Adolescent friendships and friend support in diverse groups

Abstract

Supportive friends are important for all adolescents, not the least foreign origin adolescents who may face difficulties associated with migration and belonging to a minority group in the new country. Good friends can be vital to the immigrant adolescent as providers of understanding and care, sources of information, and in increasing their social network (Hartup & Stevens, 1997).

Shared interests are usually central to friends but homophily, for example regarding gender, age, ethnic origin, and personality traits, is a recurrent theme in friendship relations (Hartup & Stevens, 1997). In samples of immigrant adolescents, studies find a strong tendency for same-ethnic friendships (Graham, et al., 2009; Titzmann & Silbereisen, 2009). When in challenging and stressful situations, immigrant adolescents report how friend relations with other immigrants become deeper than relations with individuals from other groups (Kim et al., 2012). Such relationships create a safe space for identity exploration, mutual support, understanding, and acknowledgment (Hoare, 2019).

Children and adolescents of foreign origin in Iceland find it difficult to befriend Icelandic-heritage peers (Gestur Guðmundsson, 2013; Hermína Gunnþórsdóttir & Lilja Rós Aradóttir, 2021). They are less likely to meet friends after school, report more teasing than their Icelandic counterparts (Hrefna Guðmundsdóttir & Hanna Ragnarsdóttir, 2013) and receive less support from friends (Ingibjörg Eva Þórisdóttir, 2018).

Studies have found increased preferences for cross-ethnic friendships in mixed ethnic schools (Bohman & Miklikowska, 2020) but only to a certain level, indicating that the opportunity structure partially accounts for these relationships (Leszczensky & Stark, 2020). Previous studies further indicate that ethnic homophily is stronger among newcomer youth compared to those who have lived in the new country for a longer period (Titzmann & Silbereisen, 2009).

The aim of this study was to explore friendship relations by the origin of adolescents by mapping the number of friends of Icelandic and foreign origin and the friend support perceived by participants. A further goal was to investigate the relationship between number of friends and the percentage of foreign origin students in the school of participants and how the age of migrating to Iceland and number of friends were related.

Participants included 806 8th to 10th-grade students from nine compulsory schools from various geographic areas in Iceland. The participants answered an anonymous online questionnaire administered by trained research assistants in their schools. The response rate was 82%.

The findings indicate that most adolescents had many friends and their friends usually attended the same school. Friendships within a group were more likely than between adolescents of different origin, but this varied by the percentage of students of foreign origin in the school. In schools with a higher share of foreign origin students, Icelandic origin students were more likely to have friends of foreign origin, but the friendships reported by foreign origin adolescents were not similarly affected by the percentage of foreign origin students in the schools. Adolescents of foreign origin who migrated at a younger age had more Icelandic origin friends than those who moved to Iceland later.

The results also indicate that adolescents of foreign origin enjoy less overall support from friends than their Icelandic peers. Conversely, they enjoy more social support from foreign-origin friends than their Icelandic origin peers.

Ethnic homophily in friend selection puts children and adolescents at risk of limited social resources and social support. In schools where few foreign origin students attend, their options of friendships may be more limited. Enlarging the social network of adolescents of foreign origin towards cross-ethnic relations increases available social support and other resources, reduces the risk of marginalization and promotes active participation in a democratic society. In-school and after-school activities can be used to provide a context for interaction through collaborative tasks and activities. Furthermore, as the literature suggests, cross-ethnic connections are important to decrease prejudice and increase empathy towards diversity (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2008); thus, promoting cross-ethnic relations benefits all youth regardless of their origin.