Supporting Ukrainian refugees: Examining intergroup contact, empathy and European identity in promoting helping behaviours

The escalation of the Russian–Ukrainian conflict has forcedmany Ukrainian people to leave their country seeking safetyand support. To date, more than 6 million of refugees havecrossed the borders into neighbouring countries. Nearly allEuropean countries were involved in refugee-hosting,including Italy. In a cross-sectional study with Italian respondents(N = 338), we examined direct contact with andempathy towards Ukrainians and identification with Europeas predictors of helping behaviours towards Ukrainian refugees.Specifically, based on intergroup contact theory, weexpected contact to be associated with helping behavioursvia increased empathy. The European identity, rooted invalues such as tolerance and egalitarianism can be seen as acommon ingroup that includes people from variousEuropean countries, including Ukrainians. Consequently, itshould be associated with helping behaviours, and couldboost the effects of contact and empathy. As hypothesised,identification with Europe boosted the direct effect of contacton helping behaviours. Instead, the indirect effect ofcontact on helping behaviours via empathy was significantonly among respondents with low Identification withEurope. This research highlights processes related to intergroup helping behaviours and, more specifically, participationin humanitarian initiatives favouring Ukrainian refugees.