Motivations to respond without prejudice and ethnic outgroup attitudes in late childhood Change and stability during a single school year

This longitudinal study (threewaves across a school year) investigated the links between children’smotivations to respond without prejudice and their ethnic outgroup attitudes at the between-person level (means and changes over time) and thewithin-person level (time-specific fluctuations). Participantswere 945 ethnicmajority students (M_ageW1= 9.86 years, SD=1.21; 471 girls) from 51 grade 3–6 classrooms in the Netherlands. Children reported (increasingly) more positive outgroup attitudes when their internal motivation was structurally high (between-person effects) and temporarily high (within-person effect), and less positive attitudeswhen their external motivation was structurally and temporarily high. The between-person effects were independent of the ethnic composition and the antiprejudice climate of the classroom. These findings may help in developing interventions aimed at reducing prejudice in late childhood.