Attitudes toward Americans: Exploring the influences of Japanese sojourners’ communication experiences with Americans

Abstract

Guided by the intergroup contact hypothesis, this study examined the relationships among three sets of variables: Japanese sojourners' ( N = 103) communication experiences, relational solidarity with their most frequent American contact, and attitude toward Americans in general. Regression analysis results indicated that communication accommodation and social support were positive predictors of relational solidarity, thus Hypothesis 1 was supported. Partially supporting Hypothesis 2, social support, relational solidarity, and communication accommodation were positive predictors of the affective, cognitive, and behavioral attitudes respectively. The third hypothesis predicting that typicality of the American individuals and perceived group salience would moderate the relationship between relational solidarity and the three dimensions of attitude was not supported. In addition, this study revealed that the participants' linguistic comfort was a positive predictor of the cognitive and behavioral dimensions of attitude. Results were discussed in light of the contact hypothesis and prior literature in intergroup and intercultural communication.