Do cross-race friendships with majority and minority peers protect against the effects of discrimination on school belonging and depressive symptoms?

Although cross-race friendships seem to benefit racially minoritized students, especially in mitigating the adverse impact of racial discrimination, past research has rarely distinguished between cross-race friendships with majority and minority peers. To address this gap, we examined whether cross-race friendships with majority and minority peers moderated the relationships between school-based discrimination with school belonging and depressive symptoms. Participants were 219 Korean domestic and international students (69% female) attending predominantly White institutions in the United States. Consistent with past research, participants reported low percentages of cross-race friendships with majority (M = 22.53%, SD = 18.67%) and minority (M = 10.51%, SD = 11.29%) peers. Cross-race friendships with majority peers reduced the effect of school-based discrimination on school belonging, but not depressive symptoms. By contrast, cross-race friendships with minority peers did not have a protective effect on school belonging or depressive symptoms. Future research should investigate the distinctive roles of cross-race friendships with majority and minority peers.