The composition of friendship networks predicts emotional fit among Turkish Belgian adolescents.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: Emotions of immigrant-origin individuals tend to resemble those of their social environment. This study examined how social networks of Turkish-origin minority adolescents, based on both majority and coethnic minority friendships (composition and structure), have bearing on their emotional fit with Belgian-majority and Turkish-minority cultures. METHOD: Turkish-origin minority adolescents (N = 668) and Belgian-majority adolescents (N = 1,657) nominated their best friends from their class and reported their emotional experiences. RESULTS: Turkish-minority adolescents with more majority friends in their networks had higher emotional fit with the majority culture without compromising their fit with the minority culture. Conversely, a higher proportion of coethnic friends in their networks was associated with lower emotional fit with the majority culture. Network density among majority or coethnic friends was unrelated to emotional fit with either culture. CONCLUSIONS: Having more majority than minority friends positively relates to emotional fit with the majority culture without negatively affecting their fit with the minority culture. These findings further support the idea that cultural emotion norms can both shape or be shaped by close relationships, particularly with friends during adolescence. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).