Hermann Swart

Affective mediators of intergroup contact: a three-wave longitudinal study in South Africa.

Intergroup contact (especially cross-group friendship) is firmly established as a powerful strategy for combating group-based prejudice (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). Great advances have been made in understanding how contact reduces prejudice (Brown & Hewstone, 2005), highlighting the importance of affective mediators (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008). The present study, a 3-wave longitudinal study undertaken among minority-status Colored high school children in South Africa (N = 465), explored the full mediation of the effects of cross-group friendships on positive outgroup attitudes, perceived outgroup variability, and negative action tendencies via positive (affective empathy) and negative (intergroup anxiety) affective mediators simultaneously. The target group was the majority-status White South African outgroup. As predicted, a bidirectional model described the relationship between contact, mediators, and prejudice significantly better over time than either autoregressive or unidirectional longitudinal models. However, full longitudinal mediation was only found in the direction from Time 1 contact to Time 3 prejudice (via Time 2 mediators), supporting the underlying tenet of the contact hypothesis. Specifically, cross-group friendships were positively associated with positive outgroup attitudes (via affective empathy) and perceived outgroup variability (via intergroup anxiety and affective empathy) and were negatively associated with negative action tendencies (via affective empathy). Following Pettigrew and Tropp (2008), we compared two alternative hypotheses regarding the relationship between intergroup anxiety and affective empathy over time. Time 1 intergroup anxiety was indirectly negatively associated with Time 3 affective empathy, via Time 2 cross-group friendships. We discuss the theoretical and empirical contributions of this study and make suggestions for future research.

Contextual effect of positive intergroup contact on outgroup prejudice

Significance Although mixed social environments can provoke conflict, where this diversity promotes positive intergroup contact, prejudice is reduced. Seven multilevel studies demonstrate that the benefits of intergroup contact are broader than previously thought. Contact not only changes attitudes for individuals experiencing direct positive intergroup contact, their attitudes are also influenced by the behavior (and norms) of fellow ingroup members in their social context. Even individuals experiencing no direct, face-to-face intergroup contact can benefit from living in mixed settings where fellow ingroup members do engage in such contact. Two longitudinal studies rule out selection bias as an explanation for these findings on the contextual level. Prejudice is a function not only of whom you interact with, but also of where you live. We assessed evidence for a contextual effect of positive intergroup contact, whereby the effect of intergroup contact between social contexts (the between-level effect) on outgroup prejudice is greater than the effect of individual-level contact within contexts (the within-level effect). Across seven large-scale surveys (five cross-sectional and two longitudinal), using multilevel analyses, we found a reliable contextual effect. This effect was found in multiple countries, operationalizing context at multiple levels (regions, districts, and neighborhoods), and with and without controlling for a range of demographic and context variables. In four studies (three cross-sectional and one longitudinal) we showed that the association between context-level contact and prejudice was largely mediated by more tolerant norms. In social contexts where positive contact with outgroups was more commonplace, norms supported such positive interactions between members of different groups. Thus, positive contact reduces prejudice on a macrolevel, whereby people are influenced by the behavior of others in their social context, not merely on a microscale, via individuals’ direct experience of positive contact with outgroup members. These findings reinforce the view that contact has a significant role to play in prejudice reduction, and has great policy potential as a means to improve intergroup relations, because it can simultaneously impact large numbers of people.

Measures of intergroup contact

Allport’s (1954) ‘contact hypothesis’ proposed that intergroup contact is a powerful means for improving intergroup attitudes. Subsequent theory and research has developed this hypothesis into a full-blown theory that makes precise predictions about the effects of different types of contact on mainly attitudinal outcomes, and how and when those effects will occur. This chapter reviews some of the most important measures commonly used in research on intergroup contact; those specifically pertaining to intergroup contact (both direct and extended), mediating (intergroup anxiety) and moderating (membership salience) mechanisms, and outcomes (outgroup attitudes). Our aim is that the information assembled here can serve both (a) as a ‘toolkit’ for the interested novice researcher and (b) as a useful resource to the experienced intergroup contact practitioner regarding the psychometric properties of these commonly used measures. Research on intergroup contact is of great practical and policy importance, hence it behoves us as researchers to take care to use the best possible tools for the job.

Refining the association between intergroup contact and intergroup forgiveness in Northern Ireland: Type of contact, prior conflict experience, and group identification

We conducted a secondary analysis of a general sample of the population in Northern Ireland, including a significant proportion of respondents with “personal experience” of the sectarian conflict, to provide a refined test of whether contact was associated with more forgiveness and less prejudice. We tested the association between two measures of intergroup contact (outgroup friendship and generic contact) and both intergroup forgiveness and prejudice among people who varied in their personal experience of conflict, while simultaneously considering the role of ingroup identification as an inhibitor of forgiveness, and accounting for relevant demographic variables. Contact was positively associated with forgiveness, marginally more so in the case of friendship than general outgroup contact, whereas both conflict experience and identification were negatively associated with forgiveness. While outgroup friendship robustly predicted forgiveness, generic outgroup contact was moderated by conflict experience and ingroup identification. Effects of both forms of contact on prejudice were not moderated. Results are discussed in terms of the greater impact of friendship contact, forgiveness as a more demanding criterion, and the need to pursue research on intergroup forgiveness among large samples of people directly impacted by the events for which forgiveness is relevant.

Promoting intergroup trust among adolescents and young adults.

Intergroup trust might be broadly defined as a positive expectation about the intentions and behavior, and thus trust, of an outgroup towards the ingroup (Lewicki, McAllister, and Bies, 1998 ). According to Rotenberg and colleagues’ framework of interpersonal trust (e.g., Rotenberg, 1991 ; Rotenberg and Morgan, 1995 ; Rotenberg, Fox, Green, Ruderman, Slater, Stevens, and Carlo, 2005 ), trust consists of three important components: reliability, emotionality, and honesty. In an intergroup context, reliability refers to whether promises made by the outgroup are fulfilled; emotionality refers to whether the outgroup refrains from causing emotional harm to the ingroup; and honesty refers to whether the outgroup is perceived as telling the truth, and behaving in a benign rather than in a malicious or manipulative way towards the ingroup . Trust is crucial if society is to function effectively, because the formation and maintenance of interpersonal relationships is dependent on our ability to trust one another (e.g., Rotenberg, 1991 ; Rotter, 1980 ). Our ability to trust others has diverse psychological consequences, particularly among children. According to attachment theory, the quality of a child’s relationship with their caregivers can affect their beliefs about whether others are trustworthy and, subsequently, their ability to have successful relationships (Bridges, 2003 ). Similarly, it is important for children that they are able to trust their peers, and know that they will be honest, reliable, and benevolent (Bernath and Feshbach, 1995 ). Children who tend to believe that others are trustworthy tend themselves to be more honest (Wright and Kirmani, 1977 ), higher in social competence and status (Buzzelli, 1988), better in terms of academic achievements 14 Promoting intergroup trust among adolescents and young adults

Determinants of condom use among heterosexual young men and women in southeastern Ghana: a mediation analysis

ABSTRACT Sexual risk behaviour among young people raises public health concerns in Ghana. This study aimed to determine the predictors of condom use among heterosexual young people in the eastern region of Ghana, using a health behaviour theory – the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). Participants completed a questionnaire battery assessing attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control, intentions and condom use behaviour. Structural equation modelling procedures were used to analyse the data. Attitudes towards condom use and perceived behavioural control over condom use were significantly positively associated with the intention to use condoms. Intention to use condoms predicted condom use behaviour. Moreover, intention to use condoms mediated the attitude–behaviour relationship, and the perceived control–behaviour relationship. These results highlight the importance of using behavioural beliefs, perceived control beliefs and behavioural intention as key variables in condom promotion programmes among in-school heterosexual youth in the eastern region of Ghana.

Condom use negotiation among high school adolescents in Ghana: the role of gender:

Gender has a profound effect on the sexual risk preventive intentions and behaviour of young people. However, little is known about the role of gender on condom use negotiation among adolescents in Ghana. This study explored gender differences in condom use negotiation among school-going adolescents in Ghana. Participants (n = 684) completed self-report measures based on attitudes towards condom use, subjective norms regarding condom use, perceived behavioural control over condom use, intentions to use condoms, and on actual condom use behaviour. Results revealed statistically significant differences in condom use by gender. Specifically, attitudes towards condom use were more favourable among male students than they were among female students. Male students perceived slightly greater control over condom use than did female students. Moreover, male students reported slightly more condom-protected sexual behaviour than did female students. These results highlight the usefulness of designing gender-specific sexual risk reduction programmes among high school adolescents in Ghana.

Does Past Condom Use Moderate the Future Condom Use Intention-Behavior Relationship? Results from a Ghanaian Sample

ABSTRACT Behavioral intention is an important predictor of actual behavior. Yet, people often fail to act on their intentions. This study used panel data to examine whether intention interacts with past behavior in determining future behavior. Young people in the Eastern Region of Ghana (N = 956, 495 = female, 461 = male) completed a structured self-administered questionnaire, assessing intentions to use condoms and past condom use behavior at Time 1, and future condom use behavior at Time 2. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses indicated that intentions to use condoms and past condom use behavior accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in future condom use behavior. In addition, past condom use moderated the future condom use intention–behavior relationship. These results demonstrate the usefulness of considering young peoples past experiences with condoms in informing the design of condom use skills training. In other words, a condom use skills training intervention that uses the pedagogical approach of starting from the “known” to the “unknown” might benefit young Ghanaians.