Psychology Department, SUNY Geneseo, 1 College Circle, , Geneseo, NY, 14454, USA.
School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast, 18-20 Malone Rd.,, Belfast, BT9 5BN, Northern Ireland.
J Youth Adolesc. 2018 Jan;47(1):77-87. doi: 10.1007/s10964-017-0684-6. Epub 2017 May 5.
Intergroup contact plays a critical role in the reduction of prejudice; however, there is limited research examining the multiple ways through which contact can impact trajectories of development for adolescents in divided societies. Thus, the goal of the current study was to examine individual- and context-level effects of intergroup contact on change in intergroup bias through adolescence. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze five waves of data from 933 youth (M = 15.5, SD = 4.03; range: 10-20 years old; 52% female) living in 38 neighborhoods in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The results suggest that youth increase in bias with age. Adolescents with more frequent intergroup contact increase more quickly, and those who report higher quality of contact increase more slowly. Both frequency and quality of contact at the neighborhood level predicted slower increases in bias across adolescence. The results add to a growing literature that combines social and developmental approaches to understanding how intergroup processes and intergroup divide impact youth development of intergroup attitudes and behaviors. The results are discussed in terms of the importance of both individual experiences and the context of intergroup contact for youth development in divided contexts.
群体间接触在减少偏见方面起着至关重要的作用；然而，对于接触如何通过多种方式影响分裂社会中青少年发展轨迹的研究有限。因此，本研究的目的是检验群体间接触在青少年时期群体间偏见变化中的个体和环境层面的影响。使用层次线性模型分析了来自北爱尔兰贝尔法斯特 38 个街区的 933 名青少年（M = 15.5，SD = 4.03；年龄范围：10-20 岁；52%为女性）的五波数据。结果表明，青少年随着年龄的增长而增加偏见。群体间接触更频繁的青少年增加得更快，而报告群体间接触质量更高的青少年增加得更慢。邻里层面的接触频率和质量都预示着青少年时期偏见的增长速度会减缓。这些结果增加了越来越多的文献，这些文献将社会和发展方法结合起来，以了解群体间过程和群体间分歧如何影响青少年群体间态度和行为的发展。结果从个体经验和群体间接触的背景对分裂环境中青少年发展的重要性两方面进行了讨论。
