Noticing how practitioners, policymakers, and researchers alike have argued that the school environment can be both a risk and resilience factor for radicalization and extremism among youth, and how little research has tested this directly, the authors of this study proposed the development of a scale to measure resilience against radicalization and extremism in schools, with a focus on factors that strengthen social cohesion.
A cultural and community psychological approach was used, and data were collected from 334 pupils in mostly urban areas in Norway, with 233 participants retained for analysis. Exploratory factor analysis identified three dimensions of school resilience:
- the perception that the school treats pupils equally no matter their social backgrounds;
- the perception of the school and its employees as attentive and proactive in meeting pupils’ anger resulting from social and political issues;
- the presence of mutual respect.
Regression analyses show that perceived equality predicted lower extremist intentions and radicalization, as well as reduced levels of several extremism risk factors, including anomie, symbolic and realistic threats, and relative deprivation. Mutual respect showed no significant effects, while school attentiveness was positively associated with some risk factors, suggesting it may reflect a response to existing problems.
Learn more about this study: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.980180
Reference
Eldor, D. S., Lindholm, K., Chavez, M. H., Vassanyi, S., Badiane, M. O. I., Yaldizli, K., Frøysa, P., Haugestad, C. A. P., & Kunst, J. R. (2022). Resilience against radicalization and extremism in schools: Development of a psychometric scale. Frontiers in psychology, 13, 980180