McMillan Cassie
Department of Sociology & Anthropology, School of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA.
Netw Sci (Camb Univ Press). 2022 Sep;10(3):283-300. doi: 10.1017/nws.2022.24. Epub 2022 Sep 14.
While we know that adolescents tend to befriend peers who share their race and gender, it is unclear whether patterns of homophily vary according to the strength, intimacy, or connectedness of these relationships. By applying valued exponential random graph models to a sample of 153 adolescent friendship networks, I test whether tendencies towards same-race and same-gender friendships differ for strong versus weak relational ties. In nondiverse, primarily white networks, weak ties are more likely to connect same-race peers, while racial homophily is not associated with the formation of stronger friendships. As racial diversity increases, however, strong ties become more likely to connect same-race peers, while weaker bonds are less apt to be defined by racial homophily. Gender homophily defines the patterns of all friendship ties, but these tendencies are more pronounced for weaker connections. My results highlight the empirical value of considering tie strength when examining social processes in adolescent networks.
虽然我们知道青少年倾向于与同种族、同性别的同龄人成为朋友，但尚不清楚同质性模式是否会根据这些关系的强度、亲密度或联系程度而有所不同。通过将有价值的指数随机图模型应用于153个青少年友谊网络的样本，我测试了强弱关系中同种族和同性别友谊的倾向是否存在差异。在非多样化的、主要为白人的网络中，弱关系更有可能连接同种族的同龄人，而种族同质性与更强友谊的形成无关。然而，随着种族多样性的增加，强关系更有可能连接同种族的同龄人，而较弱的关系则不太容易由种族同质性来界定。性别同质性定义了所有友谊关系的模式，但这些倾向在较弱的关系中更为明显。我的研究结果凸显了在研究青少年网络中的社会过程时考虑关系强度的实证价值。
