Page 195 - Ana Kozina and Nora Wiium, eds. ▪︎ Positive Youth Development in Contexts. Ljubljana: Educational Research Institute, 2021. Digital Library, Dissertationes (Scientific Monographs), 42.
P. 195
contact-based interventions to reduce ethnic prejudice ...
authors (Vezzali et al., 2011) or were not explicitly defined (Stathi et al.,
2014; Vezzali et al., 2014). Interventions administered by researchers might
be more effective because of the greater standardisation procedure and ex-
pertise, but also since they represent a novelty in the classroom and remind
participants of their participation in the experiment, which could induce
socially desirable behaviour and perhaps even lead to inflated intervention
effects (Kintz et al., 1965).
Interventions were the most effective when carried out by experienced
and trained external administrators (i.e. Berger et al., 2016). Administrators
were chosen based on their experience of leading interethnic groups and
received 2 days of training on prejudice formation and contact theory pri-
or to the intervention starting.
Interventions were the least effective when the training was not spec-
ified or only briefly mentioned (Liebkind et al., 2013; Vezzali et al., 2015b;
Vezzali et al., 2018), which allows us to assume it was less structured and
unsystematic.
Characteristics of intervention implementation:
duration and number of sessions
The results show that on average interventions entailing 12 sessions pro-
duced moderate-to-large effects, those with 6 sessions small effects, those
with 3 sessions moderate-to-large effects and finally those with just 1 ses-
sion negligible effects (see Table 1).
Interventions were the most effective when the number of sessions
was greater, although the results also show that a smaller number of inter-
ventions can have similar effects (e.g. Vezzali et al., 2011, 2015a). Effective
prejudice-reducing interventions must be well integrated into the school
culture to ensure that students are perpetually exposed to diversity accept-
ance norm (Cotton in Ülger et al., 2018). Accordingly, contact-based in-
terventions with more sessions are shown to be more effective as they de-
mand the school’s stronger commitment to reducing prejudice (Beelmann
& Heinemann, 2014).
While comparing the session lengths, we excluded the studies by
Stathi et al. (2014), Vezzali et al. (2014) and Vezzali et al. (2018) because they
did not provide such information. On average, interventions with sessions
of 2 to 4 hours produced moderate-to-large effects, interventions with ses-
sions of 20 to 60 min produced moderate-to-large effects, and interventions
with sessions of less than 20 min small effects (see Table 1). The smallest
195
authors (Vezzali et al., 2011) or were not explicitly defined (Stathi et al.,
2014; Vezzali et al., 2014). Interventions administered by researchers might
be more effective because of the greater standardisation procedure and ex-
pertise, but also since they represent a novelty in the classroom and remind
participants of their participation in the experiment, which could induce
socially desirable behaviour and perhaps even lead to inflated intervention
effects (Kintz et al., 1965).
Interventions were the most effective when carried out by experienced
and trained external administrators (i.e. Berger et al., 2016). Administrators
were chosen based on their experience of leading interethnic groups and
received 2 days of training on prejudice formation and contact theory pri-
or to the intervention starting.
Interventions were the least effective when the training was not spec-
ified or only briefly mentioned (Liebkind et al., 2013; Vezzali et al., 2015b;
Vezzali et al., 2018), which allows us to assume it was less structured and
unsystematic.
Characteristics of intervention implementation:
duration and number of sessions
The results show that on average interventions entailing 12 sessions pro-
duced moderate-to-large effects, those with 6 sessions small effects, those
with 3 sessions moderate-to-large effects and finally those with just 1 ses-
sion negligible effects (see Table 1).
Interventions were the most effective when the number of sessions
was greater, although the results also show that a smaller number of inter-
ventions can have similar effects (e.g. Vezzali et al., 2011, 2015a). Effective
prejudice-reducing interventions must be well integrated into the school
culture to ensure that students are perpetually exposed to diversity accept-
ance norm (Cotton in Ülger et al., 2018). Accordingly, contact-based in-
terventions with more sessions are shown to be more effective as they de-
mand the school’s stronger commitment to reducing prejudice (Beelmann
& Heinemann, 2014).
While comparing the session lengths, we excluded the studies by
Stathi et al. (2014), Vezzali et al. (2014) and Vezzali et al. (2018) because they
did not provide such information. On average, interventions with sessions
of 2 to 4 hours produced moderate-to-large effects, interventions with ses-
sions of 20 to 60 min produced moderate-to-large effects, and interventions
with sessions of less than 20 min small effects (see Table 1). The smallest
195
