Friendships with members of our own group (ingroup) and other groups (outgroups) shape our attitudes towards outgroups. Research on intergroup contact has shown that the numbers of outgroup and ingroup friends we have influence our outgroup attitudes, while research on socialization has shown that the attitudes held by our friends influence our outgroup attitudes.Past research, however, examined these processes in isolation, which precludes discerning whether having friends, or the attitudes held by our friends, are both important in shaping our outgroup attitudes, and, if so, which is more important. To disentangle these effects, we conducted a five-wave social network study in two ethnically diverse schools (N = 1,170 students). By applying a novel longitudinal co-evolution model, we were able to separate the effects of having ingroup and outgroup friends (contact effects), and the effects of those friends' attitudes (socialization effects), on individuals' outgroup attitudes, while controlling for friendship selection processes. In so doing, we found that it is principally the attitudes of ingroup friends -not outgroup friends' attitudes or having ingroup and outgroup friends alonethat predict individuals' outgroup attitudes. Our findings have important theoretical implications, as we demonstrate that combining the divergent approaches of intergroup contact and socialization enables us to better understand outgroup attitude development. Our findings also have practical implications, as we show that, even in diverse environments, individuals rely primarily on friends from their own group to inform their attitudes towards other groups.
The prolific expansion of intergroup contact research has established that intergroup interactions are tightly linked to social integration. In this review, recent technological and statistical innovations with the potential to advance this body of research are presented. First, concerns over the validity of longitudinal models are discussed before innovative analytical techniques are introduced that explore change over time. Next, intensive repeated measure designs, such as experience sampling approaches, are introduced as opportunities to investigate the day-today lives of individuals. Virtual reality technology is then presented as another means to examine naturalistic contact experiences in the laboratory, offering researchers an unrivaled capacity to induce uncommon contact experiences. Finally, we propose that additional sources of contextual data, such as competing media messages, could extend these models in innovative ways by accounting for the time and place surrounding intergroup contact. Similarly, longitudinal social network analysis can provide additional contextual information by considering the broader network environment in which contact occurs. We describe these innovations with the intention of spurring future research that will advance our understanding of how intergroup contact can be used to improve our societies. Thus, we
The extensive literature on the contact hypothesis reports a positive association between intergroup contact and outgroup attitudes, yet it remains unknown whether this association reflects within-person (i.e., situational changes within individuals) or between-person (i.e., stable differences between individuals) effects. To investigate this question, we applied (random-intercept) cross-lagged panel models in two studies featuring different samples, measurements, and contexts. We found longitudinal contact–attitude associations in cross-lagged panel models, which cannot differentiate within-person and between-person effects. In random-intercept cross-lagged panel models, we identified between-person effects but not within-person effects. These results conflict with the contact hypothesis, which assumes that contact leads to intra-individual attitude change. We further investigated whether between-person effects represent spurious correlations caused by potential confounders (demographic characteristics, personality, and intergroup ideologies), but found that this was not the case. Our findings highlight the need to further investigate within-person effects and potential explanations of between-person differences in contact and attitudes.
Background The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in substantial disruptions to the daily lives of young people. Yet knowledge is lacking about changes in mental well-being among young adults, whether those from ethnic minorities were more adversely impacted by the pandemic than the ethnic majority, and the extent to which pandemic-related stressors contributed to any declines in mental well-being. Methods We draw on nationally representative German CILS4COVID data, collected early in the pandemic (N = 3517, Mage = 25). Respondents provided information on mental well-being (psychosomatic complaints, anxiety, depression, life satisfaction) and exposure to pandemic-related stressors (financial worries, health worries, discrimination, contact with COVID-19). Responses on mental well-being were matched to responses from two pre-pandemic waves. Individual fixed effects regressions examined ethnic group differences in changes in mental well-being prior to, and at the early stage of, the pandemic. Path analysis tested the role of pandemic-related stressors in declines in mental well-being. Results Overall, young adults’ mental well-being had improved at the pandemic assessment compared to pre-pandemic assessments, and few ethnic group differences in changes were found. However, greater pandemic-related stressors were associated with worsened mental well-being at the pandemic assessment. Among Asian minorities, indirect effects were found on anxiety via health worries, and on depression via health worries and discrimination. For Turkish, Middle Eastern and African minorities, indirect effects on anxiety and depression were found via health worries. Conclusions We did not find widespread declines in mental well-being among young adults at the early stage of the pandemic, and changes in mental well-being prior to and at the early stage of the pandemic were mostly similar across ethnic German and minority groups. Nevertheless, pandemic-related stressors posed risks for young adults’ mental well-being, particularly increased discrimination and health worries among Asian minorities, and health worries among Turkish, Middle Eastern and African minorities.
The contact hypothesis proposes that intergroup contact improves outgroup attitudes. Existing cross-sectional and longitudinal studies provide valuable insights into the association between contact and attitudes, but are mostly uninformative regarding within-person and between-person effects. To investigate such effects, we applied (random-intercept) cross-lagged panel model analyses in two studies featuring diverse study characteristics. We found longitudinal associations between contact and attitudes in conventional cross-lagged panel models. These associations were, however, ascribed purely to between-person effects, not within-person effects, in random-intercept cross-lagged panel models. The lack of within-person effects conflicts with the contact hypothesis, which assumes that contact affects individuals’ attitudes. To investigate the possibility that between-person effects represent spurious correlations caused by confounders, we examined the extent to which demographic characteristics, intergroup ideologies and personality traits explain between-person effects. Our findings highlight the need to further investigate within-person effects and the factors that may explain between-person differences in contact and attitudes.
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