Tobias H. Stark

In an increasingly ethnically diverse Europe, this study examined the potential of dual identifiers, those identifying with both a national majority and an ethnic minority, such as German–Turkish individuals, to facilitate integration. As members of two groups, dual identifiers may be in the advantageous position to form more interethnic connections in ethnically diverse social networks. We propose that dual identifiers' intergroup behavior and their attractiveness as friends depends on how they construct their dual identity, such as identifying with both identities equally (compartmentalization), identifying more with the majority group (dominance‐majority), or more with the minority group (dominance‐minority). We analyzed three waves of German school data (averagely 1965 students per wave, 45% dual identifiers). Longitudinal social network analysis (stochastic actor–oriented models) indicated that dual identifiers primarily befriended peers from their mono‐minority group rather than forming connections to both groups they belong to. Analyses that took the different constructions of dual identity into account further showed that (1) stronger national identification did not alter friendship preferences but increased acceptance by the majority group; (2) mono‐majority identifiers treated dual and mono‐minority identifiers similarly; and (3) different types of dual identifiers exhibited similar friendship patterns, suggesting that identity construction did not significantly correlate with network preferences. These findings challenge assumptions that dual identifiers can connect different ethnic groups in interethnic networks, highlighting the complexity of interethnic social ties.

Practices of bribery in the delivery of public services become entrenched when they are driven by social norms of reciprocity. The resulting economies of favours, which are common across diverse geographical regions, are resilient to conventional anti‐corruption measures because they are underpinned by strong social pressures. This article describes the results of a behaviour change intervention to address gift‐giving as a form of bribery in a Tanzanian hospital. The intervention utilised environmental cues and a peer‐led network approach to deliver messages aimed at disincentivising bribery. An exit survey of hospital users indicates a reduction of the ‘gift‐offering propensity score’, capturing self‐declared behaviour, from 23% before implementation of the intervention to 13% afterwards. We find similar changes in the enabling norms score. Semi‐structured interviews with hospital users and health workers further support these findings. These results suggest that practices and norms around bribery might be changed through a multi‐pronged approach that addresses both the ‘supply’ and ‘demand’ side of bribery.

Both interests and peer relations are crucial for adolescents in finding out who they are and want to be as a person. Yet, our knowledge of the co-evolution of friendships and interests is limited to studies focusing on single interest domains and/or practices predetermined by researchers. A total of 1599 Dutch adolescents participated in this study, which employs a unique design to examine the co-evolution of all participant-defined interests and in- and out-of-school friendships. In total, 368 specific interest areas were identified. Multilevel social network analyses (i.e., using multivariate stochastic actor-oriented models) of a subsample of 935 adolescents in seven schools indicate that adolescents are more likely, over time, to have similar interests to their friends. Interests that were reported rarely or very often contributed less to these dynamics. Additionally, being similarly interested increased the likelihood of being friends. Our findings show that social structures are related to interest development and how being interested is mediated by the places and spaces of adolescents’ lives.

Preferences to interact with similar others are a barrier to positive intergroup contact and, thus, peaceful intergroup relations. A growing literature investigated what shapes contact preferences but more research on changeable factors that can be targeted by interventions is needed. In this article, we focused on preferences for interacting with religiously similar others. To create an interface between practice and research, our hypotheses on changeable determinants of preferences are informed by qualitative interviews on everyday practices of peaceful coexistence in Togo and Sierra Leone. We expected inclusive religious ideas, adaptive coping and emotion regulation skills, and knowledge of outgroup religious practices to be related to weaker preferences for similar others. Further, we argued these associations may vary depending on neighborhood levels of interreligious peace. We tested our hypotheses using survey data ( N = 1828) collected among Muslims and Christians in 50 neighborhoods of Lomé (Togo) and Freetown (Sierra Leone). We found that inclusive ideas and knowledge of outgroup practices were associated with weaker, and exclusive ideas with stronger, preferences for similar others. These findings mostly held across groups and countries. Coping and emotion regulation skills did not matter systematically and our hypotheses about the role of neighborhood‐level peace was refuted.