Adolescents’ Attitudes Twenty Years Ago as Precursors of Collective Resentment among Today’s Adults in the U.S., Australia, and England

Abstract

Advances in community research and action have been weakened by an unanticipated surge of collective resentment among adults. This resentment is expressed against immigrants and minority group members (who are participants in many community psychology initiatives). This resentment has become visible in election campaigns and in cuts for some community programs. This has been true in the United States and England, and to some extent in Australia. Could psychologists have foreseen how resentment of immigrants and minorities among adolescents might contribute to this political situation 20 years later? To address this we examine data from students tested in 1999 when they were 14. They represent the generation now in its thirties. We use latent class analysis to examine profiles of political attitudes with data from the IEA CIVED 1999 Study of nationally representative samples of 14 year olds. We focus on 3 of 28 countries surveyed. Latent class analysis identified five profiles of attitudes among adolescents. The Activists (with positive attitudes toward minorities and immigrants and a belief in citizen’s participation in the community) constituted only 15%; another 15% supported rights (especially women’s rights) but they were not especially likely to participate in the community. The Indifferent profile, with scores near the attitudinal means, constituted about 33%. Of concern are two profiles groups identified as Disaffected (25%) and Intolerant (11%). These adolescents were characterized by anti-immigrant attitudes, as well as negative perceptions of ethnic groups and women’s rights. Some showed low government trust. Disaffected adolescents were over represented in the United States. Individuals from this generation, now in their early thirties, appear to have formed the core of those expressing collective resentment in recent U.S. elections and in the Brexit vote. We briefly discuss how community and school contexts might minimize collective resentment and widen support for community psychology programs.