Acculturation, Depressive Symptoms, and Friendship Instability among Immigrant Adolescents

Abstract

Recent scholarship suggests that personal tie instability, that is, the dissolution of old ties and the formation of new ties, may lead to psychological distress. However, this association remains understudied among the immigrant population, for whom acculturation may present unique challenges to both personal tie stability and psychological well-being. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health, we investigate the mental health implications of instability in immigrant adolescents’ same-sex best friends, and how it explains the association between acculturation and depressive symptoms. We find that friendship instability was associated with higher depressive symptoms only among immigrant adolescents with a low level of acculturation. For more acculturated adolescents, replacing their original friendship with an interracial friend predicted lower depressive symptoms. These findings imply that friendship instability constitutes a dimension of acculturative stress, with detrimental effects unique to immigrant adolescents in the early stages of acculturation.