Teens of a Feather Flock Together

FRIENDSHIP

"Why are you friends with that person?" The question that plagues
concerned parents has been the focus of psychological studies since at
least the early 1950s.

While older research often focused on a single ethnic group (often
white adolescents) and a single reason they chose friends, a study
published in the journal Developmental Psychology examined three
influencing factors among three ethnic groups.

"We know that friendship is important for adolescents as they
figure out who they are. Having friends who share similar attitudes and
behaviors is believed to make that process easier and more meaningful,"
says Jill Hamm, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology at the
University of North Carolina.

More than 6,500 African-American, Asian-American and Caucasian
students at seven high schools were surveyed about their academic
aspirations and achievements, ethnic identity and levels of substance
use. The teens were asked to list five of their closest school friends.
Researchers then compared traits of pairs of best friends.

The study revealed that while students in all three ethnic groups
chose friends with a similar academic orientation, Asian and Caucasian
adolescents did this more often than African-Americans. However, none of
the subject pairs indicated that they chose one another primarily due to
ethnic identity. The Asian, African and Caucasian students were all
similar to their best friends in terms of self-reported drug use. In
addition, choosing a friend with the same level of substance use was a
very strong factor when students chose friends from different ethnic
groups.

Despite the fairly consistent findings in this and other
developmental relationship studies, Hamm emphasizes that differences
among adolescents may be as important as their similarities. "What this
study suggested is that the similarity was there, but the kids are not
nominating friends that are reporting identical levels of behaviors and
values," Hamm says. "To find a unique sense of self you may not want to
affiliate with people who are identical to you, but you do need to have
some common ground."