To Be Bicultural Is to Be Friends? Associating Early Adolescents' Cultural Identities and Behaviors With Friendship Networks in Minority‐Only Schools

ABSTRACT Many ethnic minoritized adolescents attend minority‐only schools with no ethnic majoritized classmates, but we know little about their acculturation and friendships in such settings. This study examined how early adolescents' heritage and mainstream cultural identities and behaviors associated with friendship ties in minority‐only class networks. Early adolescents ( N = 146, M age = 11.24, 54.4% boys) in minority‐only primary schools reported their heritage and mainstream cultural identities and behaviors and completed a sociometric measure of their friendship networks. Exponential Random Graph Models revealed that stronger heritage cultural identities and behaviors were associated with more friendships in class. Whereas mainstream cultural behaviors were linked to more friendships, stronger mainstream cultural identities were associated with fewer friendships, however. Early adolescents' cultural orientations were linked to friendship ties in minority‐only classes, yet associations differed between cultural identities and behaviors. Our findings highlight the need for a more nuanced approach of acculturation in early adolescence.