title: 'And the best essay is…': Extended contact and cross-group friendships at school.
abstract: We conducted one experimental intervention based on extended contact principles aimed at fostering the formation of cross-group friendships within educational settings. Italian school children took part in a school competition for the best essay on personal experiences of cross-group friendships with immigrants, to be written in small groups. This manipulation was intended to favour the exchange of personal positive cross-group experiences, thus capitalizing on the benefits of extended contact. In the control condition, participants wrote an essay on friendship, without reference to cross-group relations. Results revealed that children who took part in the intervention reported a higher number of outgroup friends 3 months later. This indirect effect was sequentially mediated by pro-contact ingroup and outgroup norms and by outgroup contact behavioural intentions. This study provides experimental evidence that interventions based on extended contact can foster cross-group friendship formation. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.
authors: University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy.
authors: Loris
authors: L
authors: Vezzali
authors: University of Greenwich, UK.
authors: Sofia
authors: S
authors: Stathi
authors: University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Italy.
authors: Dino
authors: D
authors: Giovannini
authors: University of Padova, Italy.
authors: Dora
authors: D
authors: Capozza
authors: University of Lausanne, Switzerland.
authors: Emilio Paolo
authors: EP
authors: Visintin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude; D002648:Child; D054242:Emigrants and Immigrants / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012574:Schools; D012933:Social Identification; D014956:Writing
keywords: behavioural intentions; cross-group friendship; extended contact; intergroup behaviour; prejudice-reduction intervention