Religious friendship preferences of Muslim and non-Muslim students in German schools: Bright boundaries everywhere or contingent on the proportion of Muslim classmates?

MUSLIM students; MUSLIM youth; MUSLIMS; FRIENDSHIP; TEENAGERS; ADOLESCENCE; GERMAN language

• Muslim youth' religious homophily does not depend on the share of Muslim classmates. • Non-Muslims' reluctance to be friends with Muslims peaks at medium shares of Muslims. • Non-Muslims are not reluctant to befriend Muslims at low or high shares of Muslims. • The share of Muslim classmates thus has different effects on Muslims and non-Muslims. While network studies have shown that preferences of both Muslim and non-Muslim adolescents contribute to religious friendship segregation, it is unclear whether these preferences are ubiquitous or dependent on local context. Examining large-scale longitudinal friendship network data of adolescents in Germany, we investigate how the proportion of Muslim classmates affects friendship preferences of Muslims and non-Muslims. We find that Muslim youth favor Muslims over non-Muslims to a similar degree at all proportions of Muslim classmates. Non-Muslims' reluctance to be friends with Muslims peaks in classrooms in which about half of the students are Muslims but is otherwise lower or absent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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