%0 Journal Article
%T Improving Refugee Well
%A Linda K. Tip
%A Linda Morrice
%A Matthew J. Easterbrook
%A Michael Collyer
%A Rupert Brown
%J Social Psychological and Personality Science
%@ 1948-5514
%D 2019
%R 10.1177/1948550617752062
%X 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
%K intergroup contact
%K well-being
%K language
%K refugees
%K intergroup relations
%U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1948550617752062