A new agenda for examining interethnic interactions amongst youth in diverse settings

Social psychological research on youth intergroup relations has primarily examined interactions between dichotomous groups through cross-sectional and self-report measures in single contexts. Such traditional approaches, however, are unable to capture the dynamic nature of intergroup relations for youth growing up in multicultural societies. In this chapter, the authors briefly review the existing literature on youth interethnic interactions. They next discuss some theoretical and methodological limitations of this research. They then review the handful of studies focused on youths’ behaviour in diverse contexts, as well as emerging research examining youth and behavioural trajectories when moving beyond the dichotomies of Black and White. They end the chapter by proposing a new research agenda which brings youth intergroup relations into context and extends theoretical boundaries by drawing on a range of innovative methods. They argue this broader approach is needed if we are to truly understand the implications of growing ethnic diversity for youth.