Pro-Violence Attitudes and Generational Status: Further Understanding of Between-Group Differences for Violence

• In Event: Cultural Conflict, Legal Cynicism, and "Street Codes"

Abstract

Studies examining generational status and violence have supported differences in the prevalence of violence between generational groups. Similar to criminological findings of the differences between ethnic groups, the differences between generational groups may be due to the differences in prevalence of risk and protective factors. The present study examined perceptions and attitudes developed from experiences of the immigration process to explain the differences in violence between generational statuses. Specifically, generational status may account for these differences through differences in the prevalence of harassment and in negative perceptions that increase the likelihood to develop violent attitudes. Data to answer the study’s key questions were taken from the 2010-2011 UK Citizenship Survey, where only the main sample was analysed. The findings reveal that compared to second and third generation immigrants, the relationship between negative perceptions and pro-violence attitudes is an important series of mechanisms that put first-generation immigrants at risk for actual violence. This suggests that perhaps there is an intergenerational transmission in violent attitudes, which is aligned with the existing literature on generational status and violence.

Author

• Laura Bui, Queen Mary University of London