Examination of the Contact Hypothesis : Intercultural Attitudes among Japanese Company-wives in England

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Abstract

The goal of this study was to examine the relative importance of Japanese company-wives' contact with the host people along with other background variables, in predicting their thoughts about living in the UK, perceptions toward the host society and its people, and cross-cultural awareness (intercultural attitudes). A total of 137 company-wives returned the questionnaires. The results revealed that degree of intimacy and frequency (not the opportunity) of contact had a moderate association with intercultural attitudes. However, the results from regression analyses suggest that each of the contact variables with other background variables together accounted for a relatively low proportion of variance in intercultural attitudes. It might be concluded that changing attitudes and beliefs by increasing cross-cultural contact is no short-term matter, and can be achieved to a certain degree but not overwhelmingly so.

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