The friendship networks of multiracial adolescents☆
Introduction
The growth in the number and prominence of persons who identify with more than one racial group, the multiracial population, has led to increasing speculation about the consequences of this trend for American race relations. Some view the growing multiracial population as an indicator that racial divisions are weakening, and argue that a growing multiracial population is likely to contribute to a reduction in the salience of race (e.g. Lee and Bean, 2004, Alba and Nee, 2003). Others see the multiracial population as a group who, because of the rigidity of racial relations in the U.S., will not be accepted by their single-race counterparts and will have difficulty managing their racial identities (e.g. Stonequist, 1937, Gibbs, 1987, Brown, 1990).
As these viewpoints suggest, multiraciality has implications for individuals, for social relations, and for society-wide understandings of race. Yet empirical research on multiracial persons has focused mostly on psychological well-being (e.g. Cooney and Radina, 2000) and racial identity (e.g. Harris and Sim, 2002, Brunsma, 2005, Hitlin et al., 2006), with only spotty attention to other topics. The little research there is on multiracial persons and social relations has generally approached these topics from the standpoint of individual psychology. While a well-established sociometric literature examines interracial friendship (e.g. Hallinan and Williams, 1989, Joyner and Kao, 2000, Moody, 2001, Quillian and Campbell, 2003, Mouw and Entwisle, 2006), these studies have generally excluded multiracial persons.
In this study, we examine the relatively neglected topic of the social relationships of multiracial persons, specifically the friendship networks of multiracial adolescents. We consider three hypotheses motivated by prior discussions of the multiracial population and the structural factor of high racial friendship segregation: (1) that multiracial adolescents have smaller friendship networks because they are often socially rejected by single-race peers, (2) that multiracial adolescents have racially more diverse networks than single-race persons, and (3) that multiracial adolescents often bridge the social relationships of members of their single-race heritage backgrounds.
We do so through analyzing the friendship networks of multiracial adolescents in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a large school-based study of students in grades 7–12. While several prior studies have used the Add Health data to examine multiraciality, most of these studies have focused on racial identity or psychological well-being. The Add Health data allows us to examine the friendship networks of a large number of multiracial adolescents using social networks measurement, which allows for more accurate measures of social relationships than possible using only self-reports from unrelated individuals.
Section snippets
Social science studies of multiraciality
Few topics in social science have seen as rapid a growth in research and writing in recent years as multiraciality. The resulting literature is diverse and crosses multiple disciplines, but most of this work can be categorized as engaging one of three major topics: racial identity and identification, psychological well-being, and racial stratification. We discuss these themes briefly, then review past studies of the friendship networks of multiracial adolescents, and finally turn to our plan of
Data
Our analysis is based on the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a large school-based survey of adolescents (Bearman et al., 1997). Four features of the Add Health data make it nearly ideal for comparing the social networks of multiracial and single-race adolescents. First, the Add Health survey includes an extensive social network survey that asks for friendship nominations from all students in a large number of schools. Second, the Add Health study includes a large, racially
The popularity of multiracial adolescents
In discussions of multiracial persons, the possible social exclusion of multiracial adolescents is a recurring concern. To consider the possibility that multiracial adolescents are excluded by their peers, we created measures of popularity from the Add Health social networks data. Our measure of popularity is the number of other students in the Add Health school survey who name the respondent as a friend; in network studies, this is often referred to as the “in-degree” of a network node (
Discussion
Our results regarding the social networks of multiracial persons are more consistent with the optimistic possibilities suggested by commentators on the growing multiracial population. We find that multiracial adolescents have levels of popularity that are about the same as their non-white single-race peers, thus we conclude there is not strong evidence supporting the idea that multiracial persons are rejected to the point of becoming socially isolated. We also find that multiracial adolescents
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The effects of being racially, ethnically, & socioeconomically different from peers
2023, Social Science ResearchCitation Excerpt :Additionally, the racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic composition of schools impacts friendship networks and popularity through homophily. Multiracial and single-race non-white students typically have lower levels of popularity than white students in U.S. high schools (Quillian and Redd 2009), and interracial friendships are less likely to be reciprocated than intraracial ones (Vaquera and Kao, 2008). School composition also differentially impacts extracurricular participation among minority immigrants (Okamoto et al. 2013), with opportunities to participate being more available in larger, higher socioeconomic status schools (Stearns and Glennie 2010).
Race, ethnicity, and peer relationships
2023, Encyclopedia of Child and Adolescent Health, First EditionLet the racism tell you who your friends are: The effects of racism on social connections and life-satisfaction for Multiracial people
2019, International Journal of Intercultural RelationsCitation Excerpt :This claim is supported by research using National datasets, which has found that generally, Multiracial people report having more friends than Monoracial groups (Cheng & Klugman, 2010; Cheng & Lively, 2009), and they also report generally being socially accepted (Schlabach, 2013). Reports by Multiracial people’s peers indicate that they are just as popular (e.g., others list them as a friend) as members of other racial minority groups (Quillian & Redd, 2009). Yet, even when Multiracial people consistently report more friends than Monoracial people, their subjective report of getting along with friends, varies (Cheng & Lively, 2009).
Making Minorities or Honorary Whites? Examining Multiracial Self-Concept
2023, Social Psychology Quarterly
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While working on this study, Rozlyn Redd was supported through the University of Wisconsin Center for Demography and Ecology’s NICHD Training Grant (T32 HD07014). We thank Mary Campbell for helpful suggestions and comments. This research uses data from the Add Health project, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry (PI) and Peter Bearman, and funded by grant P01-HD31921 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development to the Carolina Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies. Persons interested in obtaining data files from The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health should contact Add Health, Carolina Population Center, 123 West Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-2524 (http://www.cpc.unc.edu/addhealth).