Integration of Immigrant Children into Inter- ethnic Friendship Networks: The Role of ‘Intergenerational Openness’

Abstract

Social network data from class-based interviews of N = 257 10-year-old students in N = 4382 directed dyads show that the propensity for being friends is moderately affected by ethnic heterogeneity. However, the likelihood of acquaintanceship among children’s parents is strongly reduced in ethnically heterogeneous dyads. This has been referred to as ‘intergenerational openness’ of networks in the work of J.S. Coleman. It will be shown that intergenerational openness has a strong negative association with mutual invitations to birthday parties, which are assumed to play an important role in the process of cross-generational social integration. Accordingly, intergenerational openness indicates a ‘gap in social integration’ between generations and corresponds negatively with the social integration of immigrant children.