When race and religion collide: The effect of religion on interracial friendship during college.

Abstract

This study analyzes data from the National Longitudinal Study of Freshmen (NLSF) to examine whether religious affiliation and involvement are related to the outcome of interracial friendship in the fourth year of college. When controlling for students' demographic characteristics, institutional characteristics, and previous levels of interracial friendship, being Protestant or Jewish was negatively related to interracial friendship. In addition, students who reported higher levels of religious salience and involvement in campus religious organizations were significantly less likely to have close friends of another race by the fourth year of college. Findings highlight the need for educators to understand the role of religion in shaping students' precollege and college experiences with diversity.

Interracial Friendship and Structural Diversity: Trends for Greek, Religious, and Ethnic Student Organizations

“…Overall, higher structural diversity (a measure capturing the racial heterogeneity of the student body or the percentage of students of color) is associated with higher levels of cross-racial interaction and interracial friendship (Bowman, 2012;Chang, Astin, & Kim, 2004;Fischer, 2008;Park, 2012;Sáenz, 2010). However, even at racially diverse institutions, students may spend their free time in racially homogeneous student subcultures.…”

“…interaction and interracial friendship (Park, 2012;Sáenz, 2010;Stearns, Buchmann, & Bonneau, 2009) while ethnic student organizations have generally not.…”

“Man, This Is Hard”: A Case Study of How Race and Religion Affect Cross-Racial Interaction for Black Students

“…Propinquity explains why structural diversity-the racial composition of the institution-plays an essential role in supporting cross-racial interaction and interracial friendship during college because such interactions are literally impossible without the availability of diverse peers (Blau & Schwartz, 1984). Structural diversity is a significant predictor of having a close friend of another race during college, even when controlling for pre-college interracial friendship (Fischer, 2008;Park, 2012). Structural diversity also matters because the lack of a critical mass of students of color can result in tokenization and marginalization, contributing to the likelihood that the cross-racial interactions that do occur in the college environment will be of a more negative nature (Kanter, 1977;Hurtado, Milem, Clayton-Pederson, & Allen, 1998).…”

“…Over time, overtly racist practices gave way to the use of more color-blind language by Christians (Hawkins, 2009); however, White Christians and Black Christians generally have drastically different viewpoints on issues of racial inequality, and the two groups generally worship in separate congregations despite sharing a common faith (Emerson & Smith, 2000). Thus, when religion arrives on a campus with a history of perpetuating racial divisions, it is perhaps not surprising that most campus fellowships are racially and/or ethnically homogeneous communities, which likely limit students' opportunities for cross-racial interaction and friendship (Park, 2012). In an analysis of a national longitudinal dataset, Park (2012) found that students who were more religious and who participated in campus religious organizations were significantly less likely to have close friends of other races during college.…”

“…Thus, when religion arrives on a campus with a history of perpetuating racial divisions, it is perhaps not surprising that most campus fellowships are racially and/or ethnically homogeneous communities, which likely limit students' opportunities for cross-racial interaction and friendship (Park, 2012). In an analysis of a national longitudinal dataset, Park (2012) found that students who were more religious and who participated in campus religious organizations were significantly less likely to have close friends of other races during college.…”