In German classrooms, refugees were named as friends less often
They also faced more rejections as desk partners: 31% versus 21%. Rejection was lower in more diverse classrooms.
The key idea
Being named as a friend or accepted as a desk partner was not the same for everyone. Rejection was lower where classrooms were more diverse.
The study, in plain language
Classroom life is also visible in concrete gestures: whom students choose as a friend and whom they would accept as a desk partner. The team analyzed friendship and rejection networks in German secondary school classes. The main analysis included 6,390 students in 304 classes, including 487 refugee adolescents.
Refugee students received fewer friendship nominations and more rejections as desk partners. In classrooms with greater ethnic diversity, rejection of refugee students was lower. The authors suggest that more opportunities for contact could help explain this greater acceptance, but this is a hypothesis: the study observed relationships rather than changing them.
What they found
- Refugee students were named as friends by fewer classmates than other students.
- They also received more rejections as desk partners.
- In classrooms with greater ethnic diversity, there were fewer rejections of refugee students as desk partners.
Something to think about
Think back to your school years: whom did you choose to sit with, and whom did nobody choose? Small choices like these also say something about a classroom.
How they studied it
The team analyzed friendship and rejection networks in German secondary school classes without intervening. The overall dataset included 39,154 students across 1,807 classes, while the main analysis focused on 6,390 students across 304 classes, including 487 refugee adolescents. This observational study of school networks does not show that diversity by itself causes greater acceptance.
What the study cannot show
- The design cannot establish that diversity causes greater acceptance.
- Friendship nominations reflect one specific classroom activity, not every form of inclusion.
The original study
Ethnic diversity fosters the social integration of refugee students
Source under CC BY 4.0. English adaptation and explanation by PaperFlow, with AI assistance. The text has been reorganized for a general audience; it is not the complete paper and does not imply endorsement by its authors.
One study alone does not represent a field's consensus. Educational content does not replace professional advice. Report a possible error.
