Reducing Childhood Prejudice by Prompting Classroom Discussions Aims at Increasing Social Inclusion

• In Event: Developing and Evaluating  Interventions to Reduce Prejudice and Promote Inclusion in Ethnic Diversity Contexts

Abstract

Intergroup peer exclusion is pervasive in childhood despite adults’ frequent expectations that this type of prejudice emerges in early adolescence. In fact, social exclusion based on gender, race, and ethnicity begins early in life. The negative consequences of these experiences can be debilitating for children and create both a sense of self-doubt as well as anxiety and stress.
Moreover, children’s peer group norms often reflect exclusionary societal messages as well as parental attitudes. Developmental science research on children’s social exclusion and intergroup bias provided a basis for the implementation of a new program, Developing Inclusive Youth (DIY), designed to reduce prejudice and exclusion by prompting children to reflect, evaluate, and discuss peer conflicts about social inclusion and exclusion in school contexts.
Developing Inclusive Youth (DIY) is an animated, interactive web-based curriculum tool that depicts peer social exclusion scenarios followed by classroom discussions. Third, fourth, and fifth grade children (N = 982) participated in a randomized control trial design study across 48 classrooms, 24 DIY and 24 Business-As-Usual (BAU). Students were from majority White schools with diverse racial composition: White (59.3%), Multiracial (10.6%), Asian American (8.9%), African-American (6.7%), Latinx (4.6%), and Other (6.45%). Additionally, 48 teachers volunteered to participate across the 6 elementary school sites (24 DIY teachers; 24 BAU teachers).
In classrooms assigned to the DIY condition, participants engaged with the DIY tool independently for 15 minutes, followed by a 30 minute discussion as a class once a week for 8 weeks. The interactive design of the tool allowed children to watch simulated peer interactions that involved intergroup social exclusion scenarios after which, children were asked to evaluate the emotions of various characters at key points in the narrative, make a decision about whether the peers should include or exclude the target child, and select reasons which reflected their decisions. Children then watched the possible actions (inclusion and exclusion) unfold. In most cases, exclusion decisions resulted in a loss of a friendship with sadness displayed by the target child; inclusion decisions resulted in friendship and new lessons learned.
Pretest and posttest surveys, which included outcome measures of children’s intergroup attitudes, were administered one week prior to and one week following the program. The outcome measures of intergroup attitudes included children’s social reasoning about inclusion/exclusion, trait attributions, competency beliefs, and desire to play with others from a range of ethnic and racial backgrounds. Reliabilities for the outcome measures ranged from α = .800 to α = .951.
The findings revealed that the Developing Inclusive Youth program was effective; participants in the program were more likely than participants in the BAU condition to evaluate social exclusion as wrong, report a desire to play with racial and ethnic peers, attribute more positive traits to different gender and ethnic groups, and express more positive beliefs about math and science competency beliefs for females, and Black/Latino, White, and Asian peers. Age-related changes in these outcomes and the implications of promoting positive intergroup attitudes and inclusivity during childhood will be discussed.

Authors

• Melanie A. Killen, University of Maryland - College Park
  Presenting Author

• Alexander P. D'Esterre, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Amanda Rose Burkholder, Furman University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Riley N. Sims, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jacquelyn Glidden, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kathryn M. Yee, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Katherine Verity Luken Raz, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author

• Arvid Samuelson, University of Maryland - College Park
  Non-Presenting Author