Intergroup contact in multiple adolescents' contexts: The Intergroup Contact Interactions Scale (ICIS)

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Cross-Cultural Psychology

Background:

• Intergroup contact is crucial for understanding relations between ethnic majority and minority groups.
• Existing tools may not adequately capture the nuances of intergroup contact across different contexts.
• Adolescence is a critical period for developing intergroup attitudes and behaviors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate the psychometric properties of the Intergroup Contact Interactions Scale (ICIS).
• To assess the reliability and validity of the ICIS for measuring positive and negative intergroup contact.
• To examine the ICIS's applicability across diverse adolescent populations and settings.

Main Methods:

• Multi-study validation approach using adolescent samples from Italy and Turkey.
• Factor analysis to confirm the two-factor structure (positive and negative contact) of the ICIS.
• Measurement invariance testing across ethnic majority and minority groups.
• Convergent validity assessed through associations with contact quantity and parental perceptions.

Main Results:

• Consistent support for the two-factor structure of the ICIS across school and out-of-school contexts in both Italy and Turkey.
• Excellent model fit for the ICIS structure in large-scale adolescent samples.
• Established measurement invariance across ethnic groups, confirming cross-group comparability.
• Demonstrated convergent validity, linking ICIS scores to related measures of intergroup contact.

Conclusions:

• The Intergroup Contact Interactions Scale (ICIS) is a psychometrically sound and reliable instrument.
• The ICIS effectively measures positive and negative intergroup contact among diverse adolescents.
• The scale is suitable for use in both school and out-of-school contexts for research on intergroup relations.