Descripción del proyecto
As super-diversity becomes an integral part of the modern youth's everyday reality, it is of vital importance for them to learn how to embrace differences, appreciate and value ‘otherness’, and develop positive relations with people of diverse backgrounds. Although the literature suggests that adolescence is an especially crucial period for the development of inter-ethnic attitudes, we still lack a clear understanding of how youth change their inter-ethnic attitudes across this developmental stage and which factors contribute to these changes. To address this important gap in knowledge and go beyond the state of the art, this project will analyze whether youth follow different developmental trajectories of inter-ethnic attitudes across adolescence and provide a comprehensive understanding of the role of school context in shaping these trajectories. The focus of this ambitious project is on attitudes in general, rather than only prejudice, since it will not only find ways to prevent negative outgroup dispositions, but also identify factors that might place youth on positive attitudinal trajectories during this critical developmental period. The project will utilize a mixed-method research design integrating quantitative (i.e., longitudinal large-scale panel data) and qualitative (i.e., semi-structured interviews and citizen science) approaches. The project will not limit its analysis to ethnic majority youth but will also focus on adolescents of various minority backgrounds (including newly arrived Ukrainian refugee adolescents) across different national contexts. New knowledge in this area will make a unique contribution to the theory advancement as well as provide an avenue for developing more personalized and effective programs and interventions aimed to facilitate positive inter-ethnic interactions among youth. The host is the perfect match for the successful realization of the project and provides a highly appropriate environment for the fellow's career growth.