The Role of Education in Native Dutch Adolescents’ Muslim Population Size Perceptions

Abstract This study investigates competing explanations for the effect of education on native adolescents’ Muslim population size perceptions. Drawing on theories about heuristic reasoning, we analyze to what extent the effect of education on size perceptions may be explained by differences in contact with and prejudice towards Muslims. The hypotheses are tested using longitudinal data on adolescents in the Netherlands ( N = 1218). Overall, there is a tendency to overestimate the size of the national Muslim population. Furthermore, we find that higher educated adolescents tend to provide lower... Mehr ...