Ethnicity as a mediator of a social skill

Abstract

The verbal and nonverbal behavior of 45 Japanese- American and Caucasian-American sixth-grade boys, about one-half of whom had undergone social skill training, were compared in a "resisting peer pressure" roleplay situation. Findings suggest that Japanese-Americans behave differently depending upon the ethnicity of the roleplaying partner. Japanese-Americans are significantly more likely to use direct verbal behavior with subjects from their own ethnic group and exhibit a tendency to use indirect behavior with Caucasian-American partners. It was suggested that this finding may be analogous to previous research showing that friendship, thus candor, is more likely to occur with same-race peers. Social skill training was found to significantly increase direct behavior and decrease indirect behavior. However, training was found also to increase the use of a relaxed posture. An explanation of this finding was that the behavioral coding system may not have included a posture compatible with direct verbal behavior. Implications for future study are discussed.