Poster #233 - Relationship Between Adolescents' Ethnic Identity, Friendship quality, and Social Skills

• In Event: 2-163 - Poster Session 08
  In Poster Session: PS 08 Section - Social Relationships

Integrative Statement

During adolescence, peer groups play an essential role in the development of an individual's ethnic identity- a sense of belonging to a social group with a unique cultural background. A strong ethnic identity is characterized by thorough exploration of the culture and history of an individual's ethnic group and positive affect toward that ethnic group. Past research has illustrated both the positive outcomes of having a strong ethnic identity among adolescents and the importance of peer relationships in the development of an ethnic identity. However, the effects of an individual's ethnic identity on his or her peer relationships has not been widely studied. Thus, the current study examines the influence of adolescents’ exploration of and feelings toward their own ethnic identity on friendship quality and social skills. We examined three hypotheses. First, we hypothesized that higher levels of ethnic identity (i.e. affirmation/belonging and exploration) would be associated with higher levels of social skills and more positive friendship quality. Second, we hypothesized that higher levels of ethnic identity would be related to lower levels of friendship conflicts. Finally, we hypothesized that gender would moderate the relationship between ethnic identity and the outcome variables.
Eighty-six early adolescents (males: n=37; females: n=49; Mage = 13.47 years), participated in the study and completed a battery of questionnaires. Ethnic identity (i.e. affirmation/belonging, alpha=.85; and exploration, alpha=.76) was assessed using the Ethnic Identity Scale (Umaña-Taylor, Yazedjian, & Bámaca-Gómez, 2004), friendship quality (i.e. positive, alpha=.93 and conflict, alpha=.82) was evaluated using the Friendship Quality Questionnaire (Parker and Asher, 1993) and social skills (i.e. cooperation, alpha=.75; assertion, alpha=.71; self-control, alpha=.76; empathy, alpha=.80) were measured using the Social Skills Rating System (Gresham and Elliot, 1990).
T-tests were conducted to examine gender differences in levels of ethnic identity and social skills. Significant gender differences were observed for levels of empathy, t (85) = -3.482, p=.001 and positive friendship quality t(84) = -5.204, p<.001, indicating that girls experienced higher levels of empathy (M=15.72) and positive friendship quality (M=2.999) compared with boys (Mempathy= 13.35; Mpositivefq= 2.363).
Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the hypotheses. Gender was entered in the first step of the analyses, ethnic identity was entered in the second step, and the interaction effect was entered in the final step. As hypothesized, higher levels of ethnic affirmation/belonging were associated with higher levels of cooperation (Beta=.317, p=.003) and empathy (Beta=.243, p=.017). Higher levels of ethnic exploration were associated with higher levels of cooperation (Beta=.264, p=.014). Adolescents who have a stronger sense of belonging toward their ethnic group and are interested in exploring their ethnicity are likely to engage in the social customs associated with their ethnic group. This creates more opportunities for social interaction and through the process allows adolescents to hone their social skills. The gender x ethnic affirmation/belonging interaction was not significant for any of the outcome variables. The gender x ethnic exploration interaction was significant for levels of empathy (Beta=.191, p=.028). Follow-up analyses suggested that high levels of ethnic exploration for boys were related to higher levels of empathy.

Authors

• Rachel Jollie, Northern Illinois University
  Presenting Author

• Natalie Low, Northern Illinois University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Nina S Mounts, Northern Illinois University
  Non-Presenting Author