Improving Refugee Well-Being With Better Language Skills and More Intergroup Contact

The effects of intergroup contact on prejudice are well established. However, its effects on minority group well-being have been rarely studied. We hypothesized that contact with members of the majority culture will be related to better well-being, and that this is facilitated by majority language p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social psychological & personality science 2019-03, Vol.10 (2), p.144-151
Main Authors: Tip, Linda K., Brown, Rupert, Morrice, Linda, Collyer, Michael, Easterbrook, Matthew J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Competence
English language
Intergroup contact
Language proficiency
Linguistic competence
Longitudinal studies
Minority groups
Prejudice
Refugees
Self evaluation
Well being
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Summary:The effects of intergroup contact on prejudice are well established. However, its effects on minority group well-being have been rarely studied. We hypothesized that contact with members of the majority culture will be related to better well-being, and that this is facilitated by majority language proficiency. We tested this hypothesis in a three-wave longitudinal study of refugees over 2 years (N = 180). Cross-lagged path modeling confirmed that intergroup contact at earlier time points was associated with increased well-being at later time points; the reverse associations (from earlier well-being to later contact) were not reliable. Self-rated earlier English language competence was positively associated with later intergroup contact (but not the reverse), suggesting that improving majority language proficiency might be the key to better well-being of refugees, with intergroup contact being the mediator between language and well-being.
ISSN:1948-5506
1948-5514
DOI:10.1177/1948550617752062