Abstract
<p>Building on research linking social diversity to well-being, we examined how racial outgroup representation in individuals’ close social networks relates to mental well-being during two periods of heightened societal stress: the COVID-19 pandemic and a polarized election period. Across two large, nationally representative datasets (N = 4,955), we observed a curvilinear relationship: moderate racial outgroup representation was linked to the lowest levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms, whereas both low and high outgroup representation were associated with worse outcomes. These associations were observed even after accounting for ingroup representation, outgroup dispersion, network size, and key demographic covariates. We then examined maladaptive and adaptive coping strategies and perceived social cohesion as candidate pathways. Moderate outgroup representation was consistently associated with lower maladaptive coping, whereas associations with adaptive coping were weaker and inconsistent. Data were consistent with an indirect linear effect of outgroup representation on well-being through increased perceived social cohesion, suggesting that although perceived social cohesion does not account for the observed curvilinear pattern, it is an important correlate of outgroup representation. Together, these findings emphasize that social network diversity has a nonlinear association with well-being and that targeting maladaptive coping may be particularly useful for promoting well-being in diverse contexts.</p>