Cross-border mobility has long been seen as a mechanism to promote a collective political identity; however, the results of empirical studies on young people have been inconsistent. The present work extends previous research on the effect of cross-border mobility by considering the effect of cross-border friendships drawing on the intergroup contact theory of Allport as well as the common ingroup identity model of Gaertner and Dovidio. This longitudinal study examines the role of cross-border friendships in the development of a sense of transnational political community that transcends national boundaries, i.e. the European Union. The results rely on a two-wave sample of 1294 Italian adolescents and young adults. Cross-border friendships significantly predicted identification as European, attitudes toward the European Union, political beliefs about the European Union, trust in the European Union, (negatively) political alienation, and political participation at the European level and intention to vote at the next European Parliament elections, even after including baseline levels of outcomes as well as relevant socio-demographic factors (i.e. gender, age, majority/minority status, educational qualification, parents’ education level, family income, and socioeconomic status) in the model.
AjzenI (2005) Attitudes, Personality, and Behavior.
Maidenhead, England:
Open University Press.
2.
AllportGW (1954) The Nature of Prejudice,
Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley.
3.
Amichai-HamburgerYKingsburyMSchneiderBH (2013)
Friendship: An old concept with a new meaning?Computers in Human Behavior29(1): 33–39.
4.
AntheunisMLValkenburgPMPeterJ (2012)
The quality of online, offline, and mixed-mode friendships among users of a social networking site. Cyberpsychology: Journal of Psychosocial Research on Cyberspace6(3): Article 6.
5.
BarrettMZaniB (2015) Political and Civic Engagement. Multidisciplinary Perspectives.
London:
Routledge.
6.
BoomgaardenHGSchuckARTElenbaasM, et al. (2011)
Mapping EU attitudes: Conceptual and empirical dimensions of Euroscepticism and EU support.European Union Politics12(2): 241–266.
7.
BornemanJFowlerN (1997)
Europeanization.Annual Review of Anthropology26(1): 487–514.
8.
CapozzaDTrifilettiEVezzaliL, et al. (2013)
Can intergroup contact improve humanity attributions?International Journal of Psychology48(4): 527–541.
9.
CarpianoRM (2007)
Neighborhood social capital and adult health: An empirical test of a Bourdieu-based model.Health & Place13(3): 639–655.
10.
ChanDKSChengGHL (2004)
A comparison of offline and online friendship qualities at different stages of relationship development.Journal of Social and Personal Relationships21(3): 305–320.
11.
CicognaniEZaniB (2015) Social and psychological factors influencing political and civic participation: A psychosocial perspective. In: BarrettMZaniB (eds) Political and Civic Engagement: Multidisciplinary Perspectives.
New York:
Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group, pp.124–145.
12.
CohenJ (1992)
A power primer.Psychological Bulletin112(1): 155–159.
13.
CramL (2012)
Does the EU need a navel? Implicit and explicit identification with the European Union.JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies50(1): 71–86.
14.
DahlVAmnåEBanajiS, et al. (2018)
Apathy or alienation? Political passivity among youths across eight European Union countries.European Journal of Developmental Psychology15(3): 284–301.
15.
de VreeseCHAzroutRBoomgaardenHG (2019) One size fits all? Testing the dimensional structure of EU attitudes in 21 countries. International Journal of Public Opinion Research 31(2): 195--219.
16.
DeutschK (1953) Nationalism and Social Communication.
Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press.
17.
European Commission (2015) Erasmus Facts, Figures & Trends. The European Union Support for Student and Staff Exchanges and University Cooperation in 2012–2013.
Luxembourg:
Publications Office of the European Union.
18.
Eurostat (2015) Being Young in Europe Today – Digital World.
19.
FavellAGuiraudonV (2009)
The sociology of the European Union: An agenda.European Union Politics10(4): 550–576.
20.
FavellARecchiEKuhnT, et al. (2011) The Europeanisation of Everyday Life: Cross-border Practices and Transnational Identifications among EU and Third-Country Citizens. EUCROSS Working Paper #1. Chieti: Università di Chieti-Pescara.
21.
FernándezJJEigmüllerMBörnerS (2016)
Domestic transnationalism and the formation of pro-European sentiments.European Union Politics17(3): 457–481.
22.
FerrieJEMartikainenPShipleyMJ, et al. (2005)
Self-reported economic difficulties and coronary events in men: evidence from the Whitehall II study.International Journal of Epidemiology34(3): 640–648.
23.
FligsteinN (2008) Euro-Clash: The EU, European Identity, and the Future of Europe.
Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
24.
FuchsDKlingemannH-D (2011) Cultural Diversity, European Identity and the Legitimacy of the EU.
Cheltenham, UK:
Edward Elgar Publishing.
25.
GaertnerSLDovidioJF (2000) Reducing Intergroup Bias: The Common Ingroup Identity Model.
Philadelphia, PA:
Psychology Press.
26.
GrafSPaoliniS (2017) Investigating positive and negative intergroup contact: rectifying a long-standing positivity bias in the literature. In: VezzaliLStathiS (eds) Intergroup Contact Theory: Recent Developments Future Directions.
New York, NY:
Routledge, pp.92–113.
27.
GrafSPaoliniSRubinM (2018) Does intimacy counteract or amplify the detrimental effects of negative intergroup contact on attitudes? Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. Epub ahead of print 30 May 2018. DOI: 10.1177/1368430218767026.
28.
GreeneS (2002)
The social-psychological measurement of partisanship. Political Behavior24(3): 171–197.
29.
GreeneS (2004)
Social identity theory and party identification.Social Science Quarterly85(1): 136–153.
30.
HayesAFCaiL (2007)
Using heteroskedasticity-consistent standard error estimators in OLS regression: An introduction and software implementation.Behavior Research Methods39(4): 709–722.
31.
HennMFoardN (2012)
Young people, political participation and trust in Britain.Parliamentary Affairs65(1): 47–67.
32.
HerekGMCapitanioJP (1999)
AIDS stigma and sexual prejudice.American Behavioral Scientist42(7): 1130–1147.
33.
HoffmanMRLambertWEPeckEG, et al. (2010)
Bicycle commuter injury prevention: It is time to focus on the environment.Journal of Trauma69(5): 1112–1117; discussion 1117–1119.
34.
HomelRBurnsAGoodnowJ (1987)
Parental social networks and child development.Journal of Social and Personal Relationships4(2): 159–177.
35.
HoogheMMarienS (2013)
A comparative analysis of the relation between political trust and forms of political participation in Europe.European Societies15(1): 131–152.
36.
HortonM (1996) Alienation and social identity: The bringing together of two theoretical paradigms. In: BreakwellGMLyonsE (eds) Changing European Identities: Social Psychological Analyses of Social Change.
Woburn, MA, US:
Butterworth-Heinemann, pp.429–441.
37.
HuddyL (2013) From group identity to political cohesion and commitment. In: HuddyLSearsDOLevyJS (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology. 2nd ed.
New York, NY:
Oxford University Press, pp.738--773.
38.
HuddyLKhatibN (2007)
American patriotism, national identity, and political involvement.American Journal of Political Science51(1): 63–77.
39.
ISTAT (2016). Italian Statistical Yearbook 2016.
40.
KrouwelAAbtsKJ (2007)
Varieties of Euroscepticism and Populist mobilization: Transforming attitudes from mild Euroscepticism to harsh Eurocynicism.Acta Politica42(2): 252–270.
41.
KuhnT (2012a)
Europa ante portas: Border residence, transnational interaction and Euroscepticism in Germany and France.European Union Politics13(1): 94–117.
42.
KuhnT (2012b)
Why educational exchange programmes miss their mark: Cross-border mobility, education and European identity.JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies50(6): 994–1010.
43.
LaaksonenELallukkaTLahelmaE, et al. (2011)
Economic difficulties and physical functioning in Finnish and British employees: contribution of social and behavioural factors.European Journal of Public Health21(4): 456–462.
44.
LlurdaEGallego-BalsàLBarahonaC, et al. (2016)
Erasmus student mobility and the construction of European citizenship.The Language Learning Journal44(3): 323–346.
45.
MacekJMackováAPavlopoulosV, et al. (2018)
Trust in alternative and professional media: The case of the youth news audiences in three European countries.European Journal of Developmental Psychology15(3): 340–354.
46.
MaioGRHaddockGVerplankenB (2014) The Psychology of Attitudes and Attitude Change.
Thousand Oaks:
Sage.
47.
MazzoniDAlbanesiCFerreiraPD, et al. (2018)
Cross-border mobility, European identity and participation among European adolescents and young adults.European Journal of Developmental Psychology15(3): 324–339.
48.
MedranoJDGutiérrezP (2001)
Nested identities: national and European identity in Spain.Ethnic and Racial Studies24(5): 753–778.
49.
MitchellK (2012)
Student mobility and European identity: Erasmus study as a civic experience?Journal of Contemporary European Research8(4): 490–518.
50.
MitchellK (2015)
Rethinking the ‘Erasmus Effect’ on European identity.JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies53(2): 330–348.
51.
MolariusAGranströmFFeldmanI, et al. (2012) Can financial insecurity and condescending treatment explain the higher prevalence of poor self-rated health in women than in men? A population-based cross-sectional study in Sweden. International Journal for Equity in Health 11(1): 50.
52.
Ole BorgenS (2001)
Identification as a trust-generating mechanism in cooperatives.Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics72(2): 209–228.
53.
PaoliniSHewstoneMCairnsE, et al. (2004)
Effects of direct and indirect cross-group friendships on judgments of Catholics and protestants in Northern Ireland: The mediating role of an anxiety-reduction mechanism.Personality andSocial Psychology Bulletin30(6): 770–786.
54.
ParkseppA (2017) Describing Russian-speaking Youngsters as Estonian Citizens.
Tartu:
Tartu Ülikool.
55.
PettigrewTF (1997)
Generalized intergroup contact effects on prejudice.Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin23(2): 173–185.
56.
PettigrewTFMeertensRW (1995)
Subtle and blatant prejudice in western Europe.European Journal of Social Psychology25(1): 57–75.
57.
PettigrewTFTroppLR (2006)
A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology90(5): 751–783.
58.
PettigrewTFTroppLR (2008)
How does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Meta-analytic tests of three mediators.European Journal of Social Psychology38(6): 922–934.
59.
PettigrewTFTroppLRWagnerU, et al. (2011)
Recent advances in intergroup contact theory.International Journal of Intercultural Relations35(3): 271–280.
60.
PodsakoffPMMacKenzieSBPodsakoffNP (2012)
Sources of method bias in social science research and recommendations on how to control it.Annual Review of Psychology63(1): 539–569.
61.
PontesAIHennMGriffithsMD (2019)
Youth political (dis)engagement and the need for citizenship education: Encouraging young people’s civic and political participation through the curriculum.Education, Citizenship and Social Justice 14(1): 3--21.
62.
PostelnicescuC (2016)
Europe’s new identity: The refugee crisis and the rise of nationalism.Europe's Journal of Psychology12(2): 203–209.
63.
RecchiE (2014)
Pathways to European identity formation: A tale of two models.Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research27(2): 119–133.
64.
RecchiE (2015) Mobile Europe. The Theory and Practice of Free Movement in the EU.
Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan.
65.
Rosenthal JA (1996) Qualitative descriptors of strength of association and effect size. Journal of Social Service Research 21(4): 37--59.
66.
SigalasE (2010)
Cross-border mobility and European identity: The effectiveness of intergroup contact during the ERASMUS year abroad.European Union Politics11(2): 241–265.
67.
SilevntionenKLahelmaELundbergO, et al. (2001)
Body height, birth cohort and social background in Finland and Sweden.European Journal of Public Health11(2): 124–129.
68.
SloamJ (2014)
‘The outraged young’: young Europeans, civic engagement and the new media in a time of crisis.Information, Communication & Society17(2): 217–231.
69.
StoeckelF (2016)
Contact and community: The role of social interactions for a political identity.Political Psychology37(3): 431–442.
70.
TajfelH (1982) Social Identity and Intergroup Relations.
Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press.
71.
TajfelHTurnerJC (1986) The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In: WorchelSAustinW (eds) Psychology of Intergroup Relations.
Chicago, IL:
Nelson-Hall, pp.7–24.
72.
TamTHewstoneMKenworthyJ, et al. (2009)
Intergroup trust in Northern Ireland. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin35(1): 45–59.
73.
TurnerJCHoggMAOakesPJ, et al. (1987) Rediscovering the Social Group: A Self-categorization Theory.
Oxford:
Blackwell.
74.
TurnerRNHewstoneMVociA, et al. (2007)
Reducing prejudice via direct and extended cross-group friendship.European Review of Social Psychology18: 212–255.
75.
Van MolC (2018)
Becoming Europeans: The relationship between student exchanges in higher education, European citizenship and a sense of European identity. Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research31(4): 449--463.
76.
Van MolCde ValkHAGvan WissenL (2015)
Falling in love with(in) Europe: European bi-national love relationships, European identification and transnational solidarity.European Union Politics16(4): 469–489.
77.
WagnerUvan DickRPettigrewTF, et al. (2003)
Ethnic prejudice in East and West Germany: The explanatory power of intergroup contact.Group Processes & Intergroup Relations6(1): 22–36.
78.
WilsonI (2011)
What should we expect of ‘Erasmus generations’?JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies49(5): 1113–1140.
79.
WuQXieBChouC-P, et al. (2010)
Understanding the effect of social capital on the depression of urban Chinese adolescents: An integrative framework.American Journal of Community Psychology45(1): 1–16.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
