A Longitudinal Study of Interethnic Contact in Germany

Borja Martinovic, Utrecht University
Frank van Tubergen, Utrecht University
Ineke Maas, Utrecht University

Contrary to previous research on interethnic contact, which was of static nature, this article provides a dynamic analysis. The aim is to describe and explain individuals’ changes in interethnic contact over time by considering relevant time-constant and time-varying characteristics. We investigate the effects of these characteristics measured at time one on the change in interethnic contact between time one and time two. In other words, we control for previous contact when explaining later contact, thereby providing better estimates of causal relationships. A theory of preferences, opportunities and third parties is used for identifying potential predictors of interethnic contact. The hypotheses are tested with the data from the large German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), which comprises a representative sample of Turkish, ex-Yugoslav, Greek, Italian and Spanish immigrants in Germany. We compare our improved longitudinal findings with those from the traditional static research.