The (Diverse) Company You Keep: Content and Structure of Immigrants’ Social Networks as a Window Into Intercultural Relations in Catalonia

Summary

This research examines how the social networks of immigrants residing in a European bicultural and bilingual context (Catalonia) relate to levels of adjustment (both psychological and sociocultural) and to bicultural identity integration (BII). Moroccan, Pakistani, Ecuadorian, and Romanian immigrants residing in Barcelona nominated 25 individuals (i.e., alters) from their habitual social networks and provided demographic (e.g., ethnicity), relationship type (e.g., family, friend, neighbor), and structural (who knew whom) information for each of these alters. Even after controlling for individual-level demographic and acculturation variables, the content and structure of immigrants’ personal social networks had unique associations with both types of adjustment and with BII. Specifically, th