Does Negative Media Representation Shape Adolescents’ Discrimination towards Syrian Refugees through Threat Perception and Prejudice?

• In Event: How Do Social-Contextual Factors Shape Youth’s Intergroup Attitudes towards Immigrants and Refugees across Four Countries?

Abstract

Exposure to negative media coverage leads to an increase in adults’ negative attitudes and discriminatory tendencies towards Syrian refugees in Turkey (Çirakoğlu, 2020). Further, the stereotypical and biased language in the refugee-related news in traditional and social media may also increase perceived threat in adults (Taşdemir, 2018). However, research on media effects on attitudes towards Syrian refugees is scarce in adolescence, which is an important period for several reasons including (1) increasing media usage among both Turkish and Syrian adolescents; (2) growing discriminatory behaviors towards Syrian adolescents by their Turkish peers (Gönültaş et al., 2020). To address this, we examined to what adolescents’ discriminatory tendencies towards Syrian refugees are shaped by negative media representation about refugees through threat perception and prejudice.
Participants included 587 Turkish middle (Mage = 12.19, SD = 1.01, 208 girls) and high (Mage = 14.81, SD = .97, 142 girls) school students. Negative media representation was measured in three contexts: mass media (tv programs, news), newspapers/magazines, and social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) (“How does the media present Syrian refugees in Turkey?” from 1= very positively to 5= very negatively) with higher scores indicating more exposure to negative content about Syrian refugees. Adolescents’ discriminatory tendencies were measured through their preference of how socially distant or close to a Syrian peer in their neighborhood and school they wished to be (Berger et al., 2015). A composite discriminatory tendency score was created with higher scores indicating more discriminatory tendencies. Perceived threat (Stephan et al. 2002) and prejudice (Aboud, 2003) were also examined as possible mediators of the relationship between media exposure and discrimination.
The serial multiple mediation model (PROCESS Macro, Model 6) was used to examine whether the relationship between negative media representation and discriminatory tendencies would be mediated by threat perception and, in turn, prejudice, controlling for age and gender. Results showed the total effect of negative media exposure on discrimination was significant (c = 0.60, CI = 0.31–0.90, t = 4.01, p < 0.001). Further, the sequential pathway of “negative media representation→ perceived threat→ prejudice→ discrimination” was also significant (indirect effect = .05, 95% CI = 0.01 to 0.11). This indicates that the more negative media representation was adolescents reported, the more it contributed to perceived threat and greater level of prejudice, which in turn would together lead to greater discriminatory tendencies (see Figure 1). The total amount of variance accounted for by the overall model was 27%.
Findings provide important implications about how negative media representation can shape intergroup attitudes towards Syrian refugees during adolescence. Considering the recent increase in negative content related to Syrian refugees in Turkey, especially during economic recession and epidemic, it is vital to call for policies and regulations on eliminating hate speech and biased news coverage in the media. This helps policymakers to explore the possible ways of using media as a tool for promoting intergroup relations instead of a source for threat.

Authors

• Secil Gonultas, North Carolina State University
  Presenting Author

• Kelly Lynn S Mulvey, North Carolina State University
  Non-Presenting Author