Gender segregation in the friendship networks of Muslim youth in Germany: the role of chastity norms

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ABSTRACT Western Muslim youth engage less in romantic relationships than their non-Muslim peers, an observation usually attributed to chastity norms that oppose Muslim youths’ premarital sexual activity. In this study, I ask whether chastity norms also shape cross-gender interaction beyond romantic relationships and lead to fewer cross-gender friendships among Muslim than non-Muslim youth. To isolate the consequences of chastity norms from institutionalized practices of gender segregation in Muslim religious communities, I study friendship-making in German coeducational schools, which provide ample opportunities for cross-gender friendships. I apply multilevel exponential random graph models to large-scale data on adolescents’ school-based friendship networks, finding cross-gender friendships to be generally infrequent but notably rarer among Muslim than non-Muslim youth. However, this lack of cross-gender friendships is limited to Muslim youth who hold strong chastity norms, while more liberal Muslim youth have as many cross-gender friends as non-Muslims. Among non-Muslims, chastity norms are unrelated to cross-gender friendships.