Effects of Direct and Indirect Cross-Group Friendships on Judgments of Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland: The Mediating Role of an Anxiety-Reduction Mechanism
- 1 June 2004
- journal article
- other
- Published by SAGE Publications in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Vol. 30 (6), 770-786
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203262848
Abstract
Recent evidence suggests that both direct and indirect friendship with outgroup members (knowledge of ingroup members’ friendship with outgroup members) can reduce prejudice toward the outgroup. Two surveys of cross-community relationships in Northern Ireland, using a student sample (N = 341) and a representative sample of the general population (N = 735), tested whether (a) direct and indirect friendships had generalized effects on both prejudice and perceived outgroup variability and (b) reduced anxiety about future encounters with outgroup members mediated such relationships. Structural equation modeling confirmed that, in both samples, direct and indirect cross-group friendships between Catholics and Protestants were associated with reduced prejudice toward the religious outgroup and increased perceived outgroup variability, via an anxiety-reduction mechanism. It is argued that emerging generalization hypotheses help to integrate both cognition and affect and interpersonal and intergroup approaches to contact.Keywords
This publication has 64 references indexed in Scilit:
- Sowing Dragon's Teeth: Public Support for Political Violence and Paramilitarism in Northern IrelandPolitical Studies, 2001
- Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternativesStructural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 1999
- Outgroup Prejudice in Western EuropeEuropean Review of Social Psychology, 1997
- A general approach to representing multifaceted personality constructs: Application to state self‐esteemStructural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 1994
- Dimensions of Contact as Predictors of Intergroup Anxiety, Perceived Out-Group Variability, and Out-Group Attitude: An Integrative ModelPersonality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 1993
- Perceptions of General Variability of Social GroupsSocial Cognition, 1993
- School and Neighborhood Friendship Patterns of Blacks and Whites in Early AdolescenceChild Development, 1990
- Interpersonal constructs and friendship form and structureInternational Journal of Personal Construct Psychology, 1989
- Students' Interracial Friendships: Individual Characteristics, Structural Effects, and Racial DifferencesAmerican Journal of Education, 1987
- Classroom Racial Composition and Children's FriendshipsSocial Forces, 1982