Cultural Socialization as a Moderator of Friendships and Social Competence

This study examined the direct and moderating role of cultural socialization in relation to same-race and cross-race friendships and social competence among Asian American late-adolescents (N = 146). We hypothesized that same-race and cross-race friendships would be uniquely associated with social competence, but that these associations would be moderated by cultural socialization practices targeting enculturation and preparation for bias. Using Pearson correlations, cross-race friendships were significantly correlated with social competence, whereas same-race friendships had a marginally significant relation. In moderator analyses, only preparation for bias was a significant moderator of cross-race friendships in relation to social competence. Specifically, for late-adolescents who reported a high level of preparation for bias, there was a positive relation between cross-race friendships and social competence. There were no significant interactions between same-race friendships and any dimension of cultural socialization in relation to social competence. The findings support the relevance of cultural socialization in Asian American late-adolescent social development.