US host nationals' attitudes toward Japanese: the role of communication and relational solidarity in the intergroup contact hypothesis

Interability Contact and the Reduction of Interability Prejudice: Communication Accommodation, Intergroup Anxiety, and Relational Solidarity

“…As such, intergroup contact theory has guided seminal intergroup research for decades in various contexts (Harwood et al, 2005; Pettigrew, 1998; Zhang et al, 2018). For example, recent empirical work has illustrated the importance of extending intergroup contact theory to age, racial, ethnic, religious, and cross-cultural contexts (e.g., Hutchinson & Rosenthal, 2010; Imamura, Zhang, & Shim, 2012; Shim, Zhang, & Harwood, 2012; Soliz & Harwood, 2006; Swart et al, 2011; Zhang et al, 2018). More recently, intergroup contact research has also extended the theory to interability relationships (Byrd & Zhang, 2019).…”

“…CAT is an important theoretical framework for interability communication, in that it addresses the desire to adapt communication while simultaneously paying attention to communication that indicates too much, too little, or inappropriate accommodation to the individual’s disability (Duggan, Robinson, & Thompson, 2012). Prior intergroup contact research focused on type, quantity, and quality (e.g., positive and negative) of contact as independent variables (Imamura et al, 2012). In the current study, communication accommodation is introduced as an independent variable, representing a focus on communication in addition to measuring the type of contact.…”

“…In line with Imamura et al (2011), the current study examines the mediating role of relational solidarity. Relational solidarity refers to “how one person is connected with another person, depending primarily on the degree of relational satisfaction and closeness, liking, commonality, and trust in a relationship” (Imamura et al, 2012, p. 588).…”

Intergroup Anxiety and Willingness to Accommodate: Exploring the Effects of Accent Stereotyping and Social Attraction

“…). This three-item scale (M = 5.31, SD = 1.18; α = .95), adapted from Imamura et al (2012), measured participants' willingness to engage the speaker in communication (e.g., "How willing are you to initiate conversation with the speaker? ").…”

“…A survey study by Imamura et al (2011) found that linguistic competency (i.e., perceived comfort with speaking, listening, writing, and reading in English) was a significant predictor of Japanese students' perceived relationship satisfaction with their most frequent American contact. In addition, Imamura et al (2012) found that communication accommodation, such as tolerance for Japanese international students' implicit communication styles in nonnative English, was positively associated with American participants' perceptions of relational solidarity with and affective, behavioral, and cognitive attitudes toward Japanese. Furthermore, perceived English proficiency of a Chinese international student was positively associated with U.S. participants' perceptions of the Chinese student's identification with the U.S. culture, which subsequently played a critical role in reducing communication anxiety and improving attitudes toward Chinese (Imamura, Ruble, & Zhang, 2016).…”