To understand the complex nature of bullies' acceptance and rejection, this article considered goal-framing effects of status and affection as they relate to the gender of the bully (male vs. female bullies), the target (male vs. female victims), and the evaluator (acceptance and rejection from male vs. female classmates). The hypotheses were tested with data from a social network questionnaire conducted in 26 elementary school classes (N = 481 children; M age = 10.5 years). The findings revealed that bullies were only rejected by those for whom they were a potential threat and that bullies generally chose their victims so as to minimize loss of affection by choosing victims who were not likely to be defended by significant others.

To examine the unique functions of same- and cross-ethnic friendships, Latino (n = 536) and African American (n = 396) sixth-grade students (Mage = 11.5 years) were recruited from 66 classrooms in 10 middle schools that varied in ethnic diversity. Participants reported on the number of same- and cross-ethnic friends, perceived vulnerability, friendship quality, and the private regard dimension of ethnic identity. Whereas same-ethnic friendships were uniquely associated with stronger private regard, more ethnic diversity and cross-ethnic friendships were uniquely associated with less perceived vulnerability. Multilevel structural equation modeling tested whether cross-ethnic friendships mediated the diversity-vulnerability relation. Although cross-ethnic friendships did not significantly mediate this relation at the classroom level, these friendships predicted less vulnerability at the individual student level.

Research on intergroup contact (Allport, 1954) repeatedly found that positive contact with members of a different group is related to more favorable outgroup attitudes (Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006). This relation appears to be stronger for more intimate forms of intergroup contact, like friendships (Davies, Tropp, Aron, Pettigrew, & Wright, 2011). The potential of intergroup friendships to improve outgroup attitudes raises concerns about the lack of intergroup friendships that is typically found in friendship networks at

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