Interruption in Women's Conversations: The Effects of Context in Ethnic Majority and Minority Group Interactions

The present study explored how the conversation dynamics of women from ethnic majority and minority groups varied in different conversational contexts. Sixty undergraduate students (mean age 19.5 years) engaged in unstructured, introductory talk in pairs and then discussed how they should rank a list of possible improvements to a university campus. Minority group women used more positive interruptions in both settings, and in introductory talk there was less positive interruption in cross ethnic than same ethnic pairs. Majority group women used a similar pattern of interruptions in introductory and task discussion. However, in task discussion, minority group women used less positive and more negative interruptions when talking with another minority group woman, and more positive and fewer negative interruptions when talking with a majority group woman. These findings suggest that minority group women modify their interaction styles depending on the type of conversation and the ethnicity of their partner.