Research On The Influence Of Intergroup Contact On Senile Discrimination

Intergroup contact has been considered as an effective mean to reduce intergroup prejudice and discrimination and to improve intergroup relations.Direct intergroup contact between different groups is the most effective and persistent intervention,but its actual costs are higher.Indirect intergroup contact as a new paradigm of intergroup contact theory,more researches were involved in this field,but the domestic research is still in its infancy.With the improvement of the level of health care and the decline of the birth rate of the newborn,China is entering an aging society.The old people need the company and care from young people,however,the prejudice and discrimination of the young people are very profound,which is not conducive to the construction of active aging.Therefore,in our study,college students were selected as the research object,and the elderly group over 65 years old was taken as the attitude object.The questionnaires and experiments are used to explore the effect of direct intergroup contact and indirect intergroup contact on college students' ageism.In addition,based on intergroup anxiety theory,our study will also examine the effect of intergroup anxiety in the relationship between intergroup contact and college students'ageism.The whole study was departed into two parts:Study 1 chose 316 college students,used questionnaires to investigated the effect of direct intergroup contact(quantity of contact and quality of contact)on ageism,and the mediating effect of intergroup anxiety.Study 2 chose 175 college students,used experiment to explore the effect of indirect intergroup contact and quality of contact on college students' ageism.The study used 2(alternative intergroup contact;imagined intergroup contact)*3(positive contact,negative contact and non-contact)between-subject design,explicit attitude and implicit attitude of the ageism were the dependent variable.There were some main conclusions as follows:(1)Contact quantity and contact quality of direct intergroup contact can effect ageism,the more the contact quantity,the better the contact quality,the lower the level of ageism;but ageism is mainly affected by the contact quality,and the impact of contact quantity on ageism is through contact quality.(2)Intergroup anxiety is the mediating factor in the relationship between contact quantity of direct intergroup contact and ageism,also contact quality of direct intergroup contact and ageism;but in the integrated path analysis model(Figure 4.1),the mediating effect of intergroup anxiety in the relationship between contact quality of direct intergroup contact and ageism.The effect of intergroup anxiety in the relationship between indirect intergroup contact quality and ageism is not significant.(3)Indirect intergroup contact type and quality of contact can affect ageism,specific performances positive contact can reduce ageism,negative contact will increase ageism,alternative intergroup contact can affect explicit attitude and implicit attitude of the ageism,while imagined intergroup contact only affect explicit attitude and implicit attitude of the ageism.This study suggests that direct intergroup contact and alternative intergroup contact can effectively reduce intergroup prejudice and discrimination,improving intergroup relations.