Table 1
Summary statistics of the dependent, independent, and control variables.
| VARIABLE | MEAN (SD) | MIN-MAX |
|---|---|---|
| Dependent variable: | ||
| Impressions of Muslims | 2.639 (0.019) | 1–5 |
| Very positive (ref) | 0.233 | |
| Somewhat positive | 0.147 | |
| Neutral | 0.432 | |
| Somewhat negative | 0.123 | |
| Very negative | 0.064 | |
| Independent variable: | ||
| Proportion of students with MENA origin | 9.89 (8.880) | 0–75 |
| Student level control variables | ||
| Male | 0.508 | 0–1 |
| Average grade achievement | 5.5 (2.9) | 1–10 |
| Parents’ education | ||
| Basic compulsory (ref) | 0.038 | 0–1 |
| Upper secondary | 0.286 | 0–1 |
| Postsecondary, BA level (≤ 3 years) | 0.385 | 0–1 |
| Postsecondary, MA level (≤ 4 years) | 0.291 | 0–1 |
| Mother in employment (at least one of the last three years) | 0.926 | 0–1 |
| Robustness checks | ||
| Parents’ impression of Muslims | ||
| Very positive | 0.183 | 0–1 |
| Somewhat positive | 0.149 | 0–1 |
| Neutral | 0.434 | 0–1 |
| Somewhat negative | 0.168 | 0–1 |
| Very negative | 0.066 | 0–1 |
| Would vote for Progress Party | 0.062 | 0–1 |
| Number of schools | 57 | |
| Number of students | 3,696 | |
Table 2
Distribution of attitudes toward Muslims, Christians, Jews, and people with no religion (N = 3,696).
| VERY POSITIVE | SOMEWHAT POSITIVE | NEUTRAL OR UNSURE | SOMEWHAT NEGATIVE | VERY NEGATIVE | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Students’ impressions of: | |||||
| Muslims | 23.3% | 14.7% | 43.2% | 12.3% | 6.4% |
| Christians | 36.2% | 16.2% | 39.6% | 5.7% | 2.3% |
| Jews | 30.2% | 16.0% | 47.0% | 4.0% | 2.9% |
| People with no religion | 44.8% | 16.3% | 36.6% | 1.4% | 0.9% |
Table 3
Estimated coefficients for student composition on negative attitudes toward Muslims (Multilevel Ordinal Logistic Regression).
| MODEL 0 | MODEL 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| COEFFICIENT | SE | COEFFICIENT | SE | |
| Prop. with background from MENA plus | –0.0106** | (0.00440) | –0.014*** | (0.004) |
| Male | 0.556*** | (0.064) | ||
| Grade point average | –0.028** | (0.013) | ||
| Parents’ education (ref: basic compulsory) | ||||
| Upper secondary education | –0.015 | (0.164) | ||
| Postsecondary, BA level (≤3 years) | –0.226 | (0.165) | ||
| Postsecondary, MA level (≥4 years) | –0.255 | (0.171) | ||
| Mother in employment | –0.169 | (0.118) | ||
| Constant cut1 | –1.330*** | (0.0758) | –1.572*** | (0.199) |
| Constant cut2 | –0.621*** | (0.0729) | –0.849*** | (0.198) |
| Constant cut3 | 1.369*** | (0.0761) | 1.176*** | (0.199) |
| Constant cut4 | 2.592*** | (0.0922) | 2.409*** | (0.206) |
| Between school variation | 0.0715*** | (0.0249) | 0.032* | (0.017) |
| AIC | 10,448.33 | 10,346.28 | ||
| BIC | 10,485.62 | 10,414.65 | ||
| Observations | 3,696 | 3,696 | ||
| Number of groups | 57 | 57 | ||
[i] Note: SE = standard error. * p < 0.1; ** p < 0.05; *** p < 0.01.
Figure 1
Predicted probability of expressing negative attitudes toward Muslims after ethno-religious student composition in schools.