Contact Hypothesis: Intergroup Friendships Among Graduate Students of Color

• In Event: 41.084 - Roundtable Session 16
  In Roundtable Session: 41.084-10 - Opportunity and Challenge for Students of Color and Indigenous Students in Higher Education

Abstract

This paper provides a qualitative analysis of Contact Hypothesis to examine intergroup friendships and peer support networks among graduate students of color at a predominantly White research university. The purpose of this study is to: (1) assess the relevance of Allport’s four facilitating criteria when examining contact across groups of color navigating a White-dominated context; (2) examine how graduate students of color make friends; (3) determine the roles and functions of those friendships in students’ graduate school experience; and (4) examine the interaction between institutional policies and practices with the lived experiences of graduate students of color.

Author

• Saejin Kwak, University of Washington - Seattle