ARE BETTER-OFF YOUTH LESS FEARFUL OF IMMIGRANTS AND REFUGEES?

A STUDY OF ATTITUDES AMONG YOUTH IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE

Abstract

A number of studies link higher levels of education and general wellbeing to lower levels of xenophobia and social distance in relation to strangers. We tested this general assumption on a sample of more than 10,000 young people aged from 14 to 29 years from ten countries of Southeast Europe. More specifically, the focus of our research was to evaluate the effect of young people’s financial status, parental education and self-rated health onto the level of fear and social distance expressed in relation to immigrants and refugees. Our hypothesis was that better-off young people in all three dimensions (money, education, and health) should be less fearful and more open towards immigrants and refugees in each of the ten countries observed. The analyses showed that none of the six tested hypotheses could be confirmed. With very rare exceptions, better-off young people do not hold more positive perceptions when it comes to immigrants and refugees. In essence, our results suggest that negative perceptions in relation to immigrants and refugees are quite evenly spread across the different segments of young people in terms of their financial situation, cultural background and their health. The only partial exception is Bulgaria, where correlations tend to run contrary to our expectations; better financial situation and better self-rated health are related to more negative perceptions of immigrants and refugees.