Development of Outgroup Contact in Social networks

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In today's often multicultural societies, children and adolescents frequently grow up in multi-ethnic, multicultural societies. Since people with immigrant background represent the minority in a new country, first and second generation immigrants need to make contact with and befriend outgroup members in order to participate in social life. Following their emigration, most host countries and migrants share the hope that these new migrants will establish a new social network by integrating into the foreign culture, rather than simply sticking together with fellow immigrants as sometimes happens. It is important to understand which factors drive individuals to develop close cross-group relationships.Allport's (1954) contact hypothesis holds that direct, face-to-face contact between members of different groups has the potential to reduce prejudice. As intergroup prejudice can threaten the cohesion in multicultural societies, decreasing prejudice is a matter of great interest. Cross-group friendship, established as a key form of intergroup contact, represents a powerful strategy to overcome group-based prejudice (Davies et al., 2011; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). However, more research is needed in order to fully understand the development of cross-group friendships now that there are increasing opportunities for cross-group interactions that could improve intergroup attitudes (see Pettigrew &Tropp, 2006, for an overview). My doctoral research project aims to deepen our understanding of the process variables that drive immigrant children and adolescents to befriend native peers and vice versa. My research will also investigate the time it takes for cross-group friendships to evolve after initial contact between ingroup and outgroup members, given evidence that initial interactions may be rather difficult, and that the positive benefits of diversity may only be evident in the course of time (see, e.g., MacInnis & Page-Gould, 2015; Putnam, 2007). Consequently, it is important to understand how initial and subsequent intergroup interactions are related to regard to cross-group friendships. Eventually, insights obtained from this approach will help to develop interventions aimed at facilitating positive intergroup relations. Therefore, the first part of the proposed research project attempts to explore supporting factors of cross-group friendships. The second part intends to specify at what point intergroup interactions actually lead to cross-group friendships as a special form of intergroup contact. I have outlined a research project designed to advance our understanding of what leads outgroup and ingroup members to befriend each other and when intergroup interactions actually lead to cross-group friendships. I seek to expand the contact hypothesis from a social-psychological perspective by studying the development of intergroup contact about which we understand, in fact, relatively little so far. The suggested project aspires to enhance the ecological validity of current intergroup research. It is also aimed at contributing significantly to the development of research-based interventions for improving intergroup relations to guarantee a peaceful coexistence of different cultures and ethnicities. If successful, this project will afford an understanding of intergroup relations from adevelopmental perspective in increasingly complex and multi-ethnic societies.