In Vorurteilen gegenüber türkischen Jugendlichen vereint

In this work three lines of research are combined: integration research, prejudice research and longitudinal research. First the question of integration is considered. How integrated are late migrants from the former Soviet Union and Poland (Aussiedler) in the German society? These two groups are compared with adolescents of German origin. Secondly it is examined how late migrants from the former Soviet Union and Poland perceive adolescents of Turkish origin: Do late migrants from the former Soviet Union and Poland have a different perception of Turkish adolescents compared to German adolescents? Thirdly the dynamics of integration processes and the possibility of a change of prejudices in the course of life are considered. The theoretical framework is the theory of disintegration. Its main assumption runs as follows: With the degree of failing integration the susceptibility of negative attitudes towards Turkish adolescents rises. The empirical analysis focuses on 2.972 adolescents from three different backgrounds: 784 late migrants from the former Soviet Union, 405 late migrants from Poland and 1.783 native Germans. In 2001 they were all attending schools (10th grade) in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The data have been collected by the Youth Panel of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Research on Conflict and Violence (IKG) from 2001 to 2003. With the accumulation of risk factors hindering integration in the past there were more risk factors in the corresponding integration sphere one or two years later. Most of the adolescents were not or just very little affected by risk factors during the three years. Therefore they remained at the same "integration level" which they had in 2001. Concerning the development of integration a rather gradual improvement than a massive increase of risk factors can be stated in the observed three years. The accumulation of risk factors on different dimensions leading to insufficient integration in Germany increases the risk of prejudices towards Turkish adolescents. Direct interaction with Turkish adolescents has a big influence on the development of the two empirically ascertained attitude dimensions: If common leisure activities were shared with Turkish adolescents, if no victim experiences caused by Turkish adolescents occurred, if there were no situations in which disadvantages in comparison with Turkish adolescents are perceived and if the interviewed persons were treated with respect by their Turkish contemporaries, then the Turkish adolescents are seen in an appealing way (attitude dimension 1) and it also becomes more likely that the opinion is rejected that Turkish adolescents had advantages and one had to be afraid of shared resources with them (attitude dimension 2). Besides these factors there are in particular correlations between the attitude dimensions and the social-structural dimension of integration: The more risk factors appeared during the years 2001 to 2003, the less the rejection of negative attitudes towards Turkish adolescents in 2003. Adolescents permanently threatened in their social-structural position oppose tendentious less strongly to the opinion that Turkish adolescents had advantages and that one had to be afraid of shared resources with them. In summary the results show that aspects of integration into the German society contribute to the question, whether prejudices towards Turkish young people emerge or not.