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August 29, 2026Behavioral SciencesOpen Access

Friendship Diversity and Adolescents’ Civic Action and Commitment to Social Change

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Authors

KKKara KogachiSGSandra Graham

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Overview

Longitudinal study reveals that racial and ethnic friendship diversity predicts civic action and commitment in adolescents, indicating that valuing diversity and inequality awareness drive engagement.

Key Points

  • To examine whether racial and ethnic friendship diversity predicts adolescents' civic action and commitment to social change over time, and to identify the developmental pathways underlying these links.
  • Analyzed two waves of longitudinal data over 2 years from high school students (N = 3322; 47% female; mean age at T1 = 17.53) assessed in 11th grade (T1) and 12th grade (T2).
  • Included a diverse sample: 11% Black/African American, 16% East/Southeast Asian, 36% Latiné, 24% White, and 12% Multiracial/Biracial.
  • Conducted mediation models and multigroup tests examining awareness of inequality and valuing diversity as indirect developmental mechanisms across racial and ethnic groups.
  • Friendship diversity at T1 significantly predicted higher civic action and commitment to social change 1 year later at T2.
  • The associations were fully indirect, operating through heightened awareness of inequality and greater appreciation for diversity; direct effects became nonsignificant once mediators were included.
  • Multigroup analyses demonstrated that these mediation pathways were consistent across different racial and ethnic groups.

Cite This Study

Kogachi et al. (2026) studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a9299bb8e5d7d1fc0c11cf7https://doi.org/10.3390/bs16091501
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Also Consider

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