Adolescent Friendship Networks: Effects on Immigrant Youth’s Psychosocial Health

The proposed research will assess the impact adolescent friendship networks have on the psychosocial health of immigrant youth (i.e., the 1st and 2nd generation). Immigrant youth are a vulnerable population, with disproportionately high prevalence of adverse psychosocial health outcomes, including higher rates of mental health disorders, and lower sense of belonging, self-esteem, and wellbeing. Adolescence is a critical developmental stage, marked by the ascension in the complexity and importance of peer friendships. Although immigrant youth’s friendship networks look different from non-immigrant youth’s networks in a variety of ways, very little research have examined whether and how these friendship patterns and processes may explain the immigrant-based disparities in psychosocial health. This proposed research will bring more contemporary data to the forefront of research on immigrant youth’s school friendships, generate new and rare data on immigrant youth’s non-school friendships, and use advanced social network analytical methods to provide a more comprehensive examination of the impacts adolescent friendship networks have on the psychosocial health of immigrant youth. During the K99 phase, Dr. Khuu will focus on friendships developed in school, a major peer context shared by both immigrant and nonimmigrant youth. AIM 1 is to identify and understand differences in friendship patterns and processes between immigrant and nonimmigrant youth. AIM 2 is to compare measures of psychosocial health between these two groups and test whether differential friendship patterns and processes explain differences in psychosocial health. During the R00 phase, Dr. Khuu will leverage her training in survey design and network sampling methods as well as in adolescent development and psychosocial health to lead a new data collection effort on immigrant youth’s friendship networks extending beyond school. AIM 3 is to understand how the social contexts of friendships shape friendship patterns and composition. AIM 4 is to test the relationship between immigrant youth’s psychosocial health and these friendship measures. As a sub aim, Dr. Khuu will also take the opportunity to examine heterogeneity among immigrant youth, focusing particularly on the distinctions between refugee and non-refugee youth. Dr. Khuu’s career goal is to become a leading research authority on the friendships, health, and critical life outcomes of immigrant youth. The training and findings of the proposed research will position her favorably to pursue an R01 grant, enabling her to propose a more expansive, longitudinal study that explores the social integration and health of immigrant youth, with a specific focus on refugee youth, who have resettled in a diversity of new immigrant destinations in the United States. Project Number: 4R00HD114887-03 | Fiscal Year: 2026 | NIH Institute/Center: Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) | Principal Investigator: Thoa Khuu | Institution: UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, Boulder, CO | Award Amount: $248,995 | Activity Code: R00 | Study Section: NSS View on NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/4R00HD11488703