Dealing With Increasing Negativity Toward Refugees: A Latent Growth Curve Study of Positive and Negative Intergroup Contact and Approach-Avoidance Tendencies

Abstract

Despite increasing contact opportunities, prejudice toward refugees persists, especially in mass immigration contexts. We investigated changes in and associations between Turkish early adolescents’ ( N = 687, Mage = 11.11 years) positive and negative contact with Syrian refugees and their outgroup approach-avoidance tendencies over 15 months (three waves). Univariate growth curve models demonstrated a rise in outgroup negativity indicated by increasing negative contact and avoidance tendencies, and decreasing approach tendencies, while positive contact only slightly increased over time (nonsignificantly). Combined latent growth curve models showed that increasing positive contact buffered against increasing outgroup negativity in behavioral tendencies by predicting a less steep decline in approach and a less steep increase in avoidance. Increasing negative contact was positively associated with increasing outgroup negativity so that it predicted a more steep increase in avoidance. Findings underline the importance of early contact interventions that target the fast deterioration of positive intergroup interactions in increasingly hostile intergroup contexts.