Collaborative Proposal: Friendships, Identity Development, and Adolescent Adjustment in High School

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As U.S. adolescents become more ethnically diverse, all youths' social and academic success depends in part on their experiences with diverse peers in school. Among those from ethnic or racial minority backgrounds, having a strong Ethnic-Racial Identity is predictive of positive social and academic outcomes. Ethnic-Racial Identity (ERI) refers to a person's beliefs about and understanding of their own ethnicity or race and how their ethnicity or race relates to their sense of self. This research investigates not only how adolescents' own ERI shapes their experiences but also how the ERIs of their peers impacts their development. The study will provide important new insights into how adolescents' ERI unfolds and how adolescents' interactions with each other support positive educational outcomes during the high school years.Longitudinal data will be collected from students in two high schools, each in a distinct geographical region of the U.S. Hypotheses will be tested regarding the extent to which ERI development occurs transactionally in the context of peer relationships as well as the role of individuals' and peers' ERI and peer relationship characteristics in adjustment. Youth with a stronger ERI and who have friends with a stronger ERI are expected to exhibit the most optimal outcomes, as they not only draw on their own internal resources but also benefit from by being embedded in a network of peers who can draw on similar resources. Peer relationship characteristics are expected to mediate associations between individuals' ERI and their adjustment over time, particularly for younger adolescents. The study will use innovative, longitudinal social network modeling methods. The implementation of this project will have a transformative effect on multiple fields by (a) impacting how researchers conceptualize and operationalize contextual influences on ERI development in future work; (b) increasing understanding of how contexts moderate and mediate the links between ERI and adjustment; (c) moving the field toward examining micro-informed mechanisms of peer network influence rather than focusing exclusively on selection and socialization processes, which dominates the current discourse in this area; and (d) serving as an exemplar of an interdisciplinary approach.