Ego Development and Ethnic Identity Formation in Rural American Indian Adolescents

Abstract

Ethnic identity development was assessed in the context of ego development in 12- to 15-year-old students from a Southeastern American Indian community. Self-protective was the modal level and was characterized by awareness of ethnic group membership but little exploration or self-reflection. Impulsive adolescents had the least developed ethnic identities and highest levels of interpersonal vulnerability. Conformist adolescents expressed positive feelings about ethnic group affiliation, described relationships as harmonious, but demonstrated moderate social anxiety. Postconformist adolescents had the highest levels of agency, social competence, and identity achievement, but also had high levels of psychological distress and family conflict. Adolescent identity strivings may be understood in context with the level and timing of psychosocial maturity, for which ego development appears a useful marker.

Culture of Science: Strange History of the Methodological Thinking in Psychology

“…No other attempts to analyze cases in addition to group data were reported. Type differences were proposed in four articles (Bonanno et al 2005;Newman 2005;Poehlmann 2005;Troop-Gordon and Asher 2005). With one exception, only one of the seven differentiating characteristics could be found in each of the analyzed articles.…”

“…So, the articles were analyzed only in respect to the seven remaining characteristics. Qualitative description of data, in addition to quantitative data, was provided in two articles (Hansen and Markman 2005;Newman 2005). Attempt to discuss whole person and relationships was made in one article (Brown and Bigler 2005).…”

“…With one exception, only one of the seven differentiating characteristics could be found in each of the analyzed articles. Two characteristics, qualitative description of data and typology, was found in only one article (Newman 2005).…”

Changes in Ethnic Identity and Competence in Middle Adolescents

“…In their study of 379 ethnic minority adolescents from Grades 6 through 9, using the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure, they found growth in EI over time; also, minority adolescents with higher levels of EI reported better relationships with their parents than did those with lower levels of EI. In a study of 96 American Indian adolescents and their parents, Newman (2005) found that EI was associated with social competence but had no significant effect on self-esteem. Yasui and Dishion (2007) developed a conceptual framework of child and adolescent development using EI as a central construct.…”

Toward an Applied Developmental Science for Native Children, Families, and Communities

“…An assumption that greater adjustment is associated with those who possess a bicultural identity has been found by some researchers (Moran et al, 1999;Oetting & Beauvais, 1990-1991Whitesell et al, 2006), but not others (Gotowiec, 2000;Jones & Galliher, 2007). Consistent with findings among other ethnic groups, higher adjustment has been shown among Native adolescents who score high on measures of ethnic identity (e.g., Jones & Galliher, 2007;Newman, 2005;Rieckmann, Wadsworth, & Deyhle, 2004).…”