People's tendency to perceive groups they do not belong to as potentially threatening, even when no actual threat exists, aligns with the fact that humans are social beings who highly identify with their groups. However, the perception of threat can severely damage social relationships, making it crucial to understand why and how it occurs in specific contexts. Hence, the aim of this study was to examine the longitudinal interplay between ethnic identity and ethnonationalism as different types of ingroup identification, along with various forms of intergroup threat. We also examined the moderating role of majority/minority group status and post-conflict/non-conflict multiethnic research contexts. The study was carried out at two time points, a year apart, and involved 852 adolescents (age range: 12-20; M age = 15.69, SD age = 1.77) from Croatia. The structural equation modeling (SEM) results suggest a reciprocal relationship between identity and the perception of threat. We found that experienced intergroup anxiety at T1 has a strong positive effect on ethnonationalism at T2. Furthermore, participants with a stronger ethnonationalism at T1 experienced higher levels of symbolic threat at T2, and a stronger perception of symbolic threat at T1 led to greater ethnic identification at T2. Contrary to our expectations, the relationships between variables operate in the same way across groups, regardless of group status and intergroup context. We discuss how this interplay between ingroup identification and intergroup threat affects the intergroup relations of adolescents in multiethnic contexts.

Since the 2015 migration crisis in Europe, very few studies have focused on the actual needs of UnAccompanied Minors (UAM); top-down policies have been issued, but very little voice has been granted to the minors directly. The current qualitative study provides an in-depth analysis of UAM’s psychosocial needs drawing from a corpus that gathered semi-structured interviews with 49 UAM living in Switzerland (46 male and 3 female). A thematic content analysis followed a hybrid deductive/inductive approach. Results revealed nine psychosocial needs: (1) Social support, (2) Security, (3) Culture, (4) Education, (5) Work, (6) Leisure activities, (7) Coping with idle time (8) Medical care and (9) Living standards. UAM also emphasized the inequalities in access to the structures and relations that may help in the fulfilment of the nine needs. We discuss the importance of focusing on UAM’s needs in order to tailor adapted social support practices.

Intergroup contact has been shown to reduce prejudice and promote positive relationships between members of different groups, as in the case of the integration of migrants. Nevertheless, extant research has not explored the crucial question of whether members of the migrant group express a desire for contact with the host group. To explore this question, we collected and collated a rare set of data to create a substantial corpus of semi-structured interviews conducted with a specific migrant group, namely unaccompanied minors (UAMs) residing in Switzerland (N = 49). Qualitative analysis revealed UAMs' strong desire for intergroup contact. We identified four reasons for this desire for contact: bonding, support, knowledge and identity enhancement; and five barriers to contact: language, intercultural differences, network impermeability, mismatch and individual characteristics. These dimensions are discussed as avenues that may help facilitate the emergence of intergroup contact, contact whose positive potential is known.

The public’s attitude towards pro-refugee policies and the willingness to help refugees largely depend on the specific context of the receiving country. An important factor behind these various attitudes is the degree of identification with refugees, influenced by the similarity of cultural and ethnic identity, as well as by the degree of identification with their refugee experience. In this regard, Croatia is specific because memories of the 1991–1995 war and the refugee experience are still very vivid and frame intergroup relations. We conducted two online studies in Croatia to examine the perception of refugees among Croats. In Study 1 (N=290), we investigated attitudes towards Middle Eastern refugees, willingness to help them, and support for pro-refugee policies. In Study 2 (N=183), we examined the same constructs but focused on refugees from Ukraine. In both studies, the participants were aged between 18 and 63 years, with a higher proportion of female participants. The results of Study 1 revealed a neutral attitude towards Middle Eastern refugees and a lack of prosocial intentions. However, the results of Study 2 indicated a notably positive attitude towards Ukrainian refugees, fair support for pro-refugee policies, and moderate willingness to personally help them. In both studies, regression analyses confirmed that inclusive victim consciousness and empathy were positive predictors of attitudes and prosocial intentions towards refugees, while prejudice towards refugees was a negative predictor. National identification emerged as a relevant positive predictor only when it comes to helping Ukrainian refugees. The results are discussed from the perspective of social categorisation theory, social identity, and the dominant narrative about past collective experiences and the current refugee situation. We also discuss the importance of media, competent authorities, and public policies throughout the crisis in shaping people’s attitudes and prosocial intentions towards refugees.

IntroductionPreparing host-society children for contact with refugees coming into their classes poses a new and important challenge for countries with little prior experience in integration. Imagined contact is a prejudice-reduction intervention that can be particularly useful in this context. However, its long-term effects and potential age-related variations in its efficacy among primary school children remain understudied.MethodsThis study investigated the short-term and long-term effects of an imagined contact school intervention on the change in attitudes and contact intentions of 1,544 children aged 7–15. Of these, 827 participated in a four-session-long intervention delivered by their teachers within their regular classes, while 717 served as a comparison group. Short-term effects were assessed approximately one week after the last intervention session, with long-term effects evaluated around two and a half months later.ResultsOur findings indicate that the imagined contact intervention instigates positive changes in intergroup attitudes and contact intentions in both the short term and long term, but only for the children in the lower grades of primary school.DiscussionWhile the durability of these effects among younger participants holds promise for future use of imagined contact in schools, we also scrutinize potential developmental and methodological explanations of the absence of expected intervention effects among older children.

Existing research on the education of refugee children has been conducted in countries with a longstanding tradition of refugee integration. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the integration process of refugee children in Croatian schools. Croatia is a small EU country with limited experience in refugee integration. The phenomenological approach was used to examine the experiences and perspectives of the relevant actors. Interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with refugee children (N = 15), their parents (N = 5), classmates (N = 50), and school staff (N = 54) from six elementary schools in Zagreb. Data analyses suggested three general needs: educational, language, and social, each of them connected to more specific needs, challenges, and suggestions. The results of the study are discussed within the Schachner et al. (2017) framework of immigrant adolescents’ acculturation.

Norms have been shown to predict a variety of intergroup outcomes among children. A study with children in Croatia (N = 184) who had no prior contact with refugee peers examined the role of social and personal norms in shaping intergroup outcomes with refugee peers. Regression analyses revealed that perceived teachers' and peers' norms, along with personal norms, predict general evaluation, social acceptance, and contact intentions towards refugee children. Social norms, especially those of teachers, were found to better predict attitudes, while peer norms more strongly influenced behavioural outcomes. These findings are important for educators and policymakers, particularly in the context of Croatia's increasingly diverse classrooms.

Successes and failures are integral outcomes to the sport experience. Based on decades of research, how athletes process both outcomes influence their thoughts, emotions, and subsequent achievement endeavors. Attribution theory details three dimensions as to the causes of success and failure. Since the 1980s, attribution theory has found a home in sport psychology literature. However, research across countries requires valid and reliable questionnaires. One such country is Croatia where attribution research is scant. Thus, in a Croatian combat athlete sample, we examined athletes’ attributions for the most and least successful performances via retrospection. Croatian athletes (N = 154) from three combat sports (judo, karate, and taekwondo) who all competed at least once on an international stage completed the Croatian Causal Dimension Scale-II, answered in reference to a specific reason for their best and worst competitive experience. Results showed that the combat sport athletes attributed their most and least successful competitive achievement to psychological reasons more than other reasons (i.e., general preparation and physical preparation). Furthermore, based on a series of two-tailed paired samples t-tests and the nonparametric equivalent, Wilcoxon signed rank test, the participants made, from small to medium in meaningfulness (Cohen’s d), more internal (d = 0.30), stable (d = 0.56), personal (d = 0.30), and external (d = 0.21) controllable attributions for success than for failure (all t-test p-values < 0.01). Our results suggest the athletes made the self-serving attribution bias across both the success and failure competitive events. Our results contribute to better understanding of specific reasons for success and failure and the attribution dimensions explaining the competitive outcomes in competitive combat sport. Specific to Croatian sport, our results provide Croatian combat sport with theory driven research applicable to improving development of Croatian combat athletes on the international stage.

Due to its efficacy shown in early research with children, imagined contact has often been proposed as a school prejudice-reduction intervention. Nevertheless, some of the more recent studies have not been able to replicate the expected effects. This review presents the first systematic examination of the effect of imagined contact interventions conducted with children and adolescents from 2007 onwards. An extensive database search identified a total of 30 interventions across 25 separate studies of imagined contact effects (total N = 3462). The results suggest mixed support for the effectiveness of imagined contact. Furthermore, imagined contact most often leads to improvement on the measures of intended and real intergroup behaviour, followed by the measures of intergroup attitudes. The effects on the measures of emotions are rarely measured and observed. Additionally, significant intervention effects are more often found in younger children, as well as for interventions that are researcher-led (as opposed to teacher-led) and conducted individually or in small groups. Finally, interventions incorporating modified (vs. standard) scenarios, reinforcement techniques other than writing, and multiple (vs. single) sessions tend to be more beneficial in changing intergroup bias. These findings could prove useful in planning future imagined contact school interventions.

ABSTRACT The aim of the research was to examine the moderating role of the group status (minority or majority) on the relationship between intergroup contact and willingness to get involved in a collective action with the aim of reducing inequalities of the persons with homosexual orientation with regard to the heterosexual majority. Additionally, the aim was to analyse the moderating role of the group status on the relationship between intergroup contact and perceived intergroup threat. The research was conducted via online survey on a sample of 286 respondents out of whom there were 187 heterosexual persons and 99 members of the LGBTIQ population. The respondents completed a survey which included a measure of quality of contact with the members of the other group, the scale of perceived symbolic threat and the scale of willingness to take collective action aimed at the improvement of the position of the LGBTIQ population. The results show a significant connection between intergroup contact and willingness to take collective action and perceived intergroup threat. The moderating role of the group status was confirmed, whereas on the sample of heterosexual persons a more positive contact with the members of the other group increases willingness to take collective action, while for homosexual persons the intergroup contact is not connected with the willingness to take collective action. Furthermore, the moderating role of the group status was confirmed on the relationship between the quality of contact and perception of symbolic threat, at which a more positive contact with the members of the other group was connected with the reduced perception of that group as a threat in both samples of respondents, but a higher effect of it was observed in the case of heterosexual persons. The results are analysed from the perspective of the contact theory and the neglected role of group status in that context. Key words: intergroup contact; symbolic threat; collective action; sexual orientation

The purpose of this study was to examine the reciprocal longitudinal associations between different measures of direct and extended intergroup contact and various intergroup outcomes among majority and minority adolescents from four intergroup contexts in the Republic of Croatia. The research was carried out in two waves on a sample of 1,150 elementary and high school students, members of Croatian majority, and Serbian, Hungarian, Czech, and Italian minority. Cross-lagged path analysis revealed that direct contacts predict less social distance and more prosocial behavior, while extended contacts predict lower ingroup bias over time. However, we found even more effects in the reversed temporal direction. Lower initial bias and social distance, as well as greater prosocial behavior predicted more direct and extended contacts over time. Furthermore, none of the examined longitudinal associations differed between majority and minority members or across the four intergroup contexts.

This study was designed to investigate the effect of the level and stability of self-esteem on self-referent vs. other-referent feedback recall and to determine which of the opposed self-concept motives, self-enhancement or self-verification, will prevail in adolescents with certain type of self- esteem. In a between-subjects experimental design, 450 high school graduates and freshmen were randomly assigned to a self-referent task (n = 230) or other-referent task (n = 220) and their self-esteem was measured by repeated administration of the RSE scale. After personality and cognitive ability test, participants in a self-referent task were presented with a bogus feedback which consisted of statements that described a specific positive or negative behavior that one is likely to do. Participants in the other-referent received the same information, but relating to an unknown person. Memory was tested on a surprise free recall task. Findings confirm preferential processing of self-related information, i.e. self-reference effect, regardless of valence and content-related domain of feedback. Participants in self-referent condition also showed better recall of positive than negative personally relevant feedback, regardless of their self-esteem stability or self-esteem level. However, interaction of self-esteem level and self-esteem stability was significant, but its effect was relatively small.

Traditionally, a romantic relationship starts with two people going on dates and developing emotional and then physical closeness. However, social developments and social media have begun to change that. Therefore, the main aim of our qualitative study was to outline modern dating scripts and forms of casual sexual relationships among Croatian emerging adults, and to identify the needs they fulfill. We conducted four focus groups with young people aged 18 to 25, of whom some were unemployed, some employed and some were university students. The results suggest that emerging adults in Croatia equally choose the traditional dating script and modern casual relationships, such as open relationship, friendship with benefits, fuck buddy, booty call, and one-night stand. Long-term relationships are seen as a step before marriage or cohabitation, and some young people try to avoid them until their career and other life circumstances are stable enough. In that sense, casual relationships can be satisfying, at least temporarily. However, they can also be confusing because different people seem to define them in different ways and, accordingly, have different expectations. The present study broadens our understanding of romantic relationships in emerging adulthood, and as one of the first Croatian studies on this topic, makes an important contribution to the field of personal relationships. It can serve not only as a reference for future studies but also as a base for developing prevention programmes that strengthen romantic competence and develop communication skills for emerging adults.

Abstract. This study compared attitudes toward multiculturalism and assimilationism among three ethnic groups (Serbs, Croats, and Hungarians) in two neighboring countries (Croatia and Serbia). Additionally, this study examined the predictive role of ethnic identity on aforementioned attitudes directly and indirectly via symbolic threat. The results showed that Croats and Serbs had less positive multicultural and more positive assimilationist attitudes when in a majority position than when in a minority position. Hungarians, a minority in both countries, did not differ between countries. Additionally, symbolic threat mediated the relationship between ethnic identification and both assimilation and multiculturalism only in Croatia. The group status moderated these effects. Our findings confirm the importance of group's status and national context in understanding the majority–minority intergroup dynamic.

Abstract. This study compared attitudes toward multiculturalism and assimilationism among three ethnic groups (Serbs, Croats, and Hungarians) in two neighboring countries (Croatia and Serbia). Additionally, this study examined the predictive role of ethnic identity on aforementioned attitudes directly and indirectly via symbolic threat. The results showed that Croats and Serbs had less positive multicultural and more positive assimilationist attitudes when in a majority position than when in a minority position. Hungarians, a minority in both countries, did not differ between countries. Additionally, symbolic threat mediated the relationship between ethnic identification and both assimilation and multiculturalism only in Croatia. The group status moderated these effects. Our findings confirm the importance of group's status and national context in understanding the majority–minority intergroup dynamic.

The aim of this study was to determine the factors underlying domestic product (potato chip purchases) using an extended model of theory of planned behaviour (TPB). A systematic sample of 348 Croatian potato chip buyers was surveyed. Structural Equation Modelling by Partial Least Squares was used to test the hypotheses. The strongest positive predictor of this intention was the attitude about the purchase of domestic potato chips. The perceived behavioural control did not have a significant impact on the behaviour (actual purchase), while intention was a strong predictor of the intended behaviour. Consumer ethnocentrism predicted the attitudes, while habit had a strong impact on all variables in the TPB model. This study extended the TPB model by adding two constructs, habit and consumer ethnocentrism, and by investigating their predictive impacts. While TPB is usually used to predict the prosocial and healthy behaviour, this study extended the previous knowledge by focusing on snacks (potato chips), which is expected to be more habit-driven than planned.

This study compared attitudes toward multiculturalism and assimilationism among three ethnic groups (Serbs, Croats, and Hungarians) in two neighboring countries (Croatia and Serbia). Additionally, this study examined the predictive role of ethnic identity on afore-mentioned attitudes directly and indirectly via symbolic threat. The results showed that Croats and Serbs had less positive multicultural and more positive assimilationist attitudes when in a majority position than when in a minority position. Hungarians, a minority in both countries, did not differ between countries. Additionally, symbolic threat mediated the relationship between ethnic identification and both assimilation and multiculturalism only in Croatia. The group status moderated these effects. Our findings confirm the importance of group's status and national context in understanding the majority-minority intergroup dynamic.

The aim of the research was to examine the moderating role of the group sta-tus (minority or majority) on the relationship between intergroup contact and willin-gness to get involved in a collective action with the aim of reducing inequalities of the persons with homosexual orientation with regard to the heterosexual majority. Additionally, the aim was to analyse the moderating role of the group status on the relationship between intergroup contact and perceived intergroup threat. The research was conducted via online survey on a sample of 286 respondents out of whom there were 187 heterosexual persons and 99 members of the LGBTIQ popu-lation. The respondents completed a survey which included a measure of quality of contact with the members of the other group, the scale of perceived symbolic threat and the scale of willingness to take collective action aimed at the improvement of the position of the LGBTIQ population. The results show a significant connection between intergroup contact and willingness to take collective action and perceived intergroup threat. The moderating role of the group status was confirmed, whereas on the sample of heterosexual persons a more positive contact with the members of the other group increases willingness to take collective action, while for homo-sexual persons the intergroup contact is not connected with the willingness to take collective action. Furthermore, the moderating role of the group status was confir-med on the relationship between the quality of contact and perception of symbolic threat, at which a more positive contact with the members of the other group was connected with the reduced perception of that group as a threat in both samples of respondents, but a higher effect of it was observed in the case of heterosexual persons. The results are analysed from the perspective of the contact theory and the neglected role of group status in that context.

What role does intergroup contact play in promoting support for social change toward greater social equality? Drawing on the needs-based model of reconciliation, we theorized that when inequality between groups is perceived as illegitimate, disadvantaged group members will experience a need for empowerment and advantaged group members a need for acceptance. When intergroup contact satisfies each group's needs, it should result in more mutual support for social change. Using four sets of survey data collected through the Zurich Intergroup Project in 23 countries, we tested several preregistered predictions, derived from the above reasoning, across a large variety of operationalizations. Two studies of disadvantaged groups (Ns = 689 ethnic minority members in Study 1 and 3,382 sexual/gender minorities in Study 2) support the hypothesis that, after accounting for the effects of intergroup contact and perceived illegitimacy, satisfying the need for empowerment (but not acceptance) during contact is positively related to support for social change. Two studies with advantaged groups (Ns = 2,937 ethnic majority members in Study 3 and 4,203 cis-heterosexual individuals in Study 4) showed that, after accounting for illegitimacy and intergroup contact, satisfying the need for acceptance (but also empowerment) is positively related to support for social change. Overall, findings suggest that intergroup contact is compatible with efforts to promote social change when group-specific needs are met. Thus, to encourage support for social change among both disadvantaged and advantaged group members, it is essential that, besides promoting mutual acceptance, intergroup contact interventions also give voice to and empower members of disadvantaged groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).