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Roommate Conflict is a very common issue on any college campus. Each
individual has their own political, spiritual, and even social beliefs that they adhere to.
However, when individuals are placed within small dorm rooms and become roommates;
these beliefs and characteristics can and will come into conflict. The article, Interracial
Roommate Interactions: Negotiating Daily Interactions, by Thomas E. Trail, J. Nicole
Shelton, and Tessa V. West, examines how interracial roommates interact with one
another. It also compares the interactions of interracial roommates to the interactions of
same race roommates. The article was published was originally published online on
March 12, 2009 with in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The website it
was published on is Sage Journals online.
The objective/goal of the article was to determine how interracial roommates
differ from same race roommates. Although the article focuses on how interracial
roommates act towards one another, it also evaluates how same race, same sex, and even
cross-sex roommates deal with each other. The articles objective is stated in the
following quote “In the present research, we attempt to highlight the richness of
interracial interactions as they unfold with the same person across time in a naturally
occurring setting.” The article is comprised of two goals. The first of these goals was “to
examine the extent to which people’s emotions, intimacy levels, and desires to engage in
future interactions are influenced by their partners’ interpersonal behaviors during daily
interracial interactions.” The second goal of the article was “to investigate the extent to
which people’s emotions, intimacy levels, desire to engage in future interactions with
their partners and interpersonal behaviors fluctuate or remain stable across daily
interracial compared to interracial interactions.”
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Literature Review
There are several elements of relevant literature presented throughout the article.
In order to better understand the purpose of the interactions of interracial roommates, the
article first discusses exactly what interpersonal behaviors and interactions mean. The
article states that interpersonal behaviors convey social meaning within interaction.
Through behaviors, intimate relationships can be created. In order for these intimate
relationships to develop, the positive interpersonal behaviors and interactions of
roommates must take place. The article states that “intimacy is enhanced when people
self-disclose personal information, behave in a supportive and caring manner, are
responsive to their partners (often by appearing interested and engaged), and show
general levels of warmth and affection.” Non-verbal communication can play just as
important or if not greater role that direct verbal communication. Non-verbal
communication plays a key role in creating and maintaining intimate interactions. The
article states “that high levels of positive involvement behaviors, such as smiling, mutual
gaze, and forward lean, are associated with outcomes such as mutual partner liking,
positive emotion, and desire to engage in future interactions.” However, the article goes
on to state that large physical distance, eye contact avoidance, and speech disfluencies are
behaviors that may create friction or a divide between individuals. These behaviors are
usually associated with dislike and can actually cause the end of interaction between two
people or even the termination of a relationship.
It is important to understand the value of behaviors when evaluating interracial
roommate living situations. The article states that “Behaviors have been found to be
especially crucial when people are becoming acquainted with out-group members.” Out-
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group members represent individuals that may not be of the same ethnicity, social class,
or race as an individual is used to. The article states that it is critical to understand nonverbal and verbal communication between individuals in order to understand exactly why
interactions “are apt to go awry”. Research found that White individuals base positive
interpersonal interactions on verbal communication. In the same situation, Black
individuals seem to place more positive interpersonal interactions on non-verbal
communications. In other words, white individuals determine whether interactions with
other individuals (of any race) are going well based upon the verbal communication
being presented during a conversation. However, black individuals determine whether
interactions with other individuals (of any race) are going well based mostly upon the
non-verbal communication being presented during a conversation.
The article’s main area of study involved the idea of intimacy building and
intimacy distancing behaviors. Intimacy building behaviors are positive social
interaction behaviors that increase/build the emotional trust/intimacy and strength of a
relationship between two interracial roommates. Intimacy distancing behaviors are
negative social interaction behaviors that separate or decrease the emotional
trust/intimacy and weaken the strength of a relationship between two interracial
roommates.
The article states that positive interactions between interracial roommates may
carry with them unintentional prejudices that can harm the relationship. For example, a
white roommate may not realize that he is being offensive with his non-verbal
communication to his black roommate. These unintentional prejudices can create more
damage than blatant negative interactions. Ignorance on the part of the party committing
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the prejudice is half the reason why the situation happens. One party may feel too
comfortable with his interracial roommate, that he/she may not be aware of the damage
they are creating. It is necessary for both parties to be aware of each roommate’s
personal beliefs and emotions.
The article then goes on to discuss “Interracial Interactions Across Time.” In this
portion of the article, evidence of how different races and cultures have treated each other
ever since they first came into contact. The article states that “People are more interested
in establishing relationships with racial in-group than out-group members.” It also goes
on to list specific examples where this occurs. It states that Whites and ethnic minorities
avoid contact with one another as often as they can. Ironically, neither group is willing to
take responsibility for their avoidance of the other person. Both of these groups will
actually blame their avoidance on the lack of interest presented by the other person. The
text goes on to state that “When interracial interactions do occur, they tend to be more
stressful compared to intraracial interactions.” The term “intraracial” refers to
individuals that come from the same ethnic or cultural background. The article also
refers to “intraracial interactions” as “in-group” members. In-group members represent
members of the same ethnicity, similar to the definition of intraracial. Out-group
members seem to make both white and ethnic minorities feel uncomfortable. Whites and
ethnic minorities both feel a more negative affect when interacting with an individual that
is not from their ethnicity. In addition, both white and ethnic minorities feel a lack of
intimacy while interacting with out-group members. As a result, both groups tend to act
more negatively towards out-group members. These negative actions towards out-group
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members include making degrading judgments and disrespectful behaviors during
interaction.
However, individuals will act much differently if they will be seeing this person
again. Actions and judgments will change dramatically if the individuals find out that
they will be living with each other. The article states that human beings will act in more
positive interpersonal communication with their potential interracial roommate in order to
create a harmonious relationship. In other words, individuals do their best to find
common ground and build a stable and tolerable relationship from there. Very rarely will
someone be intentionally rude to the person they are going to be living in close quarters
with. However, the article states that interracial interactions may take a lot of time and
patience. It states “In Interracial interactions, however, engaging in intimacy-building
behaviors may require effort and conscious attention. Given that sustaining such effort
over time may be psychologically exhausting, engaging in intimacy-building behaviors I
apt to subside over time because people cannot maintain energy.” Because of the amount
of effort it takes to maintain an interracial harmonious relationship, many individuals will
falter and eventually lose their cool with their roommates. However, this is not much
different than any other roommate situation. Whether interracial or not, everyone at
some point can become irritate with their roommate.
Method of Data Collection
The Article began by defining who the participants of the experiment were going
to be. Seventy-nine same sex freshman roommate pairs at a university on the East Coast
of the United States participated in the study for fifty dollars and a chance to win several
monetary prizes in a lottery drawing. Of the seventy nine participants, 28 where cross-
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race (White-ethnic minority), 51 were same-race (40 White-White & 11 ethnic minority –
ethnic minority), and 45 of the participants were female while the remaining 34 were
male. These roommates had been randomly assigned by the university housing
authorities.
The next step was establishing and initializing the procedure that the researchers
were going to use. The researchers recruited students to participate in a study examining
freshman roommates and their college experiences. This recruitment took place during
the first week of the school year. Students were informed that it was important, but not
essential that their roommates participated in the study. Participants whose roommates
did not participate in the study were excluded from the data analyses for the article. The
participants that agreed to the study were asked to attend an orientation session. During
the orientation session the participants completed a questionnaire and then were to
take/keep a brief diary questionnaire that they would complete over the next 15 days.
The first questionnaire that the participants, filled out during the orientation, included
demographic questions and other questions that were not relevant to the overall research
questions provided in the article. The participants were given specific instructions on
how to fill out the daily diary questionnaire. Participants would receive an e-mail with a
URL for the diary Web page at the end of each day everyday for 15 days. Individuals
that did not complete the questionnaire by 8 am the next morning were sent an automatic
email reminding them to fill complete the diary. Each individual complete the diary for
15 days. After the 15 days was over, the participants were asked to come to one last postdiary session. During this session participants completed a final questionnaire. Upon
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completion of the questionnaire the students were informed of the true purpose of the
study and received payment for their cooperation and willingness to participate.
Within the questionnaires completed participants were asked to rate (on a scale 1
to 7) the extent to which they experienced 10 positive emotions and 8 negative emotions
during their interaction with their roommates. The researchers then combined the results
of student ratings to create an appropriate composite score. For positive scores
(alpha=.95) and for negative scores (alpha = .88).
In order to make accurate perceptions of how each individual’s relationship was
with their roommate; the researchers had the participants complete several
questionnaires. The researchers had the participants rate (on scale of 1 to 7) intimacy
levels through statements like “I felt close to my roommate today” and “I liked my
roommate today. Participants then were asked (on a scale of 1 to 7) how often they
wished they had a different roommate today. In this situation 1 represented “not at all”
and 7 represented “a great deal”. On the opposite end of the spectrum, roommates were
then asked to rate (on a scale of 1 to 7) “If I had to decide today, I would live with my
roommate again next year.” In this situation 1 meant “strongly disagree” and 7 meant
“strongly agree”.
Researchers then evaluated the behaviors that participants seem to show through
the questionnaires. Through the questionnaires, participants indicated whether they
believed their roommates behaved in a positive intimacy-building way or in a negativeintimacy building way during each day. For positive intimacy building behaviors,
participants indicated how often their roommate smiled, talked, appeared engaged and
interested, were pleasant, were friendly, were warm, and whether they had an easy time
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contributing to the conversation for each day. For the negative intimacy-building
behaviors, participants indicated how often their roommates fidgeted around, avoided eye
contact, concealed their true opinions, were cruel, and were unlikable during interactions
for each day.
The researchers analysis strategy is rather complex and for purposes of this paper
will be condensed. The researcher’s data contained three types of roommate dyads:
Whites with White roommates, minorities with minority, and whites with minority
roommates. The researchers also used a strategy that examined each of the three dyads
on three levels. These three levels were level of the respondent, the level of the
respondent’s roommate, and finally the interaction between the respondent and roommate
states. From here the researchers used a series of with distinguishable and
indistinguishable Dyadic data collected. Positive emotions, negative emotions, intimacy,
desire to live with roommate again, positive behaviors, and negative behaviors were the
six factors used to develop the curve graphs.
Results
The researchers methods for collecting data were rather complex, but they were
able to produce very interesting results. The results revealed that Whites and ethnic
minorities randomly assigned to live in mixed-race arrangements experience less positive
emotions and intimacy toward their roommates than do whites and ethnic minorities
assigned to live in same-race arrangements. The researchers also found that Whites and
ethnic minorities in mixed-race living arrangements show less intimacy-building but
more intimacy-distancing behaviors toward their roommates compared to those in samerace arrangements. The findings also showed that White’s and ethnic minorities’ positive
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emotions and intimacy-building behaviors change across time, but this varies by their
race or minority status.
In conclusion, the researchers’ initial assumption that Whites would have the most
difficulty dealing with an interracial roommate seemed to be somewhat accurate. The
researchers’ initial hypothesis was that Whites and Minorities would feel more
comfortable rooming with another person of their race than opposed to someone of a
different ethnicity. Through their research they were able to verify that this was true.
The results showed that roommates composed of two White members had more positive
emotion and more intimacy-building relationship. The same goes for minorities that
were assigned to live together. However, when Whites and Minorities were randomly
assigned to live together, greater negative emotions took place along with intimacydistancing behavior. The researchers were surprised to find that Whites and Latinos got
along fairly well for a period of time. The positive emotion and intimacy building
behaviors between both increased for the first half of time that the two races lived
together. However, over time, the results showed that Whites began to become
uncomfortable with the situation and the intimacy building behaviors began to turn to
intimacy distancing behaviors and negative emotions. Despite an individual’s race, being
forced to room with anyone other than family for the first time can be extremely difficult.
Analysis of Study
The article, Interracial Roommate Relationships: Negotiating Daily Interactions
was very well done. The researchers did many things well. They were extremely
organized and knew exactly what they were looking for when they started their
experiment. The selected a topic and method of analysis that allowed for them to find
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rather accurate results. The way that performed the study was very effective and even
clever. It did a good job identifying positive behaviors like smiling, intent listening, and
leaning forward and negative behaviors as personal distance, lack of interest, and lack of
eye contact. The researchers seemed to believe that these positive (intimacy building
behaviors) and negative (intimacy distancing behaviors) were the cause for most
roommate conflicts.
However, there were several areas where the researchers could have done better.
The overall study was rather racist. We understood that they were trying to examine
whether or not interracial roommates caused problems, but at the same time it seemed
like the data could have varied greatly, even though it did not. The reason for this
statement is because coming to any university for the first time can be intimidating to
anyone. And living with a randomly assigned roommate can be even more intimidating.
Freshman may not have been the best group of students to perform the study on. As a
freshman, students are more concerned with whether their roommate is going to be cool
than whether he/she is Black, Chinese, or Latino. Freshman should also be more
concerned with finding their classes than with the color of their roommate’s skin. The
article seemed to be saying that conflict arose from individual’s ethnicity rather than from
a person’s behavior. This studied seemed to confirm that racism occurs during roommate
interaction and we are not sure that we completely agree with their findings.
Most of our confusion came from the data collection portion of the article. The
researchers used some pretty crazy ways of finding their results. I did my best to follow
along but at some point it because rather confusing. There were a lot of numbers thrown
into the mix from how they calculated the results from the questionnaires they had given
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to the students. The researchers than created a formula to total the numbers from their
questionnaires and were able to get results that they understood. From these results they
created a series of charts and graphs that were extremely confusing. They looked like an
ink blot test to be completely honest. Other than the researcher’s findings, the rest of the
article was fairly easy to understand.
Chris and I learned a variety of interesting facts from this article. We both agreed
that we liked the terms that the article used such as intimacy-building and intimacydistancing behavior. Intimacy building behaviors include such non-verbal cues as
smiling, good eye contact, and leaning forward when someone is talking to you.
Intimacy distancing behaviors include lack of eye contact, distance from person speaking,
and noticeable lack of attention. Chris and I both agreed that when a person engages us
using intimacy building behaviors, we feel closer to that person and able to understand
what they are saying and where they are coming from. However, we both agree that
when a person express intimacy distancing behaviors to either of us, we feel
unappreciated by that person and like they don’t want to have anything to do with us.
Another interesting that we learned is that White individuals tend to develop an opinion
about someone and communicate strongly through verbal communication. Individuals
who are Black tend to communicate and form opinions of someone mostly through nonverbal communication. It was also interesting that in the article, most roommates seemed
to be uncomfortable living with individuals of a different ethnicity. However, I do not
believe that an individual’s ethnicity plays into the conflicts that happen between
roommates. Roommate conflict occurs from situations like a roommate who only
showers once a week, and not from a roommate’s skin color.
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