Intergroup Contacts, Neighborhood Diversity, and Community Trust: the Asymmetrical Impact of Negative and Positive Experiences

Intergroup contacts can occur in many different places but are often studied only limited to a specific context. This study contributes with data that taps intergroup contacts that occur in both the private and the public sphere, using data from a large-scale survey directed towards individuals nested within 36 different municipalities and over 1,250 different neighborhoods with varying levels of visible minorities. The results also showed that just using the mere frequency of intergroup contacts is not sufficient to understand its association with community trust. Intergroup contacts that occurred in the neighborhood and in civil society organizations had a statistically significant association with community trust, while intergroup contacts that occurred in schools/workplaces and at home did not. The results also indicated that the neighborhood context moderated the impact of intergroup contacts. Whether contacts generated negative experiences mattered. Negative experiences mattered more for community trust especially for those who lived in diverse neighborhoods. The results indicated an asymmetry between the importance of positive and negative experiences of intergroup contacts for community trust.

Automated summary

This study uses large-scale survey data to investigate the impact of intergroup contacts in both the private and public sphere on community trust. The results suggest that considering the frequency of intergroup contacts alone is not sufficient to understand its association with community trust, while contacts occurring in the neighborhood and in civil society organizations have a significant association with community trust.