Young people are constantly warned what will happen if they hang out with the wrong crowd, but a new study finds that when it comes to prejudices and stereotypes, friends do not have much influence. The study by psychologist Harold D. Fishbein, Ph.D., and sociologist Neal Ritchey, Ph.D., found no significant effects from the attitudes of friends on an adolescent's prejudices or stereotypes.

The study involved administering questionnaires to 426 ninth and eleventh graders at two nearly exclusively white Catholic schools, one for males and one for females. The students answered questions measuring five types of prejudice and stereotyping, including prejudice against those with AIDS, blacks, homosexuals, fat people and sex role stereotyping. Each student also listed up to five of their closest friends in the classroom and answered questions about his or her closeness to each. The researchers did not find significant effects of friend's attitudes on an adolescent's prejudices or stereotypes, regardless of whether the focus is the attitude of the two closest friends, the closest friend, or two reciprocated friends. Moreover, these findings were not affected by the emotional distance or closeness adolescents felt with their parents.

"There are a number of possible reasons why the prejudices and stereotypes of adolescents are not influenced by their friends," said Dr. Fishbein. "First, friends are chosen mainly on the basis of shared activities and discussions of prejudice and stereotyping may be rare in adolescents' interactions with their friends, which would produce limited influence. Secondly, adolescents may influence each others' behaviors, but not their attitudes; there is often a discrepancy between attitudes and behavior." The final possible explanation for no effect being found, according to Dr. Fishbein, is that the participants in the study were relatively low in prejudice and stereotyping. People who are very prejudiced may choose friends who have the same beliefs.

Dr. Fishbein can be reached at (513) 556-5563.

09/09/99

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