From mate to hate? Prejudice socialization in friendship networks.

= 2,484 adolescents in 10 German schools). Results from the longitudinal social network model showed that individuals' levels of prejudice became more similar to their friends' levels of prejudice over time, providing evidence of socialization. Results from the empirically informed network simulations revealed that socialization produced at most a 3% change in prejudice over 9 months, reflecting a small effect size akin to the effects of prejudice-reduction interventions. Increases, decreases, and stability in prejudice were observed in the simulations, depending on the initial levels of prejudice among individuals and their friends. Socialization was strongest among friends who held initially opposing attitudes, which led both high- and low-prejudice individuals to become more neutral over time. The findings thus suggest that socialization has a neutralizing effect, rather than a polarizing effect, on prejudice in adolescent friendship networks. This research has methodological implications for the estimation of effect sizes in psychological studies and practical implications for network interventions that aim to utilize socialization to reduce societal prejudice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).