Shared Spaces: The How, When, and Why of Adolescent Intergroup Interactions

Across Europe, old and new ethnic tensions are dominating the headlines as political instability and levels of diversity continue to grow. With ethnically-motivated hate crimes on the rise, understanding how to ease ethnic tensions and promote social cohesion, particularly amongst young people as the next generation, is an urgent challenge.

The UK Government's Integrated Communities Strategy Green paper proposes that children should be prepared for life in modern Britain and be provided with the opportunity to engage in social mixing with those from different ethnic groups. Research from across the social sciences shows that social mixing, also referred to as intergroup interactions, is one of the best ways to promote more positive relations between ethnic groups.

The realities of everyday life, however, mean that individuals do not necessarily interact with those from different ethnic groups, even when they have the opportunity to do so. Despite this realisation, surprisingly little attention has been given to how intergroup interactions might be encouraged in the first place. This project addresses this gap in understanding by examining how, when, and why adolescents from different ethnic groups in Bradford and ethno-religious groups in Belfast engage in intergroup interactions.

Focusing on national social cohesion priorities as well as local agendas in Bradford and Belfast, this project will use an innovative combination of research methods that will inform a new theoretical understanding of the factors that influence whether or not adolescents engage in intergroup interactions. We are interested in addressing three key questions: (1) What are the antecedents of adolescent intergroup interactions?; (2) How do adolescent intergroup interactions manifest in everyday life spaces?; (3) How do everyday contexts facilitate and inhibit adolescent intergroup interactions?

To answer these questions, we use methods that are often absent from research on adolescent interactions including: (1) a three time-point survey amongst adolescents and their parents, (2) an app-based survey alongside GPS tracking, and (3) participatory photo-based methods coupled with focus group interviews. Together, these data sources allow us to study the dynamics of interactions and acquire new data to move this field forward.

This research is supported by Belfast City Council and will be implemented by academics from the University of Bristol and Queen's University Belfast in collaboration with representatives from Bradford City Council and consultants and Young Research Advisors from the National Children's Bureau, a leading charity that aims to improve the lives of young people and give them a voice to influence policy and practice. Our research findings will be made widely available to an interdisciplinary academic audience via conference presentations and publications in high-impact academic journals, and also to practitioners, the wider public, and policy-makers through popular science events, user-friendly summaries, policy roundtables, and a project website.

Given the timely nature of our research, which seeks to understand how we might best promote adolescent intergroup interactions in Belfast and Bradford, we anticipate that this proposed project will appeal widely to academics and lay-people, encouraging a wide uptake of our research findings lasting beyond the duration of the award.