Intercultural relations and adaptation in Canada: The role of contact and discrimination

April 20, 2021In Insight

John W. Berry (Queen’s University, Canada, and National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russian Federation), and Dmitry Grigoryev (National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russian Federation). John Berry is also a Fellow of the Environics Institute. Read the full report.

In this report, we seek to explain how and why intergroup contact works to improve intergroup relations, using a representative sample that included racialized and non-racialized individuals in Canada. Our findings provide support for the contact hypothesis, using the three individual measures of a positive contact. In addition to showing support for the usual relationship between this contact and mutual acceptance (intercultural adaptation), we also show that this contact is positively related to well-being (psychological adaptation). That is, contact promotes both more harmonious relations between groups, and also promotes higher levels of psychological well-being.

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