Attitudes Toward Immigration among Secondary School Students in Various Countries: An International Perspective

This study investigates secondary school students attitudes toward immigration across multiple countries, utilizing data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA 2018). A cross-national comparative approach combined with advanced dimensionality reduction identifies the strongest factors shaping openness toward immigrants. Results show that international attention encourages welcoming views up to a critical threshold, after which further exposure predicts rising wariness. Partial dependence plots and sensitivity tests confirm the nonlinear nature of this relationship and the stability of the broader pattern. Country differences are further conditioned by socioeconomic context, classroom ethnic diversity, and students global competence. Respect for cultural difference, balanced curiosity about world affairs, and reflective self-judgement consistently support positive attitudes, whereas frequent exposure to conflict framed news undermines them. The findings signal an urgent need for inclusive curricula, critical media literacy, stronger digital information skills, and authentic, sustained intercultural encounters to nurture empathetic, well-informed citizens in an era of intensifying global mobility and to guide evidence-based equitable education policy.