Cross-Racial Friendships and Social Distance Between Racial Groups on a College Campus

Abstract

This study examined the effectiveness of curriculum-focused diversity initiatives on a college campus by determining the relationships between GPA, social class, year in school, residential status, racial diversity courses taken, and cross-racial friendships on the level of social distance between Whites-Blacks, Whites-Hispanics, Hispanics-Whites, Hispanics-Blacks, Blacks-Whites, and Blacks-Hispanics. The data suggest that, while the institution does a good job of bringing diverse groups of students to the campus, it does not effectively reduce the level of social distance among many members of the different racial groups on campus. Using the Intergroup Contact Hypothesis, the article concludes by suggesting means by which social distance among racial groups on campus might be decreased.

Intercultural Dating at Predominantly White Universities in the United States: The Maintenance and Crossing of Group Borders

“…Universities are substantially more diverse than primary and secondary schools, but diversity alone does not guarantee the development of meaningful social relationships across racial/ethnic boundaries [40,47]. Much of the existing research finds that, on college campuses, micro-level segregation is high, and that White students have the most segregated friendship networks [40,48]. Proximal diversity appears to lead to significant improvements in Latino/a-White interpersonal relationships, but has little effect on Black-White interpersonal relationships [49].…”

Informing Culturally Competent Practice Through Cross-Racial Friendships

“…Hamm et al (2005) and Quillian and Campbell (2003) observed that crossracial friendships tended to form with more frequency between American whites, Asians and Hispanics than among whites and blacks. Research also indicates that the deeper the skin tone of an African American, the less likely he or she is to be selected as a friend by a white American (Hamm et al 2005;Odell et al 2005;Quillian and Campbell 2003). This pattern of interaction has been observed even in groups with high racial diversity.…”

“…While racism and segregation have long been outlawed by civil rights legislation both in the USA and South Africa, as well as other countries, evidence of discrimination and racial disparity continues to exist (Gaertner and Dovidio 2005;Odell et al 2005;Xaba 2001). In the USA, literature on adolescents' cross-racial friendships shows that racial distinctions still exist in the choices individuals make regarding whom to befriend (Hamm et al 2005;Kao and Vaquera 2006;Scott 2004).…”

“…This pattern of interaction has been observed even in groups with high racial diversity. Research has found self-selected segregation along racial lines persists in environments where multiple opportunities to engage in cross-racial friendships ostensibly exist, such as in racially diverse high schools (Hamm et al 2005;McKinney 2006;Odell et al 2005). These patterns can be attributed to several challenges faced by individuals engaged in cross-racial friendships.…”

“…Cross-racial friendships face challenges specific to racial and cultural differences, in addition to challenges that friendships among individuals of similar racial backgrounds might experience (Odell et al 2005;Scott 2004). Cross-racial friendships may be less intimate than friendships among individuals from similar racial backgrounds (Kao and Joyner 2004).…”