Homonegativity among First and Second Generation Migrants in Europe: Time Trends, Origin, Destination and Religion

• In Event: 242 - Section on International Migration Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 09. Immigrant Assimilation in Europe

Abstract

Previous studies reported declining disapproval of homosexuality in Europe but have simultaneously identified the decelerating effect of religiosity on this decline and the higher disapproval of homosexuality among migrants. However, this decline is largely due to generational replacement and the effects of religiosity on disapproval of homosexuality among migrants has as yet not been assessed thoroughly. In this paper, we address disapproval of homosexuality among first- and second-generation migrants in Europe by assessing (1) period and cohort changes, (2) origin and destination country influences and (3) the role of religiosity. We develop a specific cross-classified multilevel design enabling us to simultaneously examine the impact of period, cohort, origin and destination country influences. We test hypotheses using a subsample of 19,878 first and second generation migrants of four waves (2-5; 2004-2010) of the European Social Survey (ESS). The analyses lead to three important conclusions. Firstly, results indicate that disapproval of homosexuality is both declining over time and across cohorts. Secondly, migrants conform to levels of disapproval of homosexuality among natives in the destination country, and this explains the decline among migrants over time. Thirdly, religion indeed has a multi-faceted influence on levels of disapproval of homosexuality among migrants, independently from other conservative values. The proposed multilevel design can easily be applied to other contexts and offers interesting prospects for future research studying changes in attitudes and behavior.

Authors

• Koen Van der Bracht, Ghent University

• Bart Van de Putte, Ghent University