The utility of Allport's conditions of intergroup contact for predicting perceptions of improved racial attitudes and beliefs - Contact Hypothesis

Journal of Social Issues, Winter, 1998 by Michele Andrisin Wittig, Sheila Grant-Thompson

Three outcome variables were assessed via seven-point scales, ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 7 (Strongly Agree), based on responses to the following items:

Compared to Week One [of the above RAP class]:

1) My students feel more comfortable talking about racial issues

2) My students increased their recognition of the equal worth of all racial groups

3) My students are more open to making cross-racial friendships.

The descriptive statistics for the five variables composing the predictor were as follows: equal status (M = 6.24, SD = 1.68), interdependence (M = 5.79, SD = 1.72), facilitator norm (M = 6.17, SD = 1.69), association (M = 5.21, SD = 1.47), and contradiction of negative stereotypes (M = 5.14, SD = 1.51). For the composite predictor, M = 5.71, SD = 1.61. For the outcome variables, these descriptive statistics were as follows: comfort (M = 5.17, SD = 1.34), equal worth (M = 5.24, SD = 1.48), and friendships (M = 5.10, SD = 1.42).

The simple regressions showed that the composite predictor accounted for a significant portion of the variance in each of the three teacher judgments of student outcomes. Specifically, the teachers' judgments of the facilitators' achievement of the set of five classroom climate conditions accounted for 42% of the variance in their judgments of students' increased comfort talking about race, F (1,27) = 22.23, p [less than] .001; 59% of the variance in their judgments of students' increased recognition of equal worth of all groups, F (1,27) = 38.60, p [less than] .001; and 50% of the variance in their judgments of students' greater openness to making cross-racial friendships, F(1,27) = 27.43, p [less than] .001. Additional analyses using each component of the Contact Hypothesis as a separate predictor in a series of three standard multiple regressions found that, with minor exceptions, the overall prediction was due to the variance accounted for jointly by the five predictors, rather than by any single predictor.

Comparison of teacher perceptions of student change with actual student change. To compare teacher perceptions of change in student outcomes with actual student outcomes, data from students in classes that participated in the RAP discussions were examined. There were 181 students in seven classes providing responses in both weeks 1 and 8, for whose classes the teacher also supplied relevant evaluations. Change scores were calculated for each of these students on each of three student outcomes: "I feel comfortable talking about racial/ethnic issues at my school," "I feel that all racial and ethnic groups have equal worth," and "People should only hang out with people from the same racial/ethnic group as they are." Each item was followed by a seven-point scale, ranging from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 7 (Strongly Agree). (The third outcome was reverse-scored to reflect willingness to make friends with people from other racial/ethnic groups.) A mean change score was calculated for each of the three outcome variables across all students within a given class. Then each of these outcome measures was correlated with the corresponding teacher perception, across all seven teacher-class pairs. None of these correlations was significant (N = 7): comfort, r = .52, p [greater than] .05; equal worth, r = .24, p [greater than] .05; friendship, r = .39, p [greater than] .05.