A Comparative Perspective on Mothers’ Ethnic Homophily Among Minority Groups in Germany and Israel

Abstract

Despite beneficial effects of minority members' contact with majority members, studies have repeatedly shown minorities' tendency of having predominantly intraethnic social contacts, a phenomenon called ethnic homophily. This study aimed at examining ethnic homophily among mothers belonging to minority groups in Germany and Israel. Mothers from four minority groups participated. Groups were defined by level of societal segregation (higher vs. lower residential and cultural segregation of minority groups within a given society) and cultural distance to the majority society (close vs. distant in terms of religion and value similarity with majority population). We expected group differences, with ethnic homophily being highest among minority mothers living in more segregated societies with a large cultural distance to the majority population and vice versa. We also expected within-group variation, with higher levels of homophily being reported by women who use the majority language less frequently, have lower orientations toward natives, have higher orientations toward their own minority, and perceive higher levels of discrimination. The total sample included 1,223 mothers (ethnic German diaspora repatriates and Turks in Germany, Russian Jewish diaspora migrants, and Arabs in Israel). We assessed homophily in strong and weak social network ties. Results revealed the highest homophily (for weak and strong ties) among Israeli Arab mothers and lowest among ethnic German diaspora repatriate mothers with the two other groups located in between the two. Use of majority language emerged as rather universal predictor related to both outcomes in all minority groups, whereas minority and majority orientations were outcome or group specific, respectively. AbstractDespite beneficial effects of minority members' contact to majority members, studies have repeatedly shown minorities' tendency of having predominantly intraethnic social contacts, a phenomenon called ethnic homophily. This study aimed at examining ethnic homophily among mothers belonging to minority groups in Germany and Israel. The female participants represented four minority groups, which were defined by level of societal segregation (higher vs. lower residential and cultural segregation of minority groups within a given society) and cultural distance to the majority society (close vs. distant in terms of religion and value similarity with majority population). We expected group differences, with ethnic homophily being highest among minority mothers living in more segregated societies with a large cultural distance to the majority population and vice versa. We also expected within-group variation, with higher levels of homophily being reported by women who use the majority language less frequently, have lower orientations toward natives, higher orientations toward their own minority, and perceive higher levels of discrimination. The total sample included 1,211 female participants (ethnic German diaspora repatriates and Turks in Germany, RussianJewish d...

Can I Be Myself Around Natives?

“…On the other hand, the longitudinal design allowed us to reveal associations that may be less likely observed in cross-sectional studies. Indeed, previous studies examining the discrimination-friendship relationship cross-sectionally often failed to find significant associations (Titzmann et al, 2016, 2007). Since the effects of discrimination on temporarily rather stable friendship patterns likely take some time to develop, longitudinal study designs like ours may be more adequate to investigate this relationship.…”

“…While it is assumed that these friendship patterns at least partly reflect immigrants' own preference for same-ethnic friends (Franco, 2019;Titzmann, 2014;Titzmann et al, 2007), it should also be kept in mind that natives likely contribute to segregated friendship patterns as well. Natives often show hostile, unwelcoming attitudes toward immigrants (see Titzmann, 2017, for a review), resulting in social barriers that contribute to segregated friendship patterns, too.…”

“…Similarly, ethnicity-based rejection sensitivity – the anxious expectation to be rejected because of one’s ethnic background – has been associated with segregated friendship patterns. Interestingly, no discrimination-friendship-segregation association was found in some studies with a cross-sectional design (Titzmann, Serwata, Silbereisen, & Davidov, 2016; Titzmann et al, 2007) and/or non-visible minorities (Titzmann & Silbereisen, 2009; Titzmann et al, 2007. These findings indicate that (i) visible minorities (such as most of the refugees recently arrived in the West) may be more susceptible to the effects of discrimination (Levin et al, 2003; Walton & Cohen, 2007), and (ii) effects of discrimination on friendship patterns may need time to develop, showing longitudinally, but not necessarily cross-sectionally.…”

Introduction to a special section on Explaining Positive Adaptation of Immigrant and Minority Youth across Cultures

“…Hence, comparative research across countries promises to be highly relevant in the future. First examples of such studies exist that either compare groups in theoretically derived receiving societies (Titzmann, Serwata, Silbereisen, & Davidov, 2016) or use large scale projects that assess various countries that differ systematically in certain domains, such as immigration policies (Stevens et al, 2015). To better address the associations between context and individual adaptation, such research has to become more common and would profit from techniques such as multi‐level modelling as way done in one of the studies in this special section (Deater‐Deckard et al, 2018).…”