[en] Friendships can be interpreted as voluntary relationships between individuals and characterised as relatively amorphous bond. Since migration usually diversifies people’s social bonds, it can be suggested that in this context friendships have to be reconfigured. Even though friendships are important for societal integration and related to individual well-being, migration research has treated friendships as a side issue. This chapter aims to narrow this gap by answering three questions: Are there significant differences between emigrants and non-mobiles in their number of close friends? What are important factors influencing emigrants’ number of close friends abroad? How does this number develop during the first years after emigration? Based on data from the German Emigration and Remigration Panel Study and the German Socio-Economic Panel, the results show that emigrants have more friends than non-mobiles. Additionally, we find that individual characteristics and cultural distance between emigrant and host society or the intension to stay in the emigration country are significantly related to emigrants’ friendship network size. Furthermore, we find that identification with the emigration country is the most influential factor on the size of the friendship networks during the first 2 years after arrival. Our results also provide some evidence that there is an optimal size of the close-friendship-network.
Disciplines :
Sociology & social sciences
Author, co-author :
Decieux, Jean Philippe Pierre ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education (FLSHASE) > Integrative Research Unit: Social and Individual Development (INSIDE)
Mörchen, Luisa
External co-authors :
yes
Language :
English
Title :
Emigration, Friends, and Social Integration: The Determinants and Development of Friendship Network Size After Arrival
Akaeda, N. (2018). Social contact with family and relatives and happiness: Does the association vary with defamilialization? European Sociological Review, 34(2), 157–168.
Bahns, A. J. (2019). Preference, opportunity, and choice: A multilevel analysis of diverse friendship formation. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 22(2), 233–252.
Baumeister, R., & Leary, M. (1995). The need to belong: Desire for interpersonal attachments as a fundamental human motivation. Psychological Bulletin, 117(3), 497–529.
Blau, P. M. (1994). Structural contexts of opportunities. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Bowlby, S. (2011). Friendship, co-presence and care: neglected spaces. Social & Cultural Geography, 12(6), 605–622.
Bunnell, T., Yea, S., Peake, L., Skelton, T., & Smith, M. (2012). Geographies of friendships. Progress in Human Geography, 36(4), 490–507.
Cheng, S., & Xie, Y. (2013). Structural effect of size on interracial friendship. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(18), 7165–7169.
de Vroome, T., & van Tubergen, F. (2014). Settlement intentions of recently arrived immigrants and refugees in the Netherlands. Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 12(1), 47–66.
Décieux, J. P., Heinen, A., & Willems, H. (2018). Social media and its role in friendship-driven interactions among young people: A mixed methods study. Young, 27(1), 18–31.
Elmer, T., Boda, Z., & Stadtfeld, C. (2017). The co-evolution of emotional well-being with weak and strong friendship ties. Network Science, 5(3), 278–307.
Ette, A., Décieux, J. P., Erlinghagen, M., Guedes Auditor, J., Sander, N., Schneider, N. F., & Witte, N. (2021). Surveying across borders: The experiences of the German emigration and remigration panel study. In M. Erlinghagen, A. Ette, N. F. Schneider, & N. Witte (Eds.), The global lives of German migrants. Consequences of international migration across the life course. Cham: Springer.
Feld, S. L. (1981). The focused organization of social ties. American Journal of Sociology, 86(5), 1015–1035.
Fong, E., & Isajiw, W. W. (2000). Determinants of friendship choices in multiethnic society. Sociological Forum, 15(2), 249–271.
Goebel, J., Grabka Markus, M., Liebig, S., Kroh, M., Richter, D., Schröder, C., and Schupp, J. (2018). The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). doi: https://doi.org/10.1515/jbnst-2018-0022.
Granovetter, M. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78(6), 1360–1380.
Güngör, N. D., & Tansel, A. (2014). Brain drain from Turkey: Return intentions of skilled migrants. International Migration, 52(5), 208–226.
Guveli, A., Ganzeboom, H. B. G., Platt, L., Nauck, B., Baykara-Krumme, H., Eroğlu, Ş., Bayrakdar, S., Sözeri, E. K., & Spierings, N. (2016). Intergenerational consequences of migration. Socio-economic, family and cultural patterns of stability and change in Turkey and Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hamaker, E. L., & Muthén, B. (2019). The fixed versus random effects debate and how it relates to centering in multilevel modeling. Psychological Methods, 25, 365.
Harris, K., & Vazire, S. (2016). On friendship development and the Big Five personality traits. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 10(11), 647–667.
Haug, S. (2008). Migration networks and migration decision-making. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 34(4), 585–605.
Hoechle, D. (2007). Robust standard errors for panel regressions with cross-sectional dependence. The Stata Journal, 7(3), 281–312.
Hofstede, G. (1983). National cultures in four dimensions: A research-based theory of cultural differences among nations. International Studies of Management & Organization, 13(1–2), 46–74.
Hsiao, C. (2014). Analysis of panel data. Cambridge University Press.
Jäckle, A., & Eckman, S. (2019). Is that still the same? Has that changed? On the accuracy of measuring change with dependent interviewing. Journal of Survey Statistics and Methodology, 8, 706.
Kalmijn, M. (1998). Intermarriage and homogamy: Causes, patterns, trends. Annual Review of Sociology, 24(1), 395–421.
Larrison, J. (2019). Integrating Immigrants into Local Communities. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 29(4), 640–642.
Mansfeld, L. (2021). Out of sight, out of mind? Frequency of emigrants’ contact with friends in Germany and its impact on subjective well-being. In M. Erlinghagen, A. Ette, N. F. Schneider, & N. Witte (Eds.), The global lives of German migrants. Consequences of international migration across the life course. Cham: Springer.
Martinovic, B., van Tubergen, F., & Maas, I. (2015). A longitudinal study of interethnic contacts in Germany: Estimates from a multilevel growth curve model. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 41, 83.
McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. M. (2001). Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27(1), 415–444.
Perales, F. (2014). How wrong were we? Dependent interviewing, self-reports and measurement error in occupational mobility in panel surveys. Longitudinal and Life Course Studies, 5(3), 299–316.
Pratsinakis, M., Hatziprokopiou, P., Labrianidis, L., & Vogiatzis, N. (2017). Living together in multi-ethnic cities: People of migrant background, their interethnic friendships and the neighbourhood. Urban Studies, 54(1), 102–118.
Roberts, S. G. B., Dunbar, R. I., Pollet, T. V., & Kuppens, T. (2009). Exploring variation in active network size: Constraints and ego characteristics. Social Networks, 31(2), 138–146.
Ryan, L. (2011). Migrants' social networks and weak ties: Accessing resources and constructing relationships post-migration. The Sociological Review, 59(4), 707–724.
Schacht, D., Kristen, C., & Tucci, I. (2014). Interethnische Freundschaften in Deutschland. Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie, 66, 445–458.
Schaeffer, M. (2013). Inter-ethnic neighbourhood acquaintances of migrants and natives in Germany: On the brokering roles of inter-ethnic partners and children. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 39(8), 1219–1240.
Schroedter, J., & Kalter, F. (2009). Binationale Ehen in Deutschland. Trends und Mechanismen der sozialen Assimilation. In F. Kalter (Ed.), Migration und Integration. Sonderheft 48/2008 der Kölner Zeitschrift für Soziologie und Sozialpsychologie (pp. 351–379). Wiesbaden: Springer.
Seber, G. A. F., & Lee, A. J. (2012). Linear regression analysis. John Wiley & Sons.
Sime, D., & Fox, R. (2015). Home abroad: Eastern European children’s family and peer relationships after migration. Childhood, 22(3), 377–393.
Smith, S. (2018). Befriending the same differently: ethnic, socioeconomic status, and gender differences in same-ethnic friendship. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 44(11), 1858–1880.
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. C. (1986). The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. In S. Worchel & W. G. Austin (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 7–24). Monterey: Brooks/Cole.
Trahms, A., Matthes, B., & Ruland, M. (2016). Collecting life-course data in a panel design: Why and how we use proactive dependent interviewing. In H.-P. Blossfeld, J. von Maurice, M. Bayer, & J. Skopek (Eds.), Methodological issues of longitudinal surveys: The example of the national educational panel study (pp. 349–366). Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden.
Tropp, L. R., O'Brien, T. C., & Migacheva, K. (2014). How peer norms of inclusion and exclusion predict children's interest in cross-ethnic friendships. Journal of Social Issues, 70(1), 151–166.
Turner, R., & Cameron, L. (2016). Confidence in contact: A new perspective on promoting cross-group friendship among children and adolescents. Social Issues and Policy Review, 10(1), 212–246.
van der Horst, M., & Coffé, H. (2012). How friendship network characteristics influence subjective well-being. Social Indicators Research, 107(3), 509–529.
Vertovec, S. (2004). Cheap calls: the social glue of migrant transnationalism. Global Networks, 4(2), 219–224.
Wagner, G. G., Frick, J. R., & Schupp, J. (2007). The German Socio-economic panel study (SOEP)—Evolution, scope and enhancements. Berlin: DIW Berlin / SOEP.
Wrzus, C., Zimmermann, J., Mund, M., & Neyer, F. J. (2017). Friendships in young and middle adulthood: Normative patterns and personality differences. The Psychology of Friendship, 21–38.
Wrzus, C., & Neyer, F. J. (2017). Co-development of personality and friendships across the lifespan. European Psychologist, 21(4), 254–273.
