Development of Outgroup Contact in Social networks

在当今往往是多文化的社会中，儿童和青少年常常在多族裔、多文化的社会中成长。由于有移民背景的人代表着一个新国家的少数群体，第一代和第二代移民需要与外部群体成员接触并成为朋友，才能参与社会生活。移民后，大多数东道国和移民都希望这些新移民能通过融入外国文化来建立新的社会网络，而不是像有时发生的那样简单地与其他移民站在一起。重要的是要了解是什么因素促使个人发展密切的跨群体关系。Allport(1954)的接触假说认为，不同群体成员之间的直接、面对面的接触有可能减少偏见。由于群体间的偏见可能会威胁到多元文化社会的凝聚力，减少偏见是一个非常有趣的问题。跨群体友谊被确立为群体间联系的一种关键形式，是克服基于群体的偏见的一种强有力的战略(Davies等人，2011年；Pettigrew&Tropp，2006年)。然而，需要更多的研究来充分理解跨群体友谊的发展，因为跨群体互动的机会越来越多，这可能会改善群体间的态度(参见Pettirowth&Tropp，2006)。我的博士研究项目旨在加深我们对移民儿童和青少年与当地同龄人交朋友的过程变量的理解，反之亦然。我的研究还将调查跨群体友谊在内部群体成员和外部群体成员之间首次接触后需要多长时间才能形成，因为有证据表明，最初的互动可能相当困难，而且多样性的积极好处可能只有在一段时间后才明显(见，例如，MacInennis&Page-Gold，2015；Putnam，2007)。因此，重要的是要了解最初和随后的群体间互动与跨群体友谊的关系。最终，从这一方法中获得的见解将有助于制定旨在促进积极的群体间关系的干预措施。因此，本研究的第一部分试图探索跨群体友谊的支持因素。第二部分旨在具体说明在什么情况下，作为一种特殊形式的群际联系，群际互动实际上会导致跨群际友谊。我已经概述了一个研究项目，旨在促进我们对是什么导致组外和组内成员彼此成为朋友，以及组间互动何时真正导致跨组友谊的理解。我试图通过研究群体间接触的发展，从社会心理学的角度来扩展接触假说，事实上，到目前为止，我们对群体间接触的了解相对较少。建议的项目致力于提高当前组间研究的生态有效性。它还旨在为制定以研究为基础的干预措施作出重大贡献，以改善群体间关系，以保证不同文化和种族的和平共处。如果成功，该项目将有助于从发展的角度了解日益复杂和多族裔社会中的群体间关系。

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.