Ab. Doyle et Fe. Aboud, A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY OF WHITE CHILDRENS RACIAL PREJUDICE AS A SOCIAL-COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT, Merrill-Palmer quarterly, 41(2), 1995, pp. 209-228
Longitudinal changes between ages 6 and 9 years in white children's (n
= 47) prejudice towards black people and Native Indians were examined
, with use of the Preschool Racial Attitude Measure (PRAM II) and a mu
ltiple-response racial attitude measure (MRA). Additional children (n
= 40) were tested at age 9. In both samples, older children were less
prejudiced on the PRAM than younger children, most of whom were prejud
iced. On the MRA, which measured attitudes to each racial group indepe
ndently, favorable-white and unfavorable-black evaluations did not dec
line with age, but unfavorable-white and favorable-black evaluations i
ncreased. These decreases in prejudice were associated developmentally
with the perception that different races are more similar, that indiv
iduals of the same race are more different, and that racially differen
t perspectives are both acceptable. Perception of within race similari
ty was associated positively with individual differences in prejudice
al each age.