scholarly journals Determinants of ethnic identity development in adulthood: A longitudinal study

Author(s):  
Débora B. Maehler
1998 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacques Perron ◽  
Fred W. Vondracek ◽  
Vladimir B. Skorikov ◽  
Chantal Tremblay ◽  
Marc Corbière

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Moin Syed

The purpose of this chapter is to showcase how narrative, or the stories that people tell about their experiences, is a useful theoretical and methodological tool for understanding ethnic identity development. Over the past two decades, research on ethnic identity development has primarily relied on quantitative, rating-scale instruments (Phinney, 1992; Sellers et al., 1998). While this methodology has contributed to a strong knowledge base regarding the correlates and developmental course of ethnic identity (Quintana, 2007), what has been lacking is an analysis of the lived experiences that constitute one’s ethnic identity and contribute to its development. To this end, the chapter includes a synthesis of published and ongoing studies to illustrate how a narrative approach can contribute to theoretical issues of major importance to the study of ethnic identity: how ethnic identity develops, the role of context in development, and the dimensionality of ethnic identity. These examples highlight the close connection between method and theory, as well as how narrative research can inform subsequent survey-based work.


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