Race‐Based Humor and Peer Group Dynamics in Adolescence: Bystander Intervention and Social Exclusion

Adolescents’ evaluations of discriminatory race‐based humor and their expectations about peer responses to discrimination were investigated in 8th‐ (M (age) = 13.80) and 10th‐grade (M (age) = 16.11) primarily European‐American participants (N = 256). Older adolescents judged race‐based humor as more acceptable than did younger adolescents and were less likely to expect peer intervention. Participants who rejected discrimination were more likely to reference welfare/rights and prejudice and to anticipate that peers would intervene. Showing awareness of group processes, adolescents who rejected race‐based humor believed that peers who intervened would be more likely to be excluded. They also disapproved of exclusion more than did participants who supported race‐based humor. Results expose the complexity of situations involving subtle discrimination. Implications for bullying interventions are discussed.