Are daily intergroup interactions distressing? An end-of-day diary study of associations between daily intergroup interaction proportion and psychological distress/well-being

Laboratory-based studies show that intercultural interactions often cause people to feel stressed and anxious. However, we know fairly little about how intercultural interactions unfold outside of the laboratory. The present study examined associations between the proportion of daily intercultural interactions among 97 university students and their daily distress as well as daily well-being, using a 21-day end-of-day diary design. Overall, on days where participants had a larger proportion of intercultural interactions compared to their habitual level, they reported more psychological distress, with a small effect size. This association was similar for participants with majority status and for those with minority status. Daily proportion of intercultural interaction was unrelated to daily psychological well-being. We also observed no associations between daily intercultural interaction proportion and distress/well-being across days (using lagged analyses). This work extends laboratory-based findings that intercultural interactions are taxing to unstructured naturalistic settings.     

Protective or harmful? Exploring the ambivalent role of social identification as a moderator of intergroup stress in sojourners

Living outside one’s home country may be stressful, and having strong social ties should help deal with this stress. However, social ties may be protective or harmful depending on whether the social group they evoke belongs to the host- or the home country context. The current study examines how social identification with different groups may either buffer or aggravate the negative effects of two stressors (perceived discrimination and symbolic threat) on sojourner adaptation. Two hundred and twenty international students sojourning in nine different countries responded to an online questionnaire. As expected, adaptation was negatively predicted by both stressors. Moreover, high identification with the group of international students attenuated the negative effects of perceived discrimination on psychological adaptation, while home country identification aggravated the negative effects of symbolic threat on sociocultural adaptation.     

Friend or Foe? Perceptions of Qatar in the Israeli Online General and Sports Press

The current paper is looking into the way in which Qatar’s investment in sport, both directly and indirectly, is being perceived by the Israeli press. In order to accomplish the task set above, a content analysis of Qatar’s media coverage in the Israeli online press was conducted. Our analysis includes 1199 articles appearing in the mainstream online Israeli press and the findings point out to an interesting trend; there are significant differences between sport related stories, which present a political context and those who do not deal with politics which are significantly more supportive of Qatar.     

Can Restorative Practices Help to Reduce Disparities in School Discipline Data? A Review of the Literature

Disparities in school discipline data is a national concern. Schools across the nation are working to eliminate these disparities. This literature review considers one response to the disproportionate data, restorative practices. This article examines why exclusionary approaches to discipline are ineffective, contribute to imbalanced discipline data, exacerbate the achievement gap, and push minority students into the juvenile justice system. Restorative practices are an inclusionary, nonpunitive alternative. This approach offers a preventive component as well as a responsive component. I will use this article as a platform to show readers how and why using restorative practices, as an alternative to punitive practices, will support a reduction in the number of referrals and suspension given in schools in order to reduce, and ultimately eliminate the disparities in discipline data across the nation. Limitations in the research are highlighted and recommendations of where to focus future research are provided.     

A new route towards more harmonious intergroup relationships in England? Majority members’ proximal-acculturation

Although the ways that immigrants relate to UK culture has been a hot topic since the EU-referendum, little attention has been given to how majority group members such as Host Country Nationals (HCNs) relate to immigrants’ culture. Thus, we explored English HCNs’ globalisation-based proximal-acculturation – the extent to which they prefer to adopt aspects of immigrants’ cultures and/or maintain their national culture. Using two-step cluster analysis, a pilot study (N = 63) revealed a separated, integrated, and undifferentiated cluster, with separated HCNs perceiving cultural diversity more as a threat and less as an enrichment. Using latent profile analysis in a second study (N = 220) also revealed a three strategy-solution, identifying assimilated, integrated and separated profiles. Again we examined how these strategies differed across perceptions of cultural threat and enrichment as well as other psychosocial characteristics: identifying with fellow English citizens, recognizing cultural differences whilst not being culturally embedded (constructive marginalization), and various forms of intergroup contact. Separated HCNs identified more with fellow English citizens, endorsed less constructive marginalization, perceived less cultural enrichment yet more cultural threat than HCNs following some of the other strategies. These results stress that the onus of cultural adoption lies with both groups – minorities and majority members – with English HCNs showing distinct proximal-acculturation strategies. Lastly, when exploring a variable-centred approach, proximal-acculturation orientations (cultural maintenance/adoption) mediated the relationship between cultural threat, cultural enrichment, and intergroup contact on positive feelings towards immigrants. Thus, the ways that HCNs acculturate may provide a new route towards harmonious intergroup relations.     

Chinese university students’ mediated contact and global competence: Moderation of direct contact and mediation of intergroup anxiety

In recent years, popularity of social media and influx of international students have provided Chinese domestic students ample opportunities to contact with alien cultures both directly and indirectly. To understand impact of the new environment, the present study focused on Chinese domestic undergraduates and proposed a moderated mediation research model examining the relationships between mediated contact (through foreign TV series and movies) and the three dimensions of global competence (global attitudes, skills, and knowledge). We also explored mediation of intergroup anxiety and moderation of direct contact (with international students) underlying these relationships. Results from a multi-group structural equation modeling analysis revealed direct contact as a moderator, modifying the relationship between mediated contact and intergroup anxiety. Specifically, this negative relationship was significant at low, rather than at high levels of direct contact. Further, at low, rather than at high levels of direct contact, mediated contact had indirect relationships with all three dimensions of global competence via the mediator of intergroup anxiety.     

The role of adoptive parents’ intergroup contact in fostering the well-being of adoptees: The “extended intragroup contact effect”

The present study examines the effects of a new cultural socialization strategy on the well-being of transracially adopted adolescents and emerging adults. Specifically, we propose a novel strategy focused on the role of adoptive parents’ positive contact with members of their children’s ethnic group of origin, which we labelled “extended intragroup contact.” The hypothesis was that observing ingroup members (adoptive parents, belonging to the family ingroup) engaging in contact with another ingroup (members of children’s original ethnic group) would be associated with adoptees’ meaning in life and, in turn, with well-being. A self-report questionnaire was administered to 120 families, each composed of transracial adoptees (all born in Latin American countries) and their adoptive parents. The results were generally supportive of predictions, showing that knowing of positive interactions between members of two different ingroups (family ingroup and ethnic ingroup) had beneficial effects for the well-being of transracial adoptees. The theoretical and practical implications of findings are discussed, focusing on the importance of investigating extended intragroup contact as a strategy for improving the well-being of disadvantaged group members.     

Facebook contact: The effect of an outgroup member’s language proficiency on desire for future intergroup contact

Guided by contact theory, we examined the effect of an international student’s English language proficiency on American students’ desire for future interaction with international students, online and in-person. We created a fictitious Facebook page of a female Chinese international student and experimentally manipulated her Facebook posts to represent low or high English proficiency. American students (N = 126) in the high proficiency condition reported more identification with the international student, which subsequently led to more desire for future interaction with the student both online and in person. These effects generalized to a desire for interaction with other Chinese students (again, both online and in person). The findings of the study have theoretical and practical implications for online intergroup communication.     

Gender and Race Differences in Middle School Students’ Perceptions of Caring Teacher Behaviors

This study investigated differences in 50 fifth through eighth grade students’ perceptions of caring teacher behaviors. The analyses revealed that African American and female students were more likely to value behavior that encourages academic achievement than were White and male students, who were more likely to value warm interpersonal behaviors.     

Can interethnic contact between majority (Han) and minority (Uyghur) people in China influence sense of Chinese national Community? The role of positive and negative direct,extended and vicarious intergroup contact

ObjectivesIn multiethnic countries, enhancing the sense of community and preventing ethnic segregation represents a major challenge. In this study we aimed to test the effects of different forms of intergroup contact in fostering sense of community among majority and minority ethnic groups in China, by focusing on the sense of the community at the national level.MethodsParticipants were Han (N = 355, ethnic majority group) and Uyghur (N = 546, ethnic minority group) people at a multiethnic university in the Xinjiang province in China.ResultsResults from path analysis revealed that positive direct contact for the minority, and positive extended and vicarious contact for both majority and minority group were indirectly associated with higher sense of Chinese national community via greater focus on positive characteristics of the outgroup. In addition, negative contact (extended contact for the majority; direct contact for the minority) were indirectly associated with lower sense of Chinese national community via reduced focus on positive outgroup characteristics. No evidence was found for negative focus (focus on negative outgroup characteristics) and intergroup threat as mediators. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings for improving intergroup relations in multiethnic and conflictual settings by using multiple forms of intergroup contact are discussed.     

English Proficiency,Identity, Anxiety,and Intergroup Attitudes: US Americans’ Perceptions of Chinese

Guided by the Common Ingroup Identity Model and Berry’s acculturation framework, this study examined the roles that perceptions of language proficiency, cultural identity, and communication anxiety had on intergroup attitudes and stereotypes in the American–Chinese contact context. Serial mediation analyses with 10,000 bootstrap samples revealed that perceived English proficiency of a Chinese contact had significant indirect effects on affective and behavioral attitudes toward Chinese through American participants’ perceptions of their contact’s host and home culture identification and communication anxiety. Perceived English proficiency had an indirect effect only on positive stereotypes through the Chinese contact’s perceived identification with home culture.     

“Styled by Their Perceptions”: Black Adolescent Girls Interpret Representations of Black Females in Popular Culture

Identity formation is a critical process shaping the lives of adolescents and can present distinct challenges for Black adolescent girls who are positioned in society to negotiate ideals of self when presented with false and incomplete images representing Black girlhood. Researchers have found distorted images of Black femininity derived from history, including the mammy, jezebel, and Sapphire, are still pervasive in contemporary media outlets that are often viewed by adolescent girls. The current qualitative interview study examined literate interpretations of current media representations depicting Black girlhood from eight adolescent girls. Findings show that participants believed that Black girlhood is portrayed as being judged by their hair; is seen as angry, loud, and violent; and is sexualized.

?Following the interview, the girls used their pens to write against each of these portrayals and also to write toward social change. The ways the girls desired to be represented were in opposition to the ways they felt society and media viewed them. Their responses and literary writings suggest that Black adolescent girls need spaces to negotiate depictions of self and identity.     

“Maybe That Concept Is Still with Us”: Adolescents' Racialized and Classed Perceptions of Teachers' Expectations

Teacher expectations for student behavior and academic performance have a lasting effect on student academic achievement—not only in the immediate school year, but also many years later. Yet, we know very little about how students interpret and understand teachers' expectations for them. This article expands the literature on teachers' expectations for students by drawing on student voice to examine how middle and high school students describe and experience the expectations that teachers have for them, and the implications of these expectations for developing positive student–teacher relationships. Findings indicate that traditionally minoritized and traditionally privileged youth harbor racialized and classed perceptions of teachers' expectations.

I feel like it's all around us too, like everything we hear kinda everything we learn about; it's kinda like minorities are oppressed. Like you learn about, a lot about, like, civil rights and all that; like you always kinda hear that, like, Blacks, minorities, all of them were kinda oppressed and that Whites were dominant at one point. So I mean it's not like it's the same; it's not completely different now, but maybe that concept is still with us. (Latina/o high school student)     

A past that never was: historical poaching in Game of Thrones fans’ Tumblr practices

This article explores the textual and historical poaching practices by Tumblr fans of the novels A Song of Ice and Fire and the television adaption Game of Thrones, a pseudo-historical fantasy series. Fans critique both the text (novels and TV show) and other fans’ interpretations of the text, as well as parallel real-world history with the world and characters of the series. Tensions arise around the “historical accuracy” of the novels and show, along with the role that dominant narratives and cultural norms play in interpreting a past that never was through the lens of a real-world past. Fantasy and history intersect in layered ways and are used by fans to support a variety of textual points of view. Issues of violence, presentism, colonialism, gender, and “historical truths” are argued in relation to the ahistoricism or historicism of the novels/show.     

Japanese College Students’ Media Exposure to Sexually Explicit Materials,Perceptions of Women,and Sexually Permissive Attitudes

The present study examined Japanese college students’ ( N ?=?476) use of sexually explicit material (SEM) and associations with perceptions of women as sex objects and sexually permissive attitudes. Results indicate that Japanese college students used print media most frequently as a source for SEM followed by the Internet and the television/video/DVD. Male participants used SEM significantly more than females. In addition, sexual preoccupancy mediated the relationship between exposure to SEM and perceptions of women as sex objects, whereas exposure to SEM in mass media had a direct association with Japanese participants’ sexually permissive attitudes.     

The Street Robber and the Gentleman Highwayman: Changing Representations and Perceptions of Robbery in London, 1690–1800

Owing to the growth of urban crime, the expansion of print culture, and changing cultural attitudes, a remarkably diverse range of positive and negative images of robbery were disseminated in eighteenth-century London. Attitudes in the 1690s were already ambivalent, but repeated negative reports in newspapers and trial accounts contributed to the identification, in the 1720s during a perceived crime wave, of the ‘street robber’ as a particularly threatening criminal. In response, the concept of the polite gentleman highwayman emerged, epitomized in representations of James Maclaine at mid-century. From the 1770s, however, the appeal of the gentleman highwayman began to wane, and all forms of robbery came to be seen as equally undesirable.     

“Blind Massage” Wins Silver Bear at BerlinaleA film that unveils the less-known life of blind masseurs

＂Blind Massage＂, the first movie pro- duced by Shaanxi Cultural Industry Investment （Group） Co., Ltd. （SCG）, won the Silver Bear for Best Artistic Contribution at the 64 Berlin Interna- tional Film Festival （Berlinale）. Three Chinese movies vied for awards at this annual film festival and ＂Black Coal, Thin Ice＂ became the Golden Bear winner for Best Film and Best Actor.     

Birds of a feather end up flocking together when studying abroad. Can a university bridge the cultural differences that challenge friendships between Pacific Island students and New Zealand students?

Intercultural friendship formation is a key challenge for international students studying abroad. In an increasingly globalised world, where people regularly engage with others from different cultures, meaningful intercultural friendships are important. However, culture can pose a considerable challenge that hinders the formation of friendships between people of different cultures. This paper explores challenges and insights into developing intercultural friendships between international Pacific Island students studying in Aotearoa New Zealand and domestic New Zealand Palagi¹ students. Similar to other studies, the findings in this study highlight the key challenges connected to cultural differences. These findings are surprising as New Zealand Palagi students would have gone to primary and secondary schools with Pacific Island students and should have had some contact and interactions with them and be more accustomed to cultural differences. Unique to this study is that these international Pacific Island students recognised that universities are in a prime position to champion and promote systemic interventions to assist both international and domestic students to engage with each other in order to promote cultural understanding. Overcoming intercultural friendship development challenges involves creating meaningful intercultural spaces and campus ‘friendship’ events to increase intercultural interactions, raise domestic students’ cross-cultural awareness, and encourage reciprocal intercultural learning. Such activities are likely to enhance the overall well-being of all students and improve the internationalisation of universities with increasingly diverse student cohorts.