Conference Agenda

As popular destinations of immigration, European societies have become ethnically and culturally more and more diverse, leading to a substantial group of dual identifiers, who self-identify with both the national majority group and the ethnic minority group of their (grand)parents. As individuals with ties to multiple groups, dual identifiers may play pivotal roles in bridging divides in increasingly diverse communities, thus fostering ethnic integration. However, this advantage hinges on dual identifiers’ ability to correctly assess their surrounding social structure. On the one hand, dual identifiers may be better at perceiving the structure of interethnic social networks because they are more likely to have ties to multiple groups. On the other hand, low-status minority members may have more accurate perceptions of social networks than dual identifiers because their lower social status makes them more dependent on correctly identifying key players in the network.

We test these competing hypotheses with cross-sectional network data, collected among more than 1,400 adolescents in Dutch schools. Participants were asked to name their direct friends and report their perception of the network structure in their school class (cognitive social structure). Statistical analyses of agreement between self-reports and perceptions were used to test if ethnic identity predicts accuracy.

Global efforts to establish more inclusive education systems for students with special educational needs (SEN) have been steadily escalating. In such education systems, students with and without SEN learn together while being provided with the necessary support within their learning environments. Drawing on social contact theory, social exchange theory and the principles of homophily, this presentation aimed to explore and understand the social processes associated with the friendship and antipathy networks of adolescents with and without SEN in inclusive setting. The study involved 429 students attending two schools with high percentage of students with SEN. We applied exponential random graph models (ERGMs) to examine tie formation between students with and without SEN. The results indicate that students with SEN were as likely as students without SEN to send and receive friendship nominations. There were also indications of the stronger homophilic tendencies of students with SEN than their typically developing peers. However, the results also indicate that, relative to students without SEN, students with SEN tend to receive more antipathy nominations from students without SEN. Moreover, the analysis revealed significant sex and race homophily effects across schools. The students were significantly more likely to form friendship ties with others of the same sex than with those of a different sex, but SES did not have significant effect on friendship formation. Concerning the students’ antipathy network, significant sex homophily was found but SES and race did not have a significant effect on the formation of antipathy ties. Additional analyses also indicate that friendship and antipathy ties differ in their influence on students’ sense of belonging, particularly for students with SEN. These findings underscore the need to focus on the different facets of students’ peer networks and enhance students’ positive attitudes toward diversity and inclusion to help students with SEN to feel integrated but also included in schools.

It is a puzzle whether and how social exclusion mechanisms hinder the academic performance of disadvantaged minority groups. Using unique social network panel data from elementary school students in Hungary, we test different predictions of the cultural-ecological theory among the Roma, one of the largest ethnic minority groups in Europe. First, we investigate whether high-achieving Roma students are excluded from the minority peer group (acting white hypothesis). Second, we examine whether high-achieving Roma students aim at passing for white by disidentifying with their ethnic minority group (disidentification hypothesis). Third, we test whether peers and teachers perceive high-achieving Roma students as belonging to the non-Roma group (labeling hypothesis). The findings contradict the acting white and the disidentification hypotheses. On the one hand, high-achieving Roma students are not excluded in terms of friendship relations. On the other hand, changes in academic achievement are not associated with changes in ethnic self-identification, suggesting that high-achieving Roma students do not aim to disidentify with their ethnic group. In line with the labeling hypothesis, however, higher academic achievement is associated with a lower likelihood of being perceived as Roma. This indicates that with high achievement, Roma students lose their ethnic membership as perceived by others.

As adolescents grow, peer relationships become increasingly central to their social development. Understanding how friendships develop throughout adolescence is crucial, as these relationships can have long-term implications for intergroup attitudes and social cohesion in adulthood. A key factor in this process is homophily, the tendency to form relationships with similar people. However, it remains unclear whether adolescents become more or less open to friendships across different social boundaries as they grow older.

This study examines how homophily evolves throughout adolescence. I first analyze whether adolescents’ preferences for similarity in sociodemographic characteristics—such as gender, ethnic background, and religion—change over time and whether trends differ between these attributes. Beyond demographic traits, I also investigate homophily in shared leisure activities and musical preferences to determine whether adolescents’ openness to diversity varies by trait type. This provides a broader understanding of whether homophily follows a general developmental pattern or is specific to certain traits. Additionally, I explore the relationship between stated preferences for similarity and actual friendship-making, identifying conditions under which they align or diverge. Lastly, I differentiate between different positive and negative relationships to assess how homophily operates across the various types of ties adolescents have.

To address these questions, I apply random-effects growth curve models and stochastic actor-oriented models for network evolution to six waves of social network data for N = 2,701 students aged 11-17 from the German Friendship and Identity in School study.

In superdiverse societies, many legal citizens with a migration background or ethnic minority status are often othered, leading to feelings of being ‘citizen outsiders’ (Beaman, 2017). This affects their sense of belonging and well-being, making it crucial to understand the process better. While we know that it takes place in both intimate and superficial relationships, it is typically explored at an individual level. Taking a relational approach, I study this othering process in dyadic ties using a qualitative perspective to examine how people with diverse ethnic backgrounds negotiate categorical boundaries and respond to being excluded.

The paper presents findings from a social network analysis study (PATCHWORK project) that collected data from a heterogeneous sample of 48 individuals in Barcelona (Spain) in 2023. Participants were interviewed twice. The first interview used a questionnaire to collect personal networ k data. The quantitative data informed the specific questions asked during the second, qualitative interview, which included two interactive exercises with visual tools designed to explore processes of categorisation and boundary-making within the participants' networks.

Without using pre-fixed ethnic categories, the inductive analysis uncovered the emergence of the category ‘citizen outsider’ , which in the context of Barcelona includes members of ethnic minorities long established in Spain (e.g., Roma), children of migrants, and (descendants of) Spaniards from other Spanish regions. The category is co-created through the narratives of ‘insiders’ interacting with ‘citizen outsiders’ and ‘citizen outsiders’ experiencing marginalisation. The findings also reveal the range of ethnic boundary-making strategies used in response to othering in everyday interactions.

With economic inequality rising in most countries, studying the mechanisms of its reproduction is a pressing matter. Research shows that friendships among children of different socio-economic backgrounds affect their future education achievement and income, inter-SES (socio-economic status) friendships especially improving the outcomes of children from lower-SES families.

Few studies explored the mechanisms of friendship preferences and choices of school children so far; the results of the studies that did are conflicting. The main mechanism assumed to guide friendship choices is homophily, and it is not found consistently in the data. I will test it once again with one of the cutting-edge tools of network analysis, Stochastic Actor-Oriented Modeling (SAOM). I will also test a different mechanism of friendship choice that has never been tested before - friendship hypergamy: children of higher SES are more desirable as friends. This mechanism might account for the cases in existing research where homophily wasn’t found.

Existing research suggests that homophily, or assortativity, is not the only mechanism behind friendship selection: research shows that higher-SES students overall have more friends, while lower-SES children have less friends and are more likely to be isolated. Moreover, since SES is clearly hierarchical, homophily does not make sense as the only mechanism of friendship selection with regards to SES. Thus, exploring homophily and potential alternative mechanisms of friendship selection will broaden our understanding of friendship choice by SES as a mechanism of inequality reproduction, potentially outlining a need for more rigorous theory building on the topic.