Examining xenophobia in Syrian refugees context: The roles of perceived threats and social contact

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Thesis Type: Doctorate

Institution Of The Thesis: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Faculty of Education, Department of Educational Sciences, Turkey

Approval Date: 2019

Student: MEHMET ALİ PADIR

Supervisor: ÖZGÜR ERDUR BAKER

Abstract:

The aim of the current study was to understand direct and indirect relationships among perceived threats, contact quality and quantity, and xenophobia in the context of Syrian refugees. The sample of the current study consists of 604 of local people from Mardin, Batman, Malatya, Hatay, Gaziantep and Istanbul. The age of participants ranges from 16 to 85. As data collection tools, Revised Version of Threat Scale, Revised Version of Contact Scale, and Revised Version of Xenophobia Scale were utilized. For examining mean differences in terms of gender t-test, in terms of education level, perceived economic level, and age separate ANOVAs were run. Finally, for examining direct and indirect relationships among variables structural equation modeling (SEM) was utilized. According to the findings of the current study, men, older people, less educated people, and people with low economic level were found to show more xenophobic attitudes toward refugees than others. In addition, both cultural threat and general threat were found to be directly and positively related to the xenophobia. The findings also demonstrated that both general threat and cultural threat had an indirect effect on xenophobia through contact quality, and the indirect effect of cultural threat on xenophobia also persisted through contact quantity. Findings were discussed in the light of the related literature.