Positive and negative intergroup contact from the perspective of immigrants: Their impact on acculturation strategies and psychological adjustment

Social psychologists only recently started to examine the effects of both positive and negative intergroup contact on intergroup attitudes of minority groups. However, little is yet known about the joint and differential effects of these two forms of contact on immigrants’ adaptation. Basing on this, it was examined the joint and differential effects of positive and negative contact on immigrants' acculturation and adjustment in their host society across four studies. Study 1 and Study 2 investigated the joint effect of positive and negative contact on immigrants’ fear of being stereotyped, perceived symbolic threat, social avoidance, and anxiety in two different contexts (Italy and Turkey). Consistently across the samples, negative contact was a strong predictor of fear of being stereotyped, perceived symbolic threat, and social avoidance. Only in the Italian sample, where respondents reported negative contact experiences with native people to a greater extent, positive contact was not associated with reduced avoidance of them. Study 3 and Study 4 considered cross-sectionally and longitudinally other crucial aspects of the adaptation process, such as acculturation preferences and psychological adjustment of immigrants. Study 3 highlighted that positive contact strongly predicted positive outcomes (i.e., culture adoption and psychosocial well-being), whereas negative contact predicted negative outcomes (i.e., group discrimination and post-traumatic stress disorder). Study 4 displayed the role of negative contact as a stronger predictor of psychosocial well-being and culture maintenance over time. Overall, evidence highlighted the crucial role of both positive and negative intergroup contact, their interplay, and the underlying processes in shaping immigrants’ adaptation to their contexts.