Do Minorities’ Friendships with Majority Culture Members and Their Emotional Fit with Majority Culture Influence Each Other Over Time?

Abstract

Immigrant-origin minorities who have majority friends have emotions that fit the majority norm. However, previous research on the link between minorities’ emotional fit and their friendships with majority culture members has been cross-sectional. Hence, little is known about the directionality of the association and whether emotional fit facilitates minority inclusion. In a longitudinal study of 3216 minority and 2283 majority youth, we tested bidirectional associations between emotional fit and majority friendships over time. Emotional fit was calculated by relating minorities’ emotional patterns to the average pattern of the majority sample in comparable situations. Majority friendships were measured as reciprocal friendship nominations in classrooms and self-report. Cross-lagged panel models offered partial support for the hypotheses using friendship nomination data, and full support using self-reported data. The findings suggest that minorities’ fit with the majority culture increases when they have majority friends and that emotional fit is a promising route for inclusion.

Keywords

emotion acculturation friendship immigrant minority culture

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Alba

Foner

(2014). Comparing immigrant integration in North America and Western Europe: How much do the grand narratives tell us? International Migration Review, 48, 262–290. https://doi.org/10.1111/imre.12134

Anderson

Keltner

John

O. P.

(2003). Emotional convergence between people over time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(5), 1054–1068. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.84.5.1054

Borgatti

S. P.

Mehra

Brass

D. J.

Labianca

(2009). Network analysis in the social sciences. Science, 323(5916), 892–895. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1165821

Bruner

(1996). The culture of education. Harvard University Press. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv136c601

Burnham

K. P.

Anderson

D. R.

(2004). Multimodel inference: Understanding AIC and BIC in model selection. Sociological Methods and Research, 33(2), 261–304. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124104268644

Chen

F. F.

(2007). Sensitivity of goodness of fit indexes to lack of measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling, 14(3), 464–504. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705510701301834

Cheung

G. W.

Rensvold

R. B.

(2002). Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 9(2), 233–255. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15328007SEM0902

Choi

J. H.

Miyamoto

(2022). Cultural differences in rumination and psychological correlates: The role of attribution. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 49(8), 1213–1230. https://doi.org/10.1177/01461672221089061

De Leersnyder

Kim

H. S.

Mesquita

. (2020). My emotions belong here and there: Extending the phenomenon of emotional acculturation to heritage culture fit. Cognition and Emotion, 34(8), 1573–1590.

10.

De Leersnyder

Mesquita

Kim

Eom

Choi

. (2014). Emotional fit with culture: A predictor of individual differences in relational well-being. Emotion, 14(2), 241–245. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035296

11.

De Leersnyder

Mesquita

Kim

H. S

. (2011). Where do my emotions belong? A study of immigrants’ emotional acculturation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(4), 451–463. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167211399103

12.

Delvaux

Meeussen

Mesquita

(2015). Feel like you belong: On the bidirectional link between emotional fit and group identification in task groups. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, Article 1106. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01106

13.

De Roover

Ceulemans

Timmerman

M. E

. (2012). How to perform multiblock component analysis in practice. Behavior Research Methods, 44(1), 41–56. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-011-0129-1

14.

Dong

Peng

C. Y. J.

(2013). Principled missing data methods for researchers. SpringerPlus, 2(1), Article 222. https://doi.org/10.1186/2193-1801-2-222

15.

Fabozzi

F. J.

Focardi

S. M.

Rachev

S. T.

Arshanapalli

B. G.

(2014). Appendix E—Model selection criterion: AIC and BIC. In Fabozzi

F. J.

(Ed.), The basics of financial econometrics (pp. 399–403). John Wiley & Sons. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118856406.app5

16.

Fischer

A. H.

Manstead

A. S. R.

(2016). Social functions of emotion and emotion regulation. In Barrett

L. F.

Lewis

Haviland-Jones

J. M.

(Eds.), Handbook of emotions (4th ed., pp. 424–439). Guilford Press.

17.

Gonzaga

G. C.

Campos

Bradbury

(2007). Similarity, convergence, and relationship satisfaction in dating and married couples. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93(1), 34–48. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.93.1.34

18.

Güngör

Bornstein

M. H.

De Leersnyder

Cote

Ceulemans

Mesquita

(2013). Acculturation of personality: A three-culture study of Japanese, Japanese Americans, and European Americans. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44(5), 701–718. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022112470749

19.

Hamaker

E. L.

Kuiper

R. M.

Grasman

R. P. P. P

. (2015). A critique of the cross-lagged panel model. Psychological Methods, 20(1), 102–116. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038889

20.

Hartung

Vandezande

Swyngedouw

Phalet

(2009). Interethnic partnerships and labour market integration: The Turkish and Moroccan second generation in Belgium. Interethnic Partnerships and Labour Market Integration: The Turkish and Moroccan Second Generation in Belgium.

21.

Hartup

W. W.

(1996). The company they keep: Friendships and their developmental significance. Child Development, 67(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.ep9602271141

22.

Hatfield

Cacioppo

Rapson

R. L.

(1994). Emotional contagion. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 2(3), 96–99. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.ep10770953

23.

Heine

S. J.

Lehman

D. R.

(2004). Move the body, change the self: Acculturative effects of the self-concept. The Psychological Foundations of Culture, 1977, 305–331. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410608994

24.

Higgins

E. T.

(2016). Shared-reality development in childhood. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(4), 466–495. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616635595

25.

Bentler

P. M.

(1999). Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis: Conventional criteria versus new alternatives. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 6(1), 1–55. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705519909540118

26.

Jasini

De Leersnyder

Gagliolo

Kende

Phalet

Mesquita

(2023). Show me your friends, I’ll tell you your emotions: Emotional fit of immigrant minority youth in cross-cultural friendship networks. British Journal of Social Psychology, 62, 1435–1452. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12640

27.

Jasini

De Leersnyder

Phalet

Mesquita

(2019). Tuning in emotionally: Associations of cultural exposure with distal and proximal emotional fit in acculturating youth. European Journal of Social Psychology, 49(2), 352–365. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2516

28.

Kao

(2004). Social capital and its relevance to minority and immigrant populations. Sociology of Education, 77(2), 172–175. https://doi.org/10.1177/003804070407700204

29.

Kashima

Coman

Pauketat

J. V. T.

Yzerbyt

(2019). Emotion in cultural dynamics. Emotion Review, 12, Article 47. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073919875215

30.

Keller

Otto

(2009). The cultural socialization of emotion regulation during infancy. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 40(6), 996–1011. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022109348576

31.

Kitayama

Markus

H. R.

Kurokawa

(2000). Culture, emotion, and well-being: Good feelings in Japan and the United States. Cognition and Emotion, 14(1), 93–124. https://doi.org/10.1080/026999300379003

32.

Kline

R. B.

(2005). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. Methodology in the Social Sciences, 2, 278–279. https://doi.org/10.1038/156278a0

33.

Kunst

J. R.

(2021). Are we facing a “causality crisis” in acculturation research? The need for a methodological (r)evolution. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 85, A4–A8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2021.08.003

34.

Livingstone

A. G.

Shepherd

Spears

Manstead

A. S. R.

(2016). “Fury, us”: Anger as a basis for new group self-categories. Cognition and Emotion, 30(1), 183–192. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2015.1023702

35.

Livingstone

A. G.

Spears

Manstead

A. S. R.

Bruder

Shepherd

(2011). We feel, therefore we are: Emotion as a basis for self-categorization and social action. Emotion, 11(4), 754–767. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023223

36.

Locke

K. D.

Horowitz

L. M.

(1990). Satisfaction in interpersonal interactions as a function of similarity in level of dysphoria. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58(5), 823–831. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.58.5.823

37.

MacCallum

R. C.

Kim

Malarkey

W. B.

Kiecolt-Glaser

J. K.

(1997). Studying multivariate change using multilevel models and latent curve models. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 32(3), 215–253. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327906mbr3203_1

38.

Mesquita

(2022). Between us: How cultures create emotions. W. W. Norton.

39.

Mesquita

Boiger

De Leersnyder

(2016). The cultural construction of emotions. Current Opinion in Psychology, 8, 31–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2015.09.015

40.

Mesquita

De Leersnyder

Jasini

(2019). The cultural psychology of acculturation. In Kitayama

Cohen

(Eds.), Handbook of cultural psychology (2nd ed., pp. 502–535). Guilford Press.

41.

Mesquita

Marinetti

Delvaux

(2012). The social psychology of emotions. In Fiske

S. T.

McCrae

C. N.

(Eds.), Sage Handbook of social cognition (pp. 290–310). SAGE.

42.

Muthén

L. K.

Muthén

B. O.

(2017). Mplus user’s guide (8th ed.).

43.

Newcomb

A. F.

Bagwell

C. L.

(1995). Children’s friendship relations: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 117(2), 306–347. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.117.2.306

44.

Parker

J. G.

Gottman

J. M.

(1989). Social and emotional development in a relational context: Friendship interaction from early childhood to adolescence. In Berndt

T. J.

Ladd

G. W.

(Eds.), Peer relationships in child development (pp. 95–131). John Wiley & Sons.

45.

Parkinson

(1996). Emotions are social. British Journal of Psychology, 87(4), 663–683. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1996.tb02615.x

46.

Phalet

Baysu

. (2020). Fitting in: How the intergroup context shapes minority acculturation and achievement. European Review of Social Psychology, 31(1), 1–39.

47.

Phalet

Baysu

Van Acker

(2015). Ethnicity and migration in Europe. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences: Second Edition, 2015, 142–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.24040-3

48.

Phalet

Meuleman

Hillekens

Sekaran

(2018). Leuven-CILS technical report longitudinal 2012–2015. KU Leuven.

49.

Rimé

Bouchat

Paquot

Giglio

(2020). Intrapersonal, interpersonal, and social outcomes of the social sharing of emotion. Current Opinion in Psychology, 31, 127–134. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.08.024

50.

Rosenblatt

Greenberg

(1988). Depression and interpersonal attraction: The role of perceived similarity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55(1), 112–119. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.55.1.112

51.

Röttger-Rössler

Scheidecker

Jung

Holodynski

(2013). Socializing emotions in childhood: A cross-cultural comparison between the Bara in Madagascar and the Minangkabau in Indonesia. Mind, Culture, and Activity, 20(3), 260–287. https://doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2013.806551

52.

Russell

J. A.

Barrett

L. F.

(1999). Core affect, prototypical emotional episodes, and other things called emotion: Dissecting the elephant. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(5), 805–819. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.76.5.805

53.

Sam

D. L.

Berry

J. W.

(2010). Acculturation: When individuals and groups of different cultural backgrounds meet. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 5(4), 472–481. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691610373075

54.

Schachter

(1959). The psychology of affiliation. Stanford University Press.

55.

Shelton

Douglass

Garcia

R. L.

Yip

Trail

T. E.

(2014). Feeling (mis)understood and intergroup friendships in interracial interactions. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40(9), 1193–1204. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167214538459

56.

Turner

R. N.

Feddes

A. R.

(2011). How intergroup friendship works: A longitudinal study of friendship effects on outgroup attitudes. European Journal of Social Psychology, 41(7), 914–923. https://doi.org/10.1002/EJSP.843

57.

Turner

R. N.

Hewstone

Voci

Paolini

Christ

(2007). Reducing prejudice via direct and extended cross-group friendship. European Review of Social Psychology, 18(1), 212–255. https://doi.org/10.1080/10463280701680297

58.

Vandenberg

R. J.

Lance

C. E.

(2000). A review and synthesis of the measurement invariance literature: Suggestions, practices, and recommendations for organizational research. Organizational Research Methods, 3(1), 4–70. https://doi.org/10.1177/109442810031002

59.

Vitaro

Boivin

Bukowski

W. M.

(2009). The role of friendship in child and adolescent psychosocial development. In Rubin

K. H.

Bukowski

W. M.

Laursen

(Eds.), Handbook of peer interactions, relationships, and groups (Vol. 46, pp. 568–585). Guilford Press. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2008-19117-031

60.

Wolf

E. J.

Harrington

K. M.

Clark

S. L.

Miller

M. W.

(2013). Sample size requirements for structural equation models: An evaluation of power, bias, and solution propriety. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 73(6), 913–934. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164413495237

61.

Yilmaz

Phalet

De Leersnyder

(2022). Acculturation of self-construals: First evidence from Turkish Belgian and Chinese British immigrant minority adults and Turkish and Moroccan Belgian minority youth. Manuscript submitted for publication.

62.

Youniss

Haynie

D. L.

(1992). Friendship in adolescence. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics, 13(1), 59–66. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004703-199202000-00013

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.72 MB