Reetta Riikonen

I am a doctoral researcher in social psychology at the University of Eastern Finland. In my research, I am interested in social identities and intergroup relations, and I have studied these particularly in two contexts: among mothers of young children in residential areas and in the context of national defense and conscription.

My PhD dissertation is part of the MAMANET project, where I study Finnish majority and immigrant mothers’ intergroup contacts and outgroup attitudes in multiethnic neighbourhoods in Helsinki. The project focuses on mothers of small children. My mixed-method dissertation explores how motherhood as a common ingroup identity can support the development of positive intergroup contact and positive outgroup attitudes in neighbourhoods. The results shed light on how to support the development of positive contacts between mothers which may also support mothers’ wellbeing, inclusion and integration in the Finnish society. My dissertation is funded by the Kone Foundation, the Alli Paasikivi Foundation and the Finnish Cultural Foundation’s North Savo Regional Fund.

After the completion of my dissertation, I will start working as a post doctoral researcher in the FriendMUM project in summer 2025. The project focuses on intercultural friendships between Finnish majority mothers and mothers with an immigrant background in the “Friend for an Immigrant Mum” program organized by Mannerheim League for Child Welfare. The FriendMUM project is funded by the Alli Paasikivi Foundation and the Kone Foundation.