تجانس قومی/نژادی در شبکه های فیسبوک دوستی دانشجویان و رفاه ذهنی

We examined the relationship between subjective well-being and the ethnic/racial homogeneity of the Facebook friendship networks of first-year college students. We coded each participant’s “Facebook friends” into European Americans or not. Participants reported their life satisfaction, positive and negative affect, and felt understanding and misunderstanding. Among European American participants, having a more homogeneous friendship network was associated with higher life satisfaction and positive affect, as well as lower felt misunderstanding. Political conservatism was also marginally associated with having more homogeneous friendship networks, as well as marginally higher levels of life satisfaction but did not mediate the relationship between them. Among non-European American participants, we did not find any relationship between the homogeneity of friendship networks and subjective well-being.

Institutions of higher learning strive to create an environment in which people from varied backgrounds can come together in order to receive an education and feel part of a larger community. Much research has shown that ethnically/racially diverse learning environments can be beneficial (see Page (2007) for review). A majority of such studies have, however, focused on cognitive outcomes. Little research has examined the relationship between ethnic/racial diversity and well-being in such contexts. While some research suggests that exposure to racial and ethnic diversity should have a positive association with well-being (e.g., Antonio et al., 2004), Putnam (2007) recently found that residents in ethnically diverse US communities trusted their neighbors and their in-groups less than those who lived in more homogeneous communities. Because general trust is positively associated with subjective well-being (DeNeve & Cooper, 1998), this suggests that there may be reason to expect a negative relationship between ethnic/racial diversity in people’s social networks and subjective well-being. In the current research, we will address this question by investigating the relationship between the homogeneity/diversity of the friendship networks and the subjective well-being of a cohort of first-year college students using the popular social networking website Facebook.

Universities and communities everywhere are becoming increasingly diverse. Fostering diversity is—and should be—an important and necessary goal. It is also important to recognize, however, that there are likely to be individual differences in the type of friendship networks individuals create. In our sample, European Americans high in political conservatism seemed to create more homogenous friendship networks than European Americans low in political conservatism. Furthermore, our European American participants who had homogeneous friendship networks were more satisfied with their lives and felt more positive emotions than those who had more diverse friendship networks. While the research presented here is preliminary, it suggests that there may still be much to learn about people’s responses to diverse others. Indeed, the best way to foster diversity may be to have a thorough understanding of the conditions (short and long-term) in which diverse friendships are likely to form and thrive.