Young and Resilient? Impact of Outgroup Threat on Anti-Immigrant Attitudes Among Adolescents and Young Adults: Experimental Evidence from Germany

As European societies become increasingly multicultural and diverse, understanding young people's attitudes toward immigration is becoming more crucial. Adolescents and young adults, growing up in such multicultural and diverse contexts, are likely to play an important role in shaping future societal cohesion. This developmental stage is a formative period where individual beliefs and attitudes are solidified, making it a critical time for shaping perspectives on social issues. This experimental study conducted among young adolescents (n = 3,590) investigates how reports of sexual violence committed by asylum seekers can influence young peoples’ attitudes toward refugees and asylum seekers. The findings show that exposure to scenarios of sexual violence by asylum seekers increases anti-immigrant sentiments, with participants expressing more negative views on asylum policies and refugees in general. Sexual violence is perceived as particularly severe, eliciting harsher responses than other types of violence, regardless of the perpetrator's ethnicity. This research highlights the potential for specific events to shape public opinion and incite intergroup hostility and conflict. Media, political actors, and right-wing parties may exploit such incidents to fuel anti-immigrant sentiments, making it essential to counteract these effects through balanced reporting and civic education initiatives.