National identity and social distance: Does in-group loyalty lead to outgroup hostility?

A sample of 670 subjects, Croats, from Zagreb completed the questionnaire containing National Identity Scale and the measure of social distance toward in-group, and various outgroup, minorities living in Croatia. The objectives of the study were threefold: (1) to examine the national identity of Croatian adults, university students and high school pupils ; (2) to examine the social distance of Croat participants towards various ethnic groups living in the same state ; (3) to explore the relationship between national identity and general social distance as a measure of interethnic tolerance. Results revealed a different level of national identity in participants from three groups, with high-school pupils scored highest. They also show the biggest distance toward outgroups. The four components of National Identity Scale are moderately to highly inter-related and only component of Nationalism showed the predictive power for social distance.