Intergroup Contact, Relational Solidarity, and Cognitive Attitudes Toward Chinese International Students

From the intergroup contact perspective, we examined the influence of American college students' (N = 375) contact quality and frequency with their most frequent Chinese international student (CIS) contact on their cognitive attitudes toward Chinese international students (CISs), as well as the mediating role played by relational solidarity with the contact and the moderating role of the type of outgroup contact. Results showed that contact quality with the CIS contact positively predicted perceptions of CISs as nice and kind and negatively predicted perceptions of CISs as rude and annoying, shy and socially awkward, and culturally maladjusted, independent of the moderating variable. On the contrary, contact frequency negatively predicted perceptions of CISs as nice and kind and positively predicted perceptions of CISs as rude and annoying when the outgroup contact was an acquaintance. Additionally, results showed that both contact quality and frequency positively predicted relational solidarity with the Chinese contact, which was, in turn, associated with positive and negative perceptions of CISs. Particularly, these significant indirect effects of contact quality were stronger when the CIS contact was a friend, indicating the significance and complexities of our findings.