Boys Have More Diverse Friends When Racial Identity is Secure

Identity formation is a turbulent process in life that can leave us confused and lost at times, and racial identity is no small part of that. Parents, friends, and any aspect of society (such as the media) will influence the formation of our identities as we gather information from around us.

Source: pixabay

A study was conducted about ethnic-racial identity (ERI) and the relation to the diversity of friends in teenage boys and girls, with the results published in the journal Child Development. They wanted to know how ERI development -- along with the exploration and resolution of identity -- helped to affect friendship diversity over time.

Exploring racial identity and resolving what it means to belong to a racial identity is a part of our identity formation process, so communication from our parents is important, just as it is with sex and drug talks. By opening communication about a topic, there can be more exchange of information and parents can stay connected to import developmental issues regarding their children.

The study involved 353 students, 50% girls/boys, 29% African American, 31% Caucasian, and 13% Latino with an average age of 11.88 years old. They all came from Midwestern middle schools in the USA, and were surveyed in 2014, with follow us after 6months and a year.

From the questions asked about their behavior, the researchers were able to gather data on the identity and friendships of students. Boys with a greater perception and understanding of their racial identity had more diverse friends in the following year and follow-up surveys.

Having more diverse friends leads to less prejudice through learning about other groups and identifying with them in some way.

Although the boys showed an improvement in diverse friendships with they had more ERI clarity, girls weren't affected overall, as they already demonstrated higher friendship diversity within their peer group. Teenagers still select people similar to them, but it doesn't have to be base don ethnic-racial identity. Kids still group according to ERI, but they also seek out friends from other ERI groups. As they communicate more, they share their respective identities with others and friends learn from each other.

When students started off the year with diverse friends, both boys and girls had increased ERI exploration by the end of the year. However, this prediction for ERI exploration didn't carry over to ERI resolution. This might be explained due to the period of adolescent development of identity, where a resolution of aspects of our ethnic-racial identity can take more time. Exposure to non-familial experiences and abstract concepts can create confusion until teenagers take the time to grasp or understand them more. The exploration phase gives rise to questions, and the answers they derive are part of the resolution phase.

Shared engagement in communication or other activities helps in developing our own identities. Parents and peers play an significant role in how we learn about other groups and how we develop our own identities.

As I see it, this is part of knowing ourselves and who we are at a certain level, and provides a secure grounding as opposed to being unsure/insecure about how our racial identity relates to ourselves. Confusion about our identity comes from a lack of knowledge, and self-knowledge, so it makes sense that having more self-knowledge and being more secure in who we are would make us better able to relate to other people with different ERI.

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Thank you for your time and attention! I appreciate the knowledge reaching more people. Take care. Peace.

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References:

• Boys secure in their racial identity seek more diverse friendships
• Rivas-Drake, D., Umaña-Taylor, A. J., Schaefer, D. R. and Medina, M. (2017), Ethnic-Racial Identity and Friendships in Early Adolescence. Child Dev. doi:10.1111/cdev.12790

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2017-03-23, 6:01pm