Poster #171 - Cross-Ethnic Friendships, Intergroup Attitudes, and Intragroup Social Costs Among Asian-American and Latino-American Youth

• In Event: 1-169 - Poster Session 04
  In Poster Session: PS 04 Section - Race, Ethnicity, Culture, Context

Integrative Statement

During adolescence, similarity is an important component of friendship dyads. Friendships generally occur among youth who share common interests, ethnicities, religions, and genders (French et al., 2012; McPherson, et al., 2001). Ethnic homophily is a particularly strong predictor of friendship; children and adolescents typically form more same-ethnic friendships than cross-ethnic friendships (Bellmore, et al., 2007; Goldsmith, 2004). Despite these homophily effects, some cross-ethnic friendships do occur. It is important to understand how cross-ethnic friendships impact youths’ attitudes, as increased contact among dissimilar groups has been shown to improve attitudes and decrease prejudices (Allport, 1954).
The current study investigates how cross-ethnic friendships (i.e., friendships between two individuals who belong to different ethnic groups) among ethnic minority youth predict liking and popularity towards cross-ethnic peers as well as perceptions as disliked and unpopular by same-ethnic peers. A total of 524 students (54.8% female; Mage=15.06 years, SD=.75; 47% Latino, 53% Asian-American) were followed for one academic year. Students provided demographic information and responded to peer nomination inventories assessing friendship, positive peer attitudes (liking and popularity) and negative received perceptions (disliking and unpopularity).
We conducted a series of paired t-tests to identify differences in students’ mean levels of friendship, liking, and popularity towards their same-ethnic peers compared to their cross-ethnic peers. There was a significant difference in the number of same-ethnic (M = 4.17, SD = 3.30) and cross-ethnic friends (M=0.86, SD=1.35) at T1, t(523)= 20.33, p < 0.001 and T2, t(480)=21.95, p<0.001.. These results suggest that youth had more same-ethnic friends than cross-ethnic friends. Adolescents reported liking same-ethnic peers (M= 0.18, SD= 0.14) more than cross-ethnic classmates (M= 0.06, SD= 0.07) at T1, t(523) = 15.99, p < 0.001. This difference was also found at T2; t(489)=17.30, p<0.001).
We conducted hierarchical regression analyses to examine associations between cross-ethnic friendships and group attitudes (cross-ethnic liking and popularity; received nominations of disliked and unpopular by same-ethnic peers) across time. Moderation by gender, ethnicity, and ethnic identity were explored individually. Youth with more cross-ethnic friends at the beginning of data collection reported greater liking of cross-ethnic peers over time. Moderation by ethnicity was found such that Asian-American students were more likely than Latino students to like cross-ethnic peers. Cross-ethnic friendship also positively predicted perceptions of popularity among cross-ethnic peers. The association between cross-ethnic friends and T2 popularity was stronger for Latino students (β=0.39, p<0.001), than it was for Asian students (β=0.18, p<0.05). We also examined whether students with many cross-ethnic friends experienced same-ethnic social sanctions. We found that there was no association between cross-ethnic friendships and received disliking nominations for boys. ). For girls, on the other hand, there was a significant, negative association between cross-ethnic friendship and disliking by same-ethnic peers (β=-0.13, p=0.03). Cross-ethnic friendships did not predict unpopularity nominations in our sample.
Overall, these research findings present a very optimistic picture of cross-ethnic friendships in diverse middle school settings. Our data indicate that youth who have cross-ethnic friendships experience positive attitudes towards cross-ethnic peers without enduring social sanctions by same ethnicity peers.

Authors

• Annemarie Kelleghan, University of Southern California
  Presenting Author

• Luiza Mali, University of Southern California
  Non-Presenting Author

• Sarah T. Malamut, University of Southern California
  Non-Presenting Author

• Mylien Duong, University of Washington, Seattle
  Non-Presenting Author

• Daryaneh Badaly, University of Pittsburg Medical Center
  Non-Presenting Author

• David Schwartz, University of Southern California
  Non-Presenting Author