From a Collection of Identities to Collective Identity: Evidence From Mainstream and Minority Adolescents in Bulgaria. (November 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dimitrova, Radosveta; Chasiotis, Athanasios; Bender, Michael; van de Vijver, Fons J. R.
• Is Part Of: Cross-cultural research. Volume 48:Number 4(2014:Nov.)
• Page Start: 339
• Page End: 367
• Publication Date: 2014-11
• Subjects: ethnic identity -- familial identity -- religious identity -- Turkish-Bulgarian and Muslim-Bulgarian minority -- well-being; Social sciences -- Periodicals; 300.72
• DOI: 10.1177/1069397114523922
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1069-3971

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.