Dutch Adolescents’ Tolerance of Practices by Muslim Actors

Abstract

This research, conducted in the Netherlands, examines whether native adolescents’ tolerance of practices by Muslim immigrants (e.g., the founding of Islamic schools) is affected by the type of considerations (e.g., educational freedom vs. integration of Muslims in Dutch society). Using an experimental questionnaire design (N = 970), the findings show that adolescents (13-17 years) became less tolerant when considerations against these practices were presented, whereas tolerance was not affected by considerations in favor of the practices. In addition, the level of tolerance of adolescents who strongly identified as Dutch was not affected by the different considerations, but lower identifiers were less tolerant when considerations against the practices were given. The effects of the different considerations did not differ for age and for educational level. The implications of this research for improving adolescent’s tolerance of practices by Muslim actors are discussed.