IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/socarx/pu2c4_v2.html

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

Author

Listed:
  • Rosche, Benjamin

    (New York University - Abu Dhabi)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosche, Benjamin, 2026. "Social Closure in U.S. High Schools? Patterns and Determinants of Socioeconomic Segregation in Adolescent Friendship Networks," SocArXiv pu2c4_v2, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:pu2c4_v2
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/pu2c4_v2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/6a05759bbdfc7d3e569c7f38/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/pu2c4_v2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Raj Chetty & Matthew O. Jackson & Theresa Kuchler & Johannes Stroebel & Nathaniel Hendren & Robert B. Fluegge & Sara Gong & Federico Gonzalez & Armelle Grondin & Matthew Jacob & Drew Johnston & Martin, 2022. "Social capital I: measurement and associations with economic mobility," Nature, Nature, vol. 608(7921), pages 108-121, August.
    2. Massenkoff, Maxim & Wilmers, Nathan, 2025. "Rubbing shoulders: Class segregation in daily activities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    3. Steven Goodreau & James Kitts & Martina Morris, 2009. "Birds of a feather, or friend of a friend? using exponential random graph models to investigate adolescent social networks," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 46(1), pages 103-125, February.
    4. Cranmer, Skyler J. & Desmarais, Bruce A., 2017. "What Can We Learn from Predictive Modeling?," Political Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 25(2), pages 145-166, April.
    5. McMillan, Cassie, 2022. "Strong and weak tie homophily in adolescent friendship networks: An analysis of same-race and same-gender ties," Network Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 10(3), pages 283-300, September.
    6. An, Weihua & Mcconnell, Will R., 2015. "The origins of asymmetric ties in friendship networks: From status differential to self-perceived centrality," Network Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 3(2), pages 269-292, June.
    7. Gergő Tóth & Johannes Wachs & Riccardo Clemente & Ákos Jakobi & Bence Ságvári & János Kertész & Balázs Lengyel, 2021. "Inequality is rising where social network segregation interacts with urban topology," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, December.
    8. Pavel N. Krivitsky & Pietro Coletti & Niel Hens, 2023. "A Tale of Two Datasets: Representativeness and Generalisability of Inference for Samples of Networks," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 118(544), pages 2213-2224, October.
    9. Snijders, Tom A.B. & Lomi, Alessandro, 2019. "Beyond homophily: Incorporating actor variables in statistical network models," Network Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(1), pages 1-19, March.
    10. Caetano, Gregorio & Macartney, Hugh, 2021. "What determines school segregation? The crucial role of neighborhood factors," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Duxbury, Scott W, 2019. "Mediation and Moderation in Statistical Network Models," SocArXiv 9bs4u, Center for Open Science.
    2. Wang, Xi & Pei, Tao & Song, Ci & Chen, Jie & Shu, Hua & Liu, Yaxi & Guo, Sihui & Chen, Xiao, 2023. "How does socioeconomic status influence social relations? A perspective from mobile phone data," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 615(C).
    3. Simpson, Cohen R., 2022. "Social support and network formation in a small-scale horticulturalist population," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 116694, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Charles Dupont & Debraj Roy, 2025. "Emergent poverty traps at multiple levels impede social mobility," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-17, December.
    5. Arkangel M. Cordero & Alexander C. Lewis, 2024. "How Does Regional Social Capital Structure the Relationship Between Entrepreneurship, Ethnic Diversity, and Residential Segregation?," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 48(3), pages 788-825, May.
    6. Duxbury, Scott W, 2018. "Diagnosing Multicollinearity in Exponential Random Graph Models," SocArXiv 2tgm7, Center for Open Science.
    7. Geeraert, Joke & Rocha, Luis E.C. & Vandeviver, Christophe, 2024. "The impact of violent behavior on co-offender selection: Evidence of behavioral homophily," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    8. repec:osf:socarx:rd6kw_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Horrigan, John B. & Whitacre, Brian E. & Galperin, Hernan, 2024. "Understanding uptake in demand-side broadband subsidy programs: The affordable connectivity program case," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(8).
    10. Mikko Silliman & Juuso Mäkinen, 2026. "Life-cycle effects of public childcare: Evidence on children and their parents," RFBerlin Discussion Paper Series 26004, ROCKWOOL Foundation Berlin (RFBerlin).
    11. Robert Braid, 2024. "Alternative forms of remuneration at the Holy Spirit Hospital of Marseille in the Fourteenth century," Post-Print hal-04573252, HAL.
    12. Tanner Regan & Andreas Diemer & Cheng Keat Tang, 2023. "The Role of Social Connections in the Racial Segregation of US Cities," Working Papers 2023-05, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    13. Yen-Sheng Chiang & Yi-Chun Chang & Wei Weng, 2024. "To Blend in or Hide Out? A Network Analysis on Maritime Criminal Co-voyages in Taiwan," Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 373-393, June.
    14. Xiong, Ning & Wei, Yehua Dennis, 2025. "Economic inequality, intergenerational mobility, and life expectancy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 366(C).
    15. repec:osf:socarx:nkydt_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Luo, Peikun & Chen, Yongqing & Shan, Donglu & Wang, Pengcheng, 2025. "Internet use, social capital and high-quality employment," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    17. Zhang, Shuyu & Wei, Fei & Zhang, Yanji & Li, Yayu & Zhu, Lingjia & Guo, Huagui, 2025. "Unequal partnerships: Asymmetrical effects of urban economic linkages on land-use efficiency in 284 cities, China," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    18. Tsvetkova, Milena & Olsson, Henrik & Galesic, Mirta, 2024. "Social networks affect redistribution decisions and polarization," OSF Preprints bw7ux_v1, Center for Open Science.
    19. Postigo-Boix, Marcos & Melús-Moreno, José L., 2018. "A social model based on customers’ profiles for analyzing the churning process in the mobile market of data plans," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 496(C), pages 571-592.
    20. Qian Yu & Patience Pokuaa Gambrah, 2024. "Information Network Among Farmers: A Case Study in Ghana," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(1), pages 21582440241, January.
    21. Herrero Olarte, Susana & Torrent, Joan & Aguirre, Kamila, 2024. "Internet use at work and income inequality in Ecuador," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    22. Duxbury, Scott W, 2017. "Diagnosing Multicollinearity in Exponential Random Graph Models," OSF Preprints hz93j, Center for Open Science.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:pu2c4_v2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arabixiv.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.