From a collection of identities to collective identity: Evidence from mainstream and minority adolescents in Bulgaria
Dimitrova,R. Chasiotis,A. Bender,M. van de Vijver,F.J.R.
Dimitrova,R.
Chasiotis,A.
Bender,M.
van de Vijver,F.J.R.
Abstract
We studied collective identity and psychological well-being in Bulgarian adolescents (305 mainstreamers, 278 Turkish-Bulgarians, and 183 Muslim-Bulgarians). Turkish-Bulgarian and Muslim-Bulgarian minorities (ethnic Bulgarians converted to Islam during the Ottoman Empire) have been subjected to severe assimilation policies until recently. A multigroup confirmatory analysis showed that ethnic, religious, and familial identities were significantly and positively related to a single underlying factor we labeled collective identity. Bulgarian identity was unrelated to collective identity in the Turkish-Bulgarian group. As expected, mainstream adolescents showed a stronger Bulgarian and weaker religious identity than Turkish-Bulgarian and Muslim-Bulgarian adolescents. In all groups, individuals with a stronger collective identity reported higher levels of well-being. We conclude that the concept of collective identity is useful to link various identity components to well-being of youth from different ethnic groups. Keywords: ethnic identity, familial identity, religious identity, Turkish-Bulgarian and Muslim-Bulgarian minority, well-being
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2014
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Dimitrova, R, Chasiotis, A, Bender, M & van de Vijver, F J R 2014, 'From a collection of identities to collective identity : Evidence from mainstream and minority adolescents in Bulgaria', Cross-Cultural Research, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 339-367. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069397114523922