Abstract
Peer exclusion is when a group of children exclude another child or reject his or her request to join them (Gazelle & Druhen, 2009). Peer exclusion affects the child's wellbeing and academic achievement. A number of studies have examined how children evaluate peer exclusion based on group membership, for example of the basis of gender and ethnicity, in the US and Europe. However, little work has been done in the Middle East. Moreover, no work has included parents with their children to test the relationship between parents and children. This thesis examined how Saudi children and their mothers evaluate religion-based exclusion. Five studies were carried out to achieve the aim of this thesis. The main aim of these studies was to examine how Saudi children evaluate the exclusion of in-group members (Muslim, Sunni) and out-group members (Shia, non-Muslim) when the perpetrator of the exclusion was their father or their peers. In the first study, Saudi children (N= 92) residing in Saudi Arabia were interviewed. Children were more likely to accept exclusion of out-group members than in-group members. Also, they were more likely to accept exclusion when it was ordered by their father than if it was ordered by a group of peers. In the second study, mothers (N= 60) residing in Saudi Arabia and children were interviewed. There was a significant mother-child relationship only when discussing the exclusion of out-group members. In the third study, Saudi children residing in the UK were interviewed (N= 76) and the findings were similar to the first study; children were more likely to accept the exclusion of out-group members than in-group members and exclusion by their fathers than by peers. In the fourth study, Saudi mothers and children residing in the UK were interviewed. There was no significant mother-child relationship in the evaluation of religion-based exclusion. The final study compared Saudi children and their mothers in Saudi Arabia with Saudi children and their mothers in the UK. Saudis in Saudi Arabia were more accepting of exclusion than Saudis in the UK. Children in Saudi Arabia and in the UK were more likely to accept exclusion than their mothers. Generally, children and their mothers in Saudi Arabia and in the UK were more likely to accept exclusion by the father than by their peers. In summary, the results of this thesis suggest that Saudi fathers play a vital role in affecting children's and mothers' attitudes. Mothers seem to hold more tolerant attitudes than their children. The findings are discussed in relation to Saudi culture and the literature on transmission of attitudes and intergroup contact.