Interracial Friendship Choices in Secondary Schools

Abstract

We examine processes that govern the selection of cross-race and same-race friends among high school students. Relying on social psychological theories of interpersonal attraction, we predict that individualand school-level factors that affect the bases of attraction will influence the friendship choices. We test hypotheses using data from the sophomore and senior cohorts of the High School and Beyond Survey. Its large sample, national representativeness, and detailed information permit a deeper examination of the determinants of adolescent friendship formation than has been previously possible. Students are only one-sixth as likely to choose a cross-race than a same-race peer as a friend, and controls for school and individual variables account for only a third of this differential. While personal characteristics of individual students and pairs of students have the strongest effects on friendship choices, organizational characteristics of the school, such as tracking, are also important.