How friendship is defined matters for predicting intergroup attitudes: Shared activities and mutual trust with cross-ethnic peers during late childhood and early adolescence

Abstract

We examined how two different definitions of cross-ethnic friendships, namely reciprocal peer nominations for shared activities and mutual trust, predict attitudes towards immigrant students among non-immigrant Swiss children and early adolescents (N = 309). Among both Swiss children and early adolescents, only the number of mutually trusting peer nominations with immigrant students, but not the number of mutual nominations for shared activities, positively predicted inclusive intergroup attitudes. In addition, the perception of cooperation on a common goal in the classroom positively correlated with the number of cross-ethnic—but not same-ethnic—friends whom students trusted. We discuss the implications of our findings in relation to developmental research on the antecedents of intergroup attitudes and positive cross-ethnic relationships among children and early adolescents.