Uncertainty reduction in Japanese‐American/Caucasian relationships in Hawaii

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine uncertainty reduction processes in interethnic relationships between Japanese and Caucasians in Hawaii. Multivariate analysis of covariance was employed to test the influence of ethnicity, sex, dyadic composition, stage of relationship, and ethnolinguistic identity (covariate) on self‐disclosure, interrogation, display of nonverbal affiliative expressiveness, shared networks, perceived similarity, and both low‐ and high‐context measures of attributional confidence. Results indicated that ethnicity, stage of relationship, and ethnolinguistic identity influenced the set of dependent variables. The findings suggest that ethnolinguistic identity helps explain those aspects of interethnic encounters that are intergroup based. The data further suggest that portions of uncertainty reduction theory are generalizable to interethnic encounters between Japanese and Caucasians in Hawaii. Based on the results, boundary conditions for selected aspects of the theory are discussed.