Main content
Peer Influence on Ethnic Identity
Date created: | Last Updated:
: DOI | ARK
Creating DOI. Please wait...
Category: Project
Description: Recent research has shown that peers influence ethnic-racial identity (ERI) development during early adolescence. Arguments based on social identity theory (SIT), however, suggest that only same-ethnic but not cross-ethnic friends are important for ERI development. Using longitudinal social network analysis, we examined peer influence of both same- and cross-ethnic friends on ERI attachment and private regard. Data were drawn from six ethnically diverse schools in Western Germany (N = 1,349; Mage = 13.3). Our results provide empirical evidence for early adolescents’ ERI being influenced by same- but less by cross-ethnic friends. Considering peers’ ethnicity therefore is crucial for understanding peer influence on ERI development.