1625 – External shame to greek roma

Abstract

Belonging to a minority often leads to stigmatization and reduction of social power. The current study assessed the role of external shame on Greek Roma. The present study aimed at evaluating external shame in a Roma living in Greece and assess the differentiation of these feelings between Roma men and women. 361 individuals (125 male and 236 female with mean age 33.96 SD=12.77), residents of the general area of Greece, participated in the present study. The measures used were: a) the Other As Shamer scale (OAS) b), a questionnaire concerning sociodemographic information. The mean of the external shame (OAS total) was 24,08±13,71 (men), 31,84±15,15 (women) (p= .000). The mean of the inferior was 10,34±5,90 (men), 13,19±6,45 (women) (p= .000). The mean of the empty was 3,85±3,26 (men), 6,19±3,80 (women) (p= .000) and Mistakes was 8,64±5,28 (men), 10,85±5,17 (women) (p= .000). The analysis of variance showed that age did not affect the external shame in Greek Roma. Marital status and educational level had a significant effect on external shame of Greek Roma where the application of the Bonferonni criterion found that unmarried participants demonstrated a statistical significant difference from those married (p =.000), the latter had higher levels of external shame and illiterate participants demonstrated a statistical significant difference from those primary school graduates (p =.000), the latter had higher levels of external shame. The role of gender, educational level and marital status are particularly important to increase the external shame to Greek Roma.