Department of Psychology, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
J Res Adolesc. 2024 Dec;34(4):1456-1470. doi: 10.1111/jora.13013. Epub 2024 Sep 3.
Ethnic prejudice poses great challenges to adolescents' adjustment to multicultural societies. However, little is known about the role of the media in influencing attitudes in adolescence. Combining information environment and ecological development theories, the current study examined the longitudinal associations between the quantity, valence (i.e., neutral, positive, and negative), and target (i.e., migrant, refugee, and foreigner) of the news about ethnic minority groups and youth's affective and cognitive prejudice. In total, 962 adolescents (M = 15.67, 48.13% females) completed questionnaires at two time points, and news data were gathered from a national newspaper. While news quantity did not matter, positive and negative news were respectively associated with reduced and increased levels of cognitive, but not affective, prejudice. Nuanced associations emerged when accounting for the news target. Results were replicated regardless of adolescents' direct consumption of newspapers. These findings highlight the role of the information environment and suggest the need to account for it in planning interventions.
种族偏见给青少年适应多元文化社会带来了巨大挑战。然而，对于媒体在影响青少年态度方面的作用知之甚少。本研究结合信息环境和生态发展理论，考察了少数民族群体新闻的数量、性质（即中性、积极和消极）和目标（即移民、难民和外国人）与青少年情感和认知偏见之间的纵向关联。共有 962 名青少年（M=15.67，48.13%为女性）在两个时间点完成了问卷调查，新闻数据来自一份全国性报纸。虽然新闻数量并不重要，但积极和消极的新闻分别与认知偏见的降低和增加有关，但与情感偏见无关。当考虑到新闻目标时，出现了细微的关联。无论青少年是否直接阅读报纸，结果都是一致的。这些发现强调了信息环境的作用，并表明在规划干预措施时需要考虑到这一点。
