Violent Extremism Beliefs in University Students Belonging to Various Ethnic Groups: Role of Perceived Marginalization and Negative Affectivity

Abstract

The current research aimed to examine the violent extremism beliefs in university students belonging to various ethnic groups and the role of perceived marginalization and negative affectivity. For this purpose, Violent Extremism Scale (Haleem, 2020), Negative Affect Schedule (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) and Perceived Societal Marginalization (Bollwerk, Schlipphak, & Back, 2021) were used on a sample of 326 university students (168 women & 158 men) with an age ranging from 17 to 32 years (M = 23.37, SD = 3.02). The results showed that violent extremism had positive relationship with negative affectivity and perceived marginalization. Negative affectivity was also positively correlated with perceived marginalization. Men exhibited higher scores on violent extremism as compared to women. Findings revealed that participants from minority group exhibited higher levels of violent extremism, negative affectivity and perceived marginalization as compared to other groups. Individual’s education positively whereas mother’s education negatively predicted violent extremism. Findings showed that married respondents exhibited higher scores on violent extremism as compared to unmarried. Students from public sector universities reported more perceived marginalization as compared to the students at private sector universities.