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Presented By: Department of Psychology

Developmental Brown Bag: A relational approach to ethnic-racial discrimination: Testing selection, influence, and group membership

Ashwin Rambaran, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Psychology working with Drs. Deborah Rivas-Drake and Allison Ryan

Ashwin Rambaran Ashwin Rambaran
Ashwin Rambaran
Abstract
The United States is becoming more diverse, yet ethnoracial segregation and discrimination remains problematic in schools today. During adolescence, peers become a socialization mechanism, and youth tend to befriend peers with a shared race-ethnicity. However, little is known about how relationships between same- and different- ethnoracial peers influence exposure to discrimination. This study explores how two main hypotheses—social selection and social influence—explain similarities and differences in exposure to discrimination among high school friends. Perceived discrimination may drive apart distinct ethnoracial groups and bring together ingroup members (vis-à-vis “attraction-repulsion”). Students may also be exposed to discrimination that their same ethnoracial friends experience as they are likely to be shared and discussed within social networks, consequently strengthening or validating their own experiences of discrimination. To disentangle these two mechanisms, we employed a network science perspective, using stochastic actor-oriented modeling (SAOM), in two ethnoracially diverse high school settings (N=4454; 9-12th grade; 50% boys). Confirming prior empirical observations, the networks in the two schools displayed significant ethnoracial homophily. Simultaneously, homogeneity in discrimination was greater among same-ethnic friends compared to cross-ethnic friends. Though some differences were observed between the ethnoracial groups, overall, the SOAM findings provide modest support for social selection while providing some additional support for social influence, in particular for ethnoracial minorities. We conclude that some of the observed homogeneity in discrimination among same-ethnic friends operates in part via social influence and to a lesser extent by social selection. The findings illustrate how perceptions of ethnic-racial discrimination operate across social networks.

Significance Statement
In an increasingly diverse and segregated US context, ethnic-racial discrimination remains problematic disproportionally affecting persons of color, including youth. Many studies have reported on the adverse health consequences that result from discrimination by peers and adults, but little is known about its relational consequences. Here, we employ a network science perspective to examine the relational consequences of exposure to discrimination in diverse high school settings. Our method reveals that some of the observed homogeneity in discrimination among same-ethnic friends is explained by the tendency to become more similar to same-ethnic friends over time and some by a tendency to befriend same-ethnic peers with shared perceptions of ethnic-racial discrimination. These findings illustrate how perceptions of ethnic-racial discrimination operate across social networks.

Keywords: race and ethnicity, segregation, homophily, discrimination, friendship, social networks
Ashwin Rambaran Ashwin Rambaran
Ashwin Rambaran

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February 8, 2021 (Monday) 12:00pm
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