Browsing by Author "Lewis, Cindy Lisa"

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    A between-subjects comparison of same-group and cross-group friendships amongst Coloured South African students at Stellenbosch Univeristy
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-04) Lewis, Cindy Lisa; Swart, Hermann; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Psychology.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Interpersonal friendships fulfil several important functions in the lives of individuals across their lifespan, and cross-group friendships have been shown to be strongly associated with reduced outgroup prejudice (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). The emerging literature comparing same-group and cross-group friendships along interpersonal-level variables amongst majority-status participants in Northern Ireland, England, Serbia, and South Africa has consistently shown that same-gender, same-group friendships are rated as greater in overall quality than corresponding cross-group friendships (Swart et al., 2011). The present study aimed to replicate these findings amongst minority-status coloured South African respondents by (1) undertaking between-group comparisons of the mean-level scores reported for same-group and cross-group friendships along nine interpersonal-level variables, namely friendship length, friendship type, friendship closeness, friendship contact, friendship functions, friendship affection, interpersonal trust, positive reciprocal self-disclosure and negative reciprocal self-disclosure; (2) comparing the structural relationships between these interpersonal-level variables across the two friendship conditions; (3) exploring whether attitudes towards a specific outgroup exemplar (closest same-gender white South African friend) generalise towards more positive attitudes towards white South Africans in general; and (4) exploring the extent to which interactions with a specific cross-group friend were related to access with a wider social-network of outgroup peers and the development of further cross-group friendships. Cross-sectional, electronic survey data were collected amongst 302 coloured South African students studying at Stellenbosch University and included 157 respondents in the same-group condition and 145 respondents in the cross-group condition. Results showed that (1) same-group friendships were characterized by significantly greater intimacy and overall quality than cross-group friendships; (2) there exist several differences in the structural relationships between the interpersonal-level and group-level variables across the two friendship conditions; (3) that positive attitudes towards a specific outgroup exemplar generalised to more positive attitudes towards white South Africans in general; and (4) that a single cross-group friend provides valuable access to a broader network of outgroup peers with whom to form further cross-group friendships. These findings not only replicate the results found in the emerging literature (Goosen, 2011; Swart et al., 2011), they further its contributions by providing a comparison with minority-status groups