Ethnic identity and psychological well-being among fourth-generation Armenian high-school students in Lebanon

النوع : Mémoire

For the past couple of decades, ethnic identity and psychological well- being--have been the concern of many societies in the West as a result of perceived threats to--the ethnicity and professed vulnerability of self- esteem among ethnic minority groups.--The preservation of ethnic identity has also been an issue of vital importance for many--psychologists and educators concerned with the psychological well- being of individuals. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between ethnic identity and psychological well- being in particular, self- esteem among Armenian high school students in Lebanon as measured by the English fourth-generation or Armenian translated Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM) and the Rosenberg Self- Esteem Scale (RSES), respectively. The study also assessed the dimensionality of two of the Armenian translated scales, the MEIM and the Self- Liking/ Self- Competence Scale (SLCS). The entire sample consisted of 648 students and a sub sample consisted of 525 students who answered the questionnaires only in Armenian. For the dimensionalities of the MEIM and the SLSC scales only the sub sample was used to asses their specificity to the Armenian sample. Results concerning the dimensionalities of the two scales revealed that the two--components of ethnic identity, ethnic identity search (EIS) and affirmation, belonging--and commitment search (ABC) as measured by the Armenian translated MEIM and the--two aspects of global self- esteem known as self- liking (SL) and self- competence (SC)--as measured by the Armenian translated SLCS were not replicated among--Armenian high school students in Lebanon. Hence, the total score fourth-generation of the MEIM was used as a measure of ethnic identity and the SLCS was not conceited in--further analysis in relation to ethnic identity. Results revealed a statistically significant weak positive correlation with no practical value between ethnic identity and self- esteem among the entire sample with r(607) = .206, p<. 01 and the sub sample with r (490) = .204, p<. 01. Ethnic identity was also revealed to be the only indicator of self- esteem out of factors such as age, sex and father's education level for both the entire sample and sub sample (R2 = .04). The educational implications of the findings are discussed.