Linguistics

Engineering

Philosophy

Ethnic group

Social psychology

Archaeology

Refugee

Pedagogy

Developmental psychology

Anthropology

Prejudice (legal term)

Well-being

Psychology

Language proficiency

Language contact

Psychotherapist

Sociology

Structural engineering

Contact theory

History

Social Psychological and Personality Science

The effects of intergroup contact on prejudice are well established. However, its effects on minority group well-being have been rarely studied. We hypothesized that contact with members of the majority culture will be related to better well-being, and that this is facilitated by majority language proficiency. We tested this hypothesis in a three-wave longitudinal study of refugees over 2 years ( N = 180). Cross-lagged path modeling confirmed that intergroup contact at earlier time points was associated with increased well-being at later time points; the reverse associations (from earlier well-being to later contact) were not reliable. Self-rated earlier English language competence was positively associated with later intergroup contact (but not the reverse), suggesting that improving majority language proficiency might be the key to better well-being of refugees, with intergroup contact being the mediator between language and well-being.

Improving Refugee Well-Being With Better Language Skills and More Intergroup Contact