Friendship: The Core Value for Sixth Graders Engaged in Interethnic Encounters

Abstract

When students from different ethnic backgrounds interact in multicultural schools, misunderstandings can arise, in part due to the uncertainties present in encounters between people from different backgrounds. The Anxiety/Uncertainty Management Theory (Gudykunst, 1995) provides a basis for explaining the factors influencing interethnic experiences. This study identifies experiences students report as promoting positive interethnic relationships and those which negatively impact interethnic relationships. Participants were 906 sixth graders in 12 elementary schools in a large, ethnically diverse school district. Each student described a positive and negative interethnic experience. Responses were content analyzed. The results were 8 categories for positive responses and 11 categories for negative responses. This paper identifies and describes these categories and discusses friendship development as a means of managing uncertainty and anxiety.