Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
TURK PSIKOLOJI DERGISI, cilt.39, sa.93, 2024 (SSCI)
Influenced by the uprising against the oppressive regime in Tunisia, Syria has gone through a civil war which resulted in more than 3.6 million registered Syrian refugees seeking shelter in Turkey since 2011 due to fear of their own safety. This sudden and unorganized mass movement has caused tensions between the local people in Turkey and Syrian refugees, creating an environment for intergroup conflicts. It is well known by the literature that the attitude of local people towards refugees has a major role on the mentioned intergroup relationships as well as on the success of refugees' adaptation into society. The purpose of this study is to identify the negative attitudes towards refugees in Turkey, and to examine the mediating role of the perceived threat level caused by the refugees in the relationship of ethnic and political identification and negative attitudes. This online study had a total of 526 (368 females and 158 males) university students at undergraduate level as participants between the ages 18-33 (M-age = 22.36, SD = 3.26). According to the findings of the structural equation model testing, the individuals who identify themselves with Turkish identity and right-wing political orientations have perceived higher degree of realistic and symbolic threats due to Syrian refugees living in Turkey, which resulted in their having stronger negative emotions and negative stereotypes against the Syrian refugees and reducing their quality of contact with them. The findings of the study are expected to be of use to researchers who work on the subject of immigration, as well as professionals who develop and implement social policies related to these topics.