Ethnic identity and self-esteem among pre-service teachers: differences between Polish and Lithuanian students

Tyrimu siekiama atskleisti etninio tapatumo ir savigarbos bei jų tarpusavio ryšių ypatumus lietuvių (etninė dauguma) ir lenkų (etninė mažuma) grupėse. Imtis – 216 universiteto studentų. Etniniam tapatumui tirti buvo taikoma Phinney ir Ongo metodika MEIM-R. Duomenys apie savigarbą gauti naudojant Rosenbergo savigarbos skalę. Rezultatai: etninis tapatumas ir savigarba susiję teigiamai lietuvių ir neigiamai lenkų grupėjeThe present study aims at revealing peculiarities of ethnic identity and self-esteem as well as the link between them among the youth from an ethnic minority group (Polish students) and the dominant ethnic group (Lithuanian students). The participants were students of the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences. The research data were drawn from a sample of 216 respondents with the mean age of 21.80 years. The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure-Revised (MEIM-R) developed by Phinney and Ong was applied to measure ethnic identity. To obtain the self-esteem data the Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale was used. No statistically significant differences between the ethnic identity and self-esteem of the Polish and Lithuanian samples were established. As regards the link between the variables, it was found that self-esteem positively correlated with ethnic identity in the Lithuanian sample, but the correlation was negative in the Polish sample. In addition, the correlations were stronger in the Polish sample than in the Lithuanian one. The research suggests that the ethnic minority groups in Lithuania require a more thorough study to reveal different aspects of ethnic and national identityVytauto Didžiojo universitetasŠvietimo akademij