Previous research has demonstrated that intergroup relations and contact between international students and host communities may be challenging. While international students sometimes experience discrimination on- or off-campus, international students themselves may also form negative attitudes toward host community members based on imagined or real experiences with them. Therefore, to address this issue, this dissertation set out to investigate variables that may lead to potentially prejudicial attitudes between international students and host community members and to examine the link between such attitudes and the quantity and quality of intergroup contact.
Study 1 explored potential factors that inform francophone residents’ attitudes toward international students in English-medium universities in Montréal and examined the link between their quality and quantity of contact and their attitudes and perceived threat. First, between-group comparisons revealed similarly positive attitudes toward and relatively low levels of perceived threat from international students, except for linguistic threat, which was significantly higher for non-student francophones. Non-student francophones also reported considerably less frequent and lower quality of contact with international students. Second, while symbolic threat was the common predictor of attitudes for both student and non-student francophones, intergroup anxiety also emerged as a significant predictor of student francophones’ attitudes toward international students. Third, contact quality yielded significant associations with both attitudes (positive) and all types of perceived threat (negative except for stereotypes), whereas contact quantity was linked with intergroup anxiety only for student francophones.
Study 2 essentially replicated Study 1 to provide the international student perspective regarding intergroup attitudes and contact. International students reported similarly low perceived threat from (except for linguistic threat) as well as comparably high quality of contact with student and non-student francophones. However, they indicated significantly more favourable attitudes and more frequent contact with non-student francophones. While intergroup anxiety was the predictor of attitudes toward student francophones, stereotypes predicted their attitudes toward non-student francophones. Contact quality yielded positive links with attitudes and negative associations with all perceived threats, except for stereotypes. Contact quantity, on the other hand, was associated with intergroup anxiety, linguistic threat, and stereotypes only for non-student francophones
