Psychosocial pathways to xenophobic attitudes among South Africans: a mediating study

Abstract

Xenophobia, particularly the hatred and killings of foreigners from African countries, has been a source of political and social concerns for South Africa and African governments in general. Yet, limited research attention has focused on how psychological security and interpersonal tolerance may affect the extent to which psychological factors and social conditions are related with xenophobic attitudes. These connections have implications for decreasing the level of xenophobic attitudes, particularly in South Africa. The study therefore investigated the extent to which psychosocial factors (psychological factors and social conditions) are related to xenophobic attitudes in South Africa. Likewise, the study examined the mediating roles of psychological security and interpersonal tolerance on the relations of psychological factors and social conditions to xenophobic attitudes. The study was anchored on a cross-sectional survey research design. Employing a systematic randomisation sampling technique, 1100 South Africans (555 females; 545 males) with age range of 18-65 years (M = 26.26 ;SD = 7.73) were randomly selected by a systematic random selection of every household from six communities in three provinces of the country. The study instruments were xenophobia scale, Big Five personality scale, self-esteem scale, psychological security, Frustration Discomfort Scale, social dominance orientation, interpersonal tolerance. Seven hypotheses were tested using a series of statistics, such as Pearson product moment correlation, structural equation modelling statistics (SEM), independent samples t-test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results showed negative correlations between openness to experience and xenophobic attitudes (r = -0.08, p<.05), extraversion and xenophobia (r = -0.18, p<.01), and agreeableness and xenophobia (r = -0.14, p<.01), while neuroticism reported a positive correlation with xenophobic attitudes (r = .18, p<.01). Conscientiousness showed no statistical significance relationship with xenophobic attitudes (r =0.016, p > .05). In addition, the results showed that self-esteem increased as level of xenophobic attitude increased (r = 0.19, p<.01). While self-esteem indicated a negative correlation with psychological security (r = -0.17, p<.01). Besides, frustration was found to be negatively correlated with psychological security, interpersonal tolerance but positively correlated with xenophobic attitudes. Specifically, the three dimensions of frustration (emotional intolerance, discomfort intolerance and achievement) showed a negative correlation with psychological security (r = -.31, p<.01; r = -0.25, p<.01; r = -0.24, P<.01); interpersonal tolerance (r = -0.11, p<.01; r = -0.09, p<.01; r = -0.08, p<.05), while a positive correlation was reported for xenophobia (r = 0.36, p<.01; r =0.39, p<.01; r = 0.35, p<.01). Also, intercultural contact increased psychological security (r = 0.10, p<.01) and interpersonal tolerance (r = 0.15, p,>01), while decreasing xenophobic attitudes (r =-0.22, p<.01). The results of the mediation analysis, using SEM, showed that psychological security and interpersonal tolerance enhanced the extent to which psychological factors and social conditions decreased the level of xenophobic attitudes in South Africa. Significant variables are: age, frustration (i.e. emotional intolerance, emotional stability, achievement, openness to experience and intercultural contact. The study further revealed significant gender difference in xenophobic attitudes, with males reporting higher. Findings of the study revealed that psychological security and interpersonal tolerance are significant variables relevant in addressing the case of xenophobia in South Africa, therefore, to decrease xenophobic attitudes in South Africa, it is recommended that the government of South Africa should provide psychosocial training programmes addressing psychological security, and interpersonal tolerance. This in turn will facilitate the development of an integrated society, and guarantee the satisfaction of psychosocial conditions among South Africans.