Shared Spaces: The How, When, and Why of Adolescent Intergroup Interactions

在整个欧洲，随着政治不稳定和多样性水平继续增长，新旧种族紧张关系占据了头条新闻。随着出于种族动机的仇恨犯罪的增加，了解如何缓解种族紧张局势和促进社会凝聚力，特别是在作为下一代的年轻人中，是一项紧迫的挑战。联合王国政府的《综合社区战略》绿色文件提出，儿童应为在现代英国生活做好准备，并有机会与来自不同族裔群体的人进行社会交往。来自社会科学的研究表明，社会融合，也称为群体间互动，是促进族裔群体之间更积极关系的最佳途径之一。然而，日常生活的现实意味着，个人不一定与来自不同族裔群体的人交往，即使他们有机会这样做。尽管认识到这一点，令人惊讶的是，很少有人注意到如何在第一时间鼓励群体间的互动。该项目通过研究如何，何时以及为什么来自布拉德福德和种族宗教团体在贝尔法斯特不同族裔群体的青少年参与群体间的互动，解决了这一理解上的差距。该项目侧重于布拉德福德和贝尔法斯特的国家社会凝聚力优先事项以及地方议程，将采用创新的研究方法组合，为影响青少年是否参与群体间互动的因素提供新的理论理解。我们有兴趣解决三个关键问题：（1）青少年群体间互动的前因是什么？(2)青少年群体间的互动在日常生活空间中是如何表现的？(3)日常环境如何促进和抑制青少年群体间的互动？为了回答这些问题，我们使用了青少年互动研究中经常缺少的方法，包括：（1）在青少年及其父母中进行的三个时间点调查，（2）基于应用程序的调查以及GPS跟踪，以及（3）基于照片的参与性方法加上焦点小组访谈。总之，这些数据源使我们能够研究相互作用的动态，并获得新的数据来推动这一领域的发展。这项研究得到了贝尔法斯特市议会的支持，并将由布里斯托大学和贝尔法斯特女王大学的学者与布拉德福德市理事会的代表和顾问合作实施。我们的研究成果将通过会议演讲和高影响力学术期刊上的出版物广泛提供给跨学科的学术受众，并通过科普活动，用户友好的摘要，政策圆桌会议和项目网站向从业人员，更广泛的公众和政策制定者提供。鉴于我们的研究，旨在了解我们如何最好地促进青少年群体间的互动在贝尔法斯特和布拉德福德的及时性，我们预计，这个拟议中的项目将广泛吸引学者和外行人，鼓励我们的研究成果的广泛吸收持续超过该奖项的持续时间。

Across Europe, old and new ethnic tensions are dominating the headlines as political instability and levels of diversity continue to grow. With ethnically-motivated hate crimes on the rise, understanding how to ease ethnic tensions and promote social cohesion, particularly amongst young people as the next generation, is an urgent challenge. The UK Government's Integrated Communities Strategy Green paper proposes that children should be prepared for life in modern Britain and be provided with the opportunity to engage in social mixing with those from different ethnic groups. Research from across the social sciences shows that social mixing, also referred to as intergroup interactions, is one of the best ways to promote more positive relations between ethnic groups. The realities of everyday life, however, mean that individuals do not necessarily interact with those from different ethnic groups, even when they have the opportunity to do so. Despite this realisation, surprisingly little attention has been given to how intergroup interactions might be encouraged in the first place. This project addresses this gap in understanding by examining how, when, and why adolescents from different ethnic groups in Bradford and ethno-religious groups in Belfast engage in intergroup interactions. Focusing on national social cohesion priorities as well as local agendas in Bradford and Belfast, this project will use an innovative combination of research methods that will inform a new theoretical understanding of the factors that influence whether or not adolescents engage in intergroup interactions. We are interested in addressing three key questions: (1) What are the antecedents of adolescent intergroup interactions?; (2) How do adolescent intergroup interactions manifest in everyday life spaces?; (3) How do everyday contexts facilitate and inhibit adolescent intergroup interactions? To answer these questions, we use methods that are often absent from research on adolescent interactions including: (1) a three time-point survey amongst adolescents and their parents, (2) an app-based survey alongside GPS tracking, and (3) participatory photo-based methods coupled with focus group interviews. Together, these data sources allow us to study the dynamics of interactions and acquire new data to move this field forward. This research is supported by Belfast City Council and will be implemented by academics from the University of Bristol and Queen's University Belfast in collaboration with representatives from Bradford City Council and consultants and Young Research Advisors from the National Children's Bureau, a leading charity that aims to improve the lives of young people and give them a voice to influence policy and practice. Our research findings will be made widely available to an interdisciplinary academic audience via conference presentations and publications in high-impact academic journals, and also to practitioners, the wider public, and policy-makers through popular science events, user-friendly summaries, policy roundtables, and a project website. Given the timely nature of our research, which seeks to understand how we might best promote adolescent intergroup interactions in Belfast and Bradford, we anticipate that this proposed project will appeal widely to academics and lay-people, encouraging a wide uptake of our research findings lasting beyond the duration of the award.