 |
|
The Relationship Between Cross-Ethnic Friendships and Psychological Resilience in Adolescence
by Avery Chahl
Faculty Advisor: Aprile Benner, PhD
Resilience is defined as the ability to adapt in the face of external stressors. It is influenced by many social factors including the quality of close interpersonal relationships. Prior research suggests that same-ethnic friendships are of higher quality than cross-ethnic friendships. However, there has not been research done on the specific relationship between cross-ethnic interaction and resilience. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the racial-ethnic composition of close school friends and resilience. I hypothesized that adolescents with more ethnically similar friendships would show higher rates of psychological resilience than those with fewer ethnically-similar friendships. This was examined by comparing participant ethnicity with the ethnicity of their friends in an ethnically diverse sample of 278 male and female high school students. I also investigated whether ethnic identity moderated the relationship between ethnic similarity of friends and resilience. Regression analyses suggested no significant relationship between ethnic friendship composition and resilience. However, there were significant impacts of gender identity and socioeconomic status on resilience levels. While ethnic identity did not appear to be a moderator, there was a significant positive relationship between the strength of ethnic identity and psychological resilience. Thus, ethnicity of friends does not appear to be a factor in determining adolescent resilience level, but ethnic identity does.