Ethnic boundaries and personal choice. Assessing the influence of individual inclinations to choose intra-ethnic relationships on pupils' networks

The existence of ethnic boundaries in 20 pupils' networks is tested by comparing the proportion of intra-ethnic to inter-ethnic relationships, while controlling for the distribution of intra- and inter-ethnic dyads in pupils' networks. Also, we tested if those boundaries are affected by the inclinations of network members in choosing intra-ethnic group relationships. We used the p(2) model for each school network and combined these results in a two-step procedure. Our results supported the hypotheses. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.