Do cross-race friendships with majority and minority peers protect against the effects of discrimination on school belonging and depressive symptoms?

Abstract

Although cross-race friendships seem to benefit racially minoritized students, especially in mitigating the adverse impact of racial discrimination, past research has rarely distinguished between cross-race friendships with majority and minority peers. To address this gap, we examined whether cross-race friendships with majority and minority peers moderated the associations of school-based discrimination with school belonging and with depressive symptoms. Participants were 219 Korean domestic and international students (69 % female) attending predominantly White institutions in the United States. Consistent with past research, participants reported low percentages of cross-race friendships with majority (M = 22.53 %, SD = 18.67 %) and minority (M = 10.51 %, SD = 11.29 %) peers. Cross-race friendships with majority peers reduced the effect of school-based discrimination on school belonging, but not depressive symptoms. By contrast, cross-race friendships with minority peers did not have a protective effect on school belonging or depressive symptoms. Future research should investigate the distinctive roles of cross-race friendships with majority and minority peers.