Does Contact with Foreigners Reduce Worries about Immigration? A Longitudinal Analysis in Germany

2021/07/28 by Samir Khalil, Elias Naumann
Social Sciences · #Migration and Labor Dynamics #Migration, Refugees, and Integration #Social and Intergroup Psychology

paper · doi:10.1093/esr/jcab039

openalex publication_date 2021/07/28 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

Abstract This article examines how contact with perceived foreigners affects natives’ attitudes towards immigration. Using six waves of individual level panel data from Germany (2007–2017), we find that natives’ reported mutual visits with foreigners reduce worries about immigration. However, the results do not imply an increase in this effect in the course of repeated contact. Our analyses also consider the possibility that the effect of out-group contact on attitudes is heterogeneous across social groups. Our results show that contact effects are not restricted to younger age groups but also hold for older age groups. Surprisingly, there are stronger reductions in worries among right-leaning compared to left-leaning individuals.

Citations

• The Contact Caveat
• Aging, Cohorts, and the Stability of Sociopolitical Orientations Over the Life Span
• A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory.
• How does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Meta‐analytic tests of three mediators
• The case for motivated reasoning.
• Does Exposure to the Refugee Crisis Make Natives More Hostile?
• A Rising Tide? The Salience of Immigration and the Rise of Anti‐Immigration Political Parties in Western Europe
• Building social cohesion between Christians and Muslims through soccer in post-ISIS Iraq
• Advances In Experimental Social Psychology

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