Identification with local mothers is related to mothers’ attitudes towards their children’s intergroup contact: a serial mediation model

Mothers’ intergroup attitudes and behaviour have been shown to affect their children’s intergroup relations. However, less emphasis has been placed on mothers’ attitudes towards their children’s intergroup relations and on the identity dynamics that influence these attitudes. This study aims to extend understanding of this topic by examining how mothers’ identification with other local mothers is related to their attitude towards their children’s intergroup contact. We conducted a survey study among mothers of young children with both Finnish and foreign backgrounds (N = 733). We examined a multigroup serial mediation model with intergroup contact between mothers and outgroup trust as the mediators of the relation between identification and attitude towards children’s intergroup contact. The analysis showed that neighbourhood mother identification was related to a more positive attitude towards children’s intergroup contact via more frequent and positive intergroup contact between mothers and increased outgroup trust. This result was the same for both mothers with Finnish backgrounds and mothers with foreign backgrounds. This shows that mothers’ local identities and intergroup relations with local mothers are related to how much they want their children to interact with outgroup children. This finding highlights the important possibility that positive maternal attitudes towards children’s intergroup contact can be supported locally through neighbourhood mother communities.