Outgroup friendships and social influence in the development of adolescent attitudes toward secondary outgroups.

= 2,559), we found no evidence that having more primary outgroup friends was associated with a change in secondary outgroup attitudes; instead, adolescents' attitudes became more similar over time to those of their primary outgroup friends. Study 3, a simulation, further showed that social influence can lead to either more positive or more negative attitudes toward secondary outgroups. Thus, friendships with primary outgroup members may have negative implications for secondary outgroups when those friends hold more negative attitudes. We discuss how social influence can advance research on the generalization of intergroup contact effects. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).