No Integration Paradox among Adolescents

Previous studies have discovered a somewhat paradoxical empirical pattern whereby members of some higher educated first- and second-generation migrant groups in the Netherlands, who are structurally better integrated, harbour more negative attitudes toward natives than their lower educated counterparts, a.k.a. ‘the integration paradox’. This finding goes against intergroup contact theory which predicts that the greater contact with natives among highly educated migrants should improve their attitudes toward natives. Here we ask whether this negative relationship between education and attitudes toward natives can already be observed at an earlier stage in the lives of immigrants, in adolescence. In survey data on Dutch first- and second-generation immigrant adolescents, we find no integration paradox: Instead, education positively predicts attitudes toward natives. This positive relationship can largely be attributed to the greater opportunity for befriending native peers in higher educational tracks, which in turn produces more favourable attitudes toward natives, consistent with contact theory. We conclude that if the integration paradox is a robust phenomenon in adulthood, it is either restricted to migrants who do not grow up in the Netherlands, or the attitudes of immigrants radically change after they finish high school.