ERIC Number: EJ1480680
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 18
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0897-5264
EISSN: EISSN-1543-3382
Available Date: 0000-00-00
"This Is How We Heal These Divisions": Exploring Prosocial Outcomes of College Students' Boundary-Crossing Friendships
Tara D. Hudson; Alyssa N. Rockenbach
Journal of College Student Development, v66 n4 p436-453 2025
Friendships that cross social boundaries foster the development of important civic and prosocial attitudes among college students. The present study complements and extends prior quantitative findings with qualitative description, in college students' own voices, of the learning and growth that take place within boundary-crossing friendships, including those crossing boundaries of religious, secular, and spiritual (RSS) identity; political beliefs or partisanship; race or ethnicity; and other social differences. We explored how the processes that take place within these relationships might facilitate this learning and growth. Our data consisted of transcripts from 55 focus groups with 268 college students at 18 U.S. institutions. Participants described four friendship outcomes: humanizing difference, developing empathy, shifting attitudes, and desiring justice. We also identified processes that facilitated these outcomes, noting patterns we observed across participants. Our findings provide evidence of student learning and growing through educationally powerful peer relationships. When college students graduate with these capacities, they seek solidarity and justice rather than fomenting hate and social division, advancing the civic mission of higher education.
Descriptors: Friendship, College Students, Student Attitudes, Student Diversity, Peer Relationship, Empathy, Attitude Change, Justice, Cultural Awareness
Johns Hopkins University Press. 2715 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218. Tel: 800-548-1784; Tel: 410-516-6987; Fax: 410-516-6968; e-mail: jlorder@jhupress.jhu.edu; Web site: https://www.press.jhu.edu/journals/list
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A

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