Universität zu Köln

Lämmermann, Kathrin (2026). Navigating Diversity: A Social Network Perspective on Ethnic Relations in the School Context. PhD thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

Immigration has substantially diversified Germany’s population in ethnic, religious, and cultural terms, particularly among young people. The focus of this dissertation is therefore on the social and cultural dimensions of integration among adolescents in schools. Specifically, it investigates whether and how the interplay between these dimensions is connected to: (1) ethnic homophily in students’ friendships on one side and frictions between students of different ethnic origins on the other, (2) lower mental wellbeing for students in social and cultural brokerage positions among friends, and (3) the emerging gender gap in Muslim youths’ interreligious friendships during adolescence. This dissertation adopts a social network perspective, using social network data and methods, and complements it with an ecological perspective, which situates adolescents and their relations in school within a broader sociocultural framework of multiple social contexts, cultural influences, and ethno-religious group norms. The empirical analyses draw on comprehensive cross-sectional and longitudinal datasets from three large-scale, whole-network surveys among schoolchildren in up to 39 German secondary schools and 2,700 students. In addition, advanced cross-sectional and longitudinal analysis methods (e.g., exponential random graph models, meta-analytical techniques, and random growth curve models) are used for the rigorous empirical investigation of the specific research questions. Overall, the findings suggest that ethnic peer relations in school are partly influenced by a broader sociocultural ecology encompassing adolescents’ multiple social contexts and external group norms that lie beyond the school environment. The outcomes of Studies 2 and 3 indicate that cultural aspects related to ethnic and religious group norms pose – to some extent – challenges and barriers to social integration: occupying a brokerage position between friends with different ethnic origins was associated with lower mental wellbeing among adolescents, whereas brokerage between same-ethnic friends was not. The mental health risks associated with inter-ethnic brokerage applied equally to ethnic minority and (native) majority students (Study 2). Moreover, gendered religious norms contributed to the emergence of stronger ingroup bias in friendships among Muslim girls than Muslim boys during adolescence, whereby norm-related factors (religiosity, parental control, and leisure time activities) explained about one third of this pattern through their gender-specific development or effects (Study 3). At the same time, the findings of Study 1 refute alarmist notions that culture shapes peer relations in ways that indicate or promote frictions between students of different ethnic backgrounds. Although schools characterised by stronger ethnic homophily in friendships revealed a greater relative prevalence of inter-ethnic dislike, violent interactions tended to be more strongly concentrated within ethnic group boundaries in such school contexts – largely attributable to the greater social closeness and interactions among students of the same ethnic group. This dissertation provides new perspectives on adolescent integration and a more nuanced understanding of the interplay between social and cultural integration in educational settings. It outlines fruitful directions for future integration research and shows how its insights can inform schools’ practical efforts to promote integration and understand its processes among their students.