Intergroup Contact Is Linked To Discrimination Against Minorities Through Threat And Attitudes
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| Year of publication | 2021 |
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| Description | Direct and mass-mediated intergroup contact with minority members challenges majority’s prejudice against social minorities. However, contact effects on discriminatory intentions are comparatively less established. In Czech majority (N = 7498), we first validated a new measure of discriminatory intentions on the case of Czech Vietnamese, the most salient immigrant minority in the Czech Republic. We split the sample randomly into two datasets and investigated the psychometric properties of the discrimination scale with exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Internal consistency as well as model fit of the hierarchical three-factor scale were satisfactory. The final solution was cross-validated using the other half of the sample. Next, using the structural equation modelling, we estimated the effect of positive and negative, direct and mass-mediated intergroup contact of Czechs with the Vietnamese on discriminatory intentions of Czechs towards the Vietnamese. In the model, we employed threats perceived from and attitudes toward the Vietnamese as mediating mechanisms, with participants’ age and gender entered as covariates. Positive direct intergroup contact with the Vietnamese was associated with lower discriminatory intentions toward the Vietnamese both directly and indirectly through lower threat perceived from and more positive attitudes toward the Vietnamese. Negative direct intergroup contact was associated with higher discriminatory intentions toward the Vietnamese both directly and indirectly through higher threat and less positive attitudes. Positive mass-mediated contact was linked to discrimination only indirectly through less threat and more positive attitudes toward the Vietnamese. Negative mass-mediated contact was associated with higher discriminatory intentions both directly and indirectly only through perceived threat. This research brings new evidence on the role of intergroup contact in majority’s intentions to discriminate against social minorities, considering the role of perceived threat and prejudice. |