The Role of Peers in the Adaptation Processes of Immigrant Youth

Kathleen Mullan Harris, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Guang Guo, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Kathryn Harker, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

This research examines the role of peer context in the adaptation processes of immigrant youth using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. We document differentials in school achievement and substance use by immigrant status and explore peer composition and peer climate factors as potential mediating mechanisms that may explain the acculturation of immigrant youth. Consistent with prior research on immigrant advantage, first generation adolescents have higher school achievement and less use of substances than second and third+ generation youth. We explore the extent to which peer networks of immigrant youth are largely made up of foreign-born and co-ethnic friends, thereby reinforcing the immigrant advantage. To the extent that immigrant youth have native-born, non-Hispanic white friends, we expect this advantage to be eroded through acculturation. We also contrast the normative climate of peer networks by immigrant generation to examine peer exposure to native attitudes and norms of behavior.