Elementary school students’ motivations for responding without prejudice: the role of the student-teacher relationship

Abstract Despite extensive research on prejudice reduction in schools, the motivational processes underlying students’ regulation of prejudice remain relatively understudied, even though they may provide a novel perspective for improving intergroup attitudes. The present study addressed this by examining the role of teachers in elementary school students’ internal and external motivations to respond without prejudice (RWP), building on insights from Self-Determination Theory and the so-called extended attachment perspective. Specifically, this cross-sectional questionnaire study investigated how students’ perceptions of the student-teacher relationship and teachers’ perceived anti-prejudice norms were associated with RWP motivations among both ethnic minority and majority students. The data were collected among 1101 ethnic majority and minority students (80.2% majority, 51.3% girls, M age = 9.8 years, SD = 0.5) from 59 classrooms in the Netherlands using self-report questionnaires, and analyzed with multilevel regression models. Results showed that closeness and conflict were associated with, respectively, stronger and weaker internal RWP motivations. Negative expectations were associated with a stronger external RWP motivation. These findings were consistent for both ethnic majority and ethnic minority students. The teachers’ anti-prejudice norm also did not seem to alter the associations between relational quality and RWP motivations. Hence, our findings suggest that regardless of the classroom environment, student-teacher relationships may be a valuable tool for promoting intergroup relations.