Mothers’ Perceptions of the Jewish–Arab Conflict and Social Information Processing Patterns: Relations to Their Children's Stereotypical Perceptions, Social Information Processing Patterns, and Social Adjustment in Preschool

One of the most intractable conflicts in the world is the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, which has resulted in considerable losses, destructions, and sufferings for both societies. Such national conflicts had been found to relate to children's social perceptions and behaviors.

Consequently, the current study aims to examine the associations between Israeli Jewish and Arab mothers' and children's stereotypical perceptions of the others ethnic/national group (the outgroup; Brewer, 1999), their social information processing (SIP) patterns (i.e., their perceptions of common social situations), and children's social adaptation in kindergarten.

One hundred and twenty-one Arab-Muslim and Jewish preschoolers and their mothers from the Northern part of Israel participated in this study. During a home visit, mothers read to their child a book with 16 scenarios presenting Jewish and Arab families and individuals. Some of the scenarios were stereotypical and other were counter stereotypical (e.g., a Jewish family showing a behavior that is considered stereotypical Arab behavior, see Figure 2). Additionally, mothers completed questionnaires about their intergroup perceptions with the others national group (Arabs/ Jewish), and the way they view common daily social situations (their SIP), and sociodemographic characteristics of the family. children's SIP patterns were assessed through interview, and the kindergarten teacher completed questionnaires on children's social skills and problem behaviors.

A structural equation model (SEM) was constructed with the final empirical solution including two latent variables: the mothers’ Positive SIP, her Positive Ethnic Group perception; and three observed variables: the child stereotypes, and child aggressive response evaluation and decision (RED) and maladjusted social behaviors.

We found negative associations between the mother's positive perceptions of the outgroup, their positive SIP and children's stereotypes, as well as between mother's positive SIP and their children's negative SIP and maladjusted social behaviors. Additionally, Children's negative SIP was positively associated with their stereotypes, and maladjusted social behaviors. Moreover, a positive marginal association was found between children's stereotypes and their maladjusted social behavior. Although our findings explain only a relatively small portion of variation in children's maladjusted social perceptions and behaviors, they still highlight the role of maternal perceptions and SIP in shaping children's intergroup attitudes and social adjustment in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.