and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. To the extent reasonable and practicable, the material made available in SRO has been checked for eligibility before being made available.Copies of full text items generally can be reproduced, displayed or performed and given to third parties in any format or medium for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge, provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. From an intergroup relations perspective, relative group size is associated with the quantity and quality of intergroup contact: more positive contact (i.e., intergroup friendship) supports, and negative contact (i.e., experienced discrimination) hampers, minority identity, and school success. Accordingly, we examined intergroup contact as the process through which perceived relative proportions of minority and majority students in school affected minority success (i.e., school performance, satisfaction, and self-efficacy). Turkish minorities (N = 1,060) were compared in four Austrian and Belgian cities which differ in their typical school ethnic composition. Across cities, minority experiences of intergroup contact fully mediated the impact of perceived relative group size on school success. As expected, higher minority presence impaired school success through restricting intergroup friendship and increasing experienced discrimination. The association between minority presence and discrimination was curvilinear, however, so that schools where minority students predominated offered some protection from discrimination. To conclude, the comparative findings reveal positive and negative intergroup contact as key processes that jointly explain when and how higher proportions of minority students affect school success.

Contextual Conditions for Acculturation and Adjustment of Adolescent Immigrants – Integrating Theory and Findings

“…This can further reduce their mainstream orientation and lead to a decrease in school belonging and engagement, eventually resulting in lower levels of achievement (Wong, Eccles, & Sameroff, 2003). Friendships with mainstream peers were found to mediate the relationship between a lower proportion of immigrants in class and better academic outcomes and buffered the negative effects of perceived discrimination (Baysu, Phalet, & Brown, 2014).…”

School ethnic diversity and students' interethnic relations

“…However, as argued earlier, these schools also provide opportunities for positive contact experiences. A study in four Austrian and Belgian cities showed that ethnic minority students who attended less segregated schools reported more school satisfaction and higher school performance (Baysu et al, 2013). These effects were (partly) explained by students' friendships with ethnic majority peers in their school and existed despite their having experiences with ethnic victimization.…”

System to Detect Racial-Based Bullying through Gamification

“…However, acceptance of interculturality in the classroom is a problem that arises and affects immigrant students who are discriminated because of their origin and their appearance, which stigmatizes their future personal and professional development (Baysu et al, 2013). Gradual general awareness of the importance of human rights and repercussion in communications media of aggression in schools demand that the parties involved in education intervene in both prevention and treatment of bullying when it occurs.…”