Social Closure in U.S. High Schools? Patterns and Determinants of Socioeconomic Segregation in Adolescent Friendship Networks

Benjamin Rosche
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Benjamin Rosche: New York University - Abu Dhabi

No pu2c4_v2, SocArXiv from Center for Open Science

Abstract: Adolescent friendship networks exhibit limited interaction across socioeconomic and racial lines. Using Add Health data and a novel exponential random graph model, this study examines socioeconomic segregation in high school friendships and its relationship to racial segregation. Results show that networks are segregated less by socioeconomic status (SES) than by race, yet low-SES students are excluded from high-SES circles to a similar degree. Crucially, unlike racial segregation, which is mutual, socioeconomic segregation is unilateral: many ties from low-SES to high-SES peers go unreciprocated. A decomposition of determinants shows about 60 percent reflects differences in schools’ socioeconomic composition, while 40 percent arises from within-school friendship choices. Within schools, segregation arises less from SES-stratified courses and extracurriculars than from racial homophily, SES-based popularity differences, and triadic closure. Thus, while between-school compositional differences limit who can meet, within schools, segregation is shaped more by students’ preferences and network processes than by meeting opportunities.

Date: 2026-05-14
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:osf:socarx:pu2c4_v2

DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/pu2c4_v2

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