Individual and class room predictors of same-cultural friendship preferences in multicultural schools

Elisabeth Stefanek, Dagmar Strohmeier, Rens van de Schoot

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study was an investigation of individual and contextual predictors for same-cultural friendship preferences among non-immigrant (N = 125), Turkish (N = 196) and former Yugoslavian (N = 256) immigrant youths (M age = 14.39 years) in 36 multicultural classes. At the individual level age, gender, cultural group, number of friends, and acculturation variables, such as immigrant status, cultural pride and racist victimization were investigated. At the class level, predictors drawn from contact theory such as cultural diversity and multicultural education were analyzed. Multilevel analyses have revealed that being a former Yugoslavian first and second generation immigrant, being a Turkish first generation immigrant, having fewer friends, a high level of cultural pride and a high level of cultural diversity in classes are related to more same-cultural friendship preferences. The present findings highlight the importance of acculturation-related and contextual factors for same-cultural friendship preferences.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)255-265
Number of pages11
JournalInternational Journal of Behavioral Development
Volume39
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 May 2015

Keywords

  • acculturation
  • contact theory
  • friendship preferences
  • immigrant youths
  • multilevel modelling
  • Same-cultural friendships

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