Abstract

The social integration of adolescents of foreign origin is of much importance to contemporary Swedish politics, and knowledge is needed about the associations between different forms of leisure and social integration. The present study tests the associations between visits to youth centers and participation in structured leisure activities, on the one hand, and having friends regardless of origin, of native origin, and of foreign origin, on the other. Two-wave longitudinal data from 203 adolescents of foreign origin were collected, including friendship nominations from 1,185 peers. Cross-lagged panel models were constructed, controlling for relevant confounders. Visits to youth centers positively predicted the number of friends of foreign origin, while participation in structured leisure activities positively predicted the number of friends regardless of origin. In conclusion, structured leisure activities appear better than youth centers for promoting the social integration of adolescents of foreign origin into networks of friends of different origins.

摘要

外国青少年的社会融合对当代瑞典政治非常重要，需要了解不同形式的休闲与社会融合之间的联系。本研究一方面检验了访问青年中心与参与结构化休闲活动之间的关联，另一方面，结交朋友，而不论其出身、本土和外国血统。收集了来自 203 名外国青少年的两波纵向数据，包括来自 1,185 名同龄人的友谊提名。构建了交叉滞后面板模型，控制了相关的混杂因素。对青年中心的访问积极预测了外国朋友的数量，而参与结构化休闲活动积极预测朋友的数量，无论其来源如何。总之，结构化休闲活动似乎比青年中心更能促进外国青少年融入不同来源的朋友网络。