Interpersonalizing cultural difference: A grounded theory of the process of interracial friendship development and sustainment among college students.

HUDSON, TARA DAWN.Interpersonalizing Cultural Difference: A Grounded Theory of the Process of Interracial Friendship Development and Sustainment among College Students.(Under the direction of Dr. Alyssa Rockenbach).Colleges and universities today must provide their students not only with academic knowledge, but also with "21st century" intercultural skills-such as multicultural competence, appreciation for pluralism, reduction in prejudice, and ability to take others' perspectives-that are essential for college graduates' post-graduation participation as citizens, employees, and leaders in our pluralistic society.Students' diversity experiences in college are critical for their attainment of these outcomes.Diverse peer interactions are a particularly important diversity experience; they contribute to students' development of intercultural understanding and appreciation for pluralism.Intercultural friendships are a particularly "substantial and meaningful" (Hurtado, 2007, p. 190) form of intercultural interaction because students presumably invest the greatest time, energy, and emotional resources in their close friends, and friendship involves multiple interactions over a long period of time, leading to deeper learning and development than more casual forms of interaction.Furthermore, because of the sustained relational investment it involves, intercultural friendship is an effective mechanism of prejudice reduction, and friendships across race may also mediate the achievement of critical diversity-related learning outcomes.Yet while the weight of the empirical evidence clearly documents the educational gains that result from diverse campuses through the mechanism of diverse peer interactions and friendships, few studies have examined the process by which these interactions occur, and none have elucidated how colleges and universities can intentionally facilitate and support these interactions to ensure students' achievement of diversity-related learning outcomes.This study addressed this gap in our scholarly and practical knowledge by generating a substantive theory of the process by which college students develop and sustain interracial friendships, using the constructivist grounded theory method of inquiry.Twenty-one students from a large, public research university in the Southeastern U.S. participated in interviews and completed solicited journals regarding their experiences with a friend of another race or ethnicity who is a fellow student at their university.The process by which college students develop and sustain interracial friendships is a process of Interpersonalizing Cultural Difference; this represents the core category of the substantive theory.Interpersonalizing Cultural Difference is composed of four sub-processes, which are the central processes in which college students engage to develop and sustain their interracial friendships.These four central processes are (1) Cultivating Trust and Establishing a "Silent Contract," (2) Embracing Similarity without Forgetting Difference, (3) Exploring Other Cultures, and (4) Bridging Difference to Connect.In addition, although this study was designed to focus on elucidating processes rather than outcomes, the open and inductive nature of grounded theory data generation and analysis enabled identification of two outcomes of interracial friendship: always being there through my ups and downs, victories and frustrations during these past seven years of graduate school.You kept me from starving and living and squalor, you picked up all the balls I dropped, you planned amazing vacations for us, you kept me sane, you understood when I had to work during holiday breaks, you listened to my ideas, and you believed in me at every moment.And of course, I have to thank the second most important "person" in my life: my sweet little guy, Tyler.Doing your best to keep me from working and being offended when I did was your peculiarly feline way of supporting me.I love you so much, and I look forward to spending much more time giving you cuddles and serving your needs (inadequately) going forward.My mom, Sharon Hudson, has encouraged me throughout this journey as well as through all of my educational journeys.You've always shown interest in my work and reminded me to celebrate my victories big and small, and I am so thankful for your unwavering support over the years.You also deserve special commendation for being the only person outside of my committee who has read my entire proposal.My participants deserve a special acknowledgment and thank you, because without them, this research would not have been possible.I am so