Роль етнічності у формуванні якості життя населення

Ethnic identity in aboriginal Sami adolescents: the impact of the family and the ethnic community context

Students' ratings of five components of ethnic identity were examined: their ethnic self-label, reference group, ethnically related attitudes (ethnic pride, separatistfeeling, stereotyping of ethnic groups), values, and social expectations. Each component was examined among 32S African American, Latino, Filipino, and Anglo adolescents at an integrated, ethnically balanced high school. The independence of the dimensions of ethnic identity were indicated by modest and nonsignificant correlations among the components of ethnic identity, as well as a three-factor solution among the measures of ethnic identity. The correlations among the components of ethnic identity and the factor structure were similar among students in the upper grades (l1th and 12th) and in the lower grades (9th and IOth). Ethnic pride increased with grade level and was lowestfor Anglo and Asian students. Girls were more similar to the norns of their ethnic gPoup than were boys. The importance of multifactorand contextuallyassessed indices ofe fhnic identity is discussed.

The author regards schoolchildren’s awareness and affective evaluation of their belonging to an ethnic community to be among the essential social issues. The paper investigates age-related characteristics of schoolchildren’s ethnic identity. The presented empirical study involved the investigation of emotional and value-oriented components of ethnic identity in schoolchildren of two age groups. The obtained results show that ethnic identity of schoolchildren is mostly complete and constant by the end of adolescence. The awareness of belonging to an ethnic group is of high priority to all adolescent schoolchildren, while the emotional and value-oriented components of this belonging appear of little significance to them. For younger schoolchildren nationality is mostly important, while older schoolchildren attach most significance to the language, emotional and sensory components of ethnic identity.

This study examined the multiple components of ethnic identity, the place of this ethnic identity set in the mediational model of the path to drug use predicted by our family interactional framework, and the protective role of each component of ethnic identity. The participants were 259 male and 368 female African Americans in late adolescence. They responded to a structured questionnaire in individual interviews. We found that few of the specific components of ethnic identity were significantly related as main effects to drug use. Most of the effect of ethnic identity was mediated by the family set of variables. Each of the components of ethnic identity offset risks or enhanced protective factors from the ecology, family, personality, and peer domains, thereby lessening drug use. This pattern highlights the importance of incorporating ethnic identity into drug prevention programs which serve African-American youth.

Ethnic identity is a significant factor related to self-concept and psychological development and similar to other aspects of identity, is of particular importance during the adolescent years when there is increased vulnerability to drug involvement. However, much of the research relative to adolescent drug use has focused on the annual and current prevalence rates among particular ethnic groups with little attention to ethnic or group identity issues. However, it is important to study and compare ethnic and group identity and its correlates to drug use. This article presents face-to-face interview questionnaire measures of ethnic identity as measured by affirmation and belongingness, ethnic identity achievement, ethnic behavior, and other group orientation [1], and drug use as measured by misuse, abuse, and chemical dependency diagnoses [2]. The questionnaires were administered to 127 (60 Ethnic, 67 White) adolescents from ethnically diverse schools in a large urban school district in the Pacific Northwest. The relationship of ethnic identity to drug use was examined. This study indicates that the questionnaire measures can be used to examine similarities and differences in ethnic identity and drug use among adolescents from different ethnic groups. A key finding of this study was that white adolescents scored lower in ethnic identity than did members of the four ethnic minority groups and the mixed racial group. However, the most significant key finding was that in the ethnic minority sample high levels of cultural identity were associated with heavy drug use. The results of this study suggest that social influences may play a larger role in the development of heavy drug use irrespective of the nature and origins of these social influences.

1. Introduction The world around us is shrinking continually--distances and boundaries that previously held considerable separation power have been markedly eroded by developments in technology and international cooperation. This has created many new situations of intercultural contact, highlighted previously existing identity conflicts and brought to the fore a number of new ones. To tackle the resulting challenges adequately, researchers have focused considerable effort in investigating the field of acculturation and bicultural identity formation. Although various multiculturalism issues have been studied for some time already, there is yet no widespread agreement concerning the strategies used by individuals and groups in forming a bicultural identity and in combining the ethnic and national dimensions of identity (Phinney et al. 2001, Sidanius et al.). One of the central problems of multiculturalism lies in the fact that minorities tend to draw a distinction between the ethnic and the national identity, while majority groups do not, because their ethnic and national identity usually coincide. In the current study we define these component identities as follows: ethnic identity focuses on the feeling of belonging to one's group of origin, i.e. ethnic group (Phinney 1990), while national identity refers to feelings of belonging to a larger society or a state, and involves a political or a civic component (Smith 1991, Phinney et al. 2001). For members of an ethnic minority both identities--ethnic and national--are necessary for effective adaptation (Oudenhoven 2006). Such adaptation, in turn, tends to correlate with higher life satisfaction (Pavot and Diener 2008). While most immigrant groups demonstrate a relatively strong ethnic identity, the strength of their national identity as well as the strength and direction of the relationship between their ethnic and national identity is shown to be more variable and to relate to the specific acculturation context (Phinney et al. 2001). National identity is clearly the more complicated component of the two, because embracing the national identity of the host country presumes, on the one hand, that the minorities are willing to adopt it and, on the other hand, that the host majority is ready to share it. The study reported in this article investigated the relationship between ethnic identities and the Estonian national identity (1) among different ethnic groups in Estonia. The aim of the study was to identify those aspects of identity that facilitate the development of a shared national identity. In order to be acceptable to and meaningful for both the country's ethnic minorities and the majority group, these aspects must be culturally open. A national identity constructed on their basis will be referred to below as the Estonian Open Identity (EOI). The authors' general interest was to find out whether and how the ethnic and national identity of the host group (ethnic Estonians) facilitates the development of a healthy, fulfilling bicultural identity among the country's minorities. EOI should be easily combinable with different ethnic identities and thus facilitate bicultural identity development. The principal research question underlying the study was: What are or could be the dimensions of the Estonian national identity that are open enough to allow adoption to be adopted by all ethnic groups in Estonia? 1.1 Ethnic minority acculturation and bicultural identity Preserving one's ethnic identity and adopting the national majority identity of the society or state of residence can be viewed as expressions of the two main dimensions of psychological acculturation--maintenance or loss of the original culture and adoption of or separation from the new host culture. There are several models of acculturation to account for the process of cultural and psychological change that takes place in the host and home culture, or in the national and ethnic identity of minority group members (for a comprehensive overview see LaFromboise et al. …

Ethnic identity in relation to self-esteem and esteem toward others, along with attitudes toward one’s own and other ethnic groups, was examined among Estonian and Russian adolescents. Significant differences appeared across components of ethnic identity and between minority and majority groups. Positive feelings about the in-group (ethnic pride—EP) were associated with positive attitudes toward other ethnic groups among minority but not majority youths. Strong ethnic differentiation (ED), in turn, was associated with negative out-group attitudes among both groups and positive in-group attitudes among the majority group. This contrast between aspects of ethnic identity appeared also in relation to self-esteem and esteem toward others. Whereas EP was associated with positive esteem toward others, ED correlated with negative evaluation of other people. Self-esteem correlated negatively with ED and was not related to EP. The salience of EP and ED may vary across different ethnic groups, depending on the group status and historical background of identity development.

The current study examined the relationships among ethnic identity and self-esteem across multiple ethnic groups within two distinct geographical locations (N = 1,344). In the current study, for same ethnic group members, the components of ethnic identity (i.e., exploration, resolution, and affirmation) were differentially related to self-esteem based on geographical context. Furthermore, within each geographical context, the strength of the relation between each ethnic identity component and self-esteem varied based on group membership, suggesting that the variables may be more or less influential on self-esteem depending on one's group membership. Based on these results, the exploration and resolution subscales of the Ethnic Identity scale (EIS) appear to be valid and reliable with diverse samples, whereas support for the affirmation subscale of the EIS is more tenuous. Finally, these findings suggest that ethnic identity may have varying salience and meaning for same ethnic group members in different geographical contexts (e.g., Asian Americans in California vs. Asian Americans in the Midwest).

The thesis of this paper is that the social identity formed by many of our ethnic minority children, youth, and families is the consequence of being identified as a member of a negatively defined social group. Ethnicity is conceptualized as having a common origin, or culture, that is handed down from one generation to another. One's ethnic identity is based on a mixture of language, religion, race, and or ancestry (Yinger, 1985). The concept of minority is a sociological term referring to dominance or power relationships. Minority groups are said to have unequal or limited access to power in a society (Mindel, Habenstein, & Wright, 1988). Inequality and limited access become dimensions of social identity as members of ethnic minority groups are singled out, labeled, and treated unequally on the basis of their cultural or physical differences from the dominant group.Van Dijk (1993), focusing on discourse analysis and understanding ethnic and racial inequality in society, has studied the ways majority group members write and talk about minorities in everyday conversations, textbooks, news reports, films, jokes, debates, and in academic and corporate discourse. In his analysis (see van Dijk, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1991), he asked: a) How do members or institutions of dominant white groups describe ethnic or racial minorities?; and b) What role do these descriptions play in the development, strengthening, legitimization, and perpetuation of white group dominance? Discourse analysis contributes to the understanding of what takes place the micro level of social practices, involving the enactment and reproduction of intergroup relations and especially prejudice and ethnic stereotyping (van Dijk, 1993:93).In the everyday discourse of activities, ethnic minority individuals are often reminded of their unequal status in society by textbooks read, news heard, conversations overheard, research findings reported, and a number of other sources of information. To be a member of an ethnic minority group is to engage in battle with the forces of negative social identity.As it now stands, much of our knowledge about ethnic minority families is grounded in theories of structure and function, as described by Kingsbury and Scanzoni (1993). Families and society are interacting systems. Families contribute members to society for the workforce. They socialize children and make them productive members of society. However, when families vary substantially from the realm of the familiar and acceptable norms as they make their contributions to society and interact with other systems, they are seen as systems. Dysfunctional systems have negative social identities.Social science is quick to investigate that which is deviant or dysfunctional and make recommendations that are heavily intertwined with, and gain acceptability from, prevalent cultural stereotypes. Comparative studies of race and ethnicity can be questioned on methodological grounds. According to Ragin and Hein (1993), data collected are often truncated and biased, giving the appearance of scholarship but having little methodological substance. The fundamental utility of this kind of research for ethnic minority groups is highly questionable.According to Marger (1991), since the 1920s, research on American ethnic minority families has focused its attention on relations among majority and ethnic minority groups, using a comparative or cross societal framework. The poor and powerless were often compared with others more fortunate (Billingsley, 1970). It is not very different today. For example, there is profuse interest in at risk conditions of ethnic minority children. Risk factors are identified by a comparative mode of isolating conditions thought to impact the developing child. Social scientists have neglected to consider sufficiently the processes within specific contexts that shape social identity as members of ethnic minority groups. …

The current longitudinal study tested the premise that Latino adolescents' ( N = 323) proactive coping with discrimination would mediate the relationship between ethnic identity and self-esteem. Each component of ethnic identity (i.e., exploration, resolution, and affirmation) was positively associated with concurrent assessments of adolescents' self-esteem. However, in the longitudinal analyses, none of the ethnic identity components predicted future levels of self-esteem. Ethnic identity resolution was the only ethnic identity component to predict proactive coping over time. Furthermore, proactive coping did not mediate the relationship between ethnic identity and self-esteem. However, there was evidence to suggest that the association between proactive coping and self-esteem was bidirectional. These findings underscore the importance of examining the unique components of ethnic identity as well as using longitudinal designs to examine the associations between ethnic identity and adolescents' psychological well-being.

This study explored the ethnic identity of first- and second-generation Chinese-Australian and Chinese-American adolescents. Ethnic identity was assessed by: ethnic identification, the extent to which individuals engaged in culturally expected behaviors and their knowledge of the culture, the importance of maintaining these behaviors, and the value ascribed to their ethnic origins. Responses of Chinese-Australians and Chinese-Americans were remarkably similar. There was erosion over time of ethnic identification and behaviors/knowledge but not of the importance and evaluative components of ethnic identity. No change over time occurred in individualism-collectivism, nor did this measure relate substantially to the ethnic identity measures. Correlations between ethnic identity measures were low to moderate, suggesting that these facets of ethnic identity overlap but are not identical. The importance of analyzing separately distinctive components of ethnic identity was confirmed. Despite some attrition over time of the most external aspects of that identity, those that are more internal are more resistant to change.

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Ethnic identity: Evidence of protective effects for young, Latino children

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Ethnic identity was examined as a source of stress and as a coping resource among Jewish sixth through eighth graders (N = 75). Over 50% of the students reported having experienced various ethnic-related stressors in the past year (e.g., being restricted from activities due to the Sabbath, experiencing anti-Semitic comments). Jewish early adolescents also endorsed ethnic and religious coping strategies from three coping scale factors: Seeking God’s Direction/Support (e.g., “I ask God to forgive me for the things I did wrong”); Seeking Cultural/Social Support (e.g., “I look forward to the Sabbath”); and Spiritual Struggle (e.g., “I start to wonder whether God can really do everything”). Components of ethnic identity were related positively both to ethnic-related stressors and coping strategies, indicating that although high levels of ethnic identity might heighten Jewish adolescents’ sensitivity to ethnic-related stressors, ethnic identity might serve also as a resource for coping with those stressors.