NCJ Number
205667
Journal
Journal of Youth and Adolescence Volume: 33 Issue: 3 Dated: June 2004 Pages: 177-185
Date Published
June 2004
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study extended previous investigations of adolescent social identity by comparing the processes that forge identities in different social categories.
Abstract
Social identity theory (SIT) considers how self-concept is influenced by social group memberships. According to the SIT, categorization of the self as a member of a particular group (in-group) by definition necessarily excludes certain other individuals, who are defined as being part of the out-group. One consequence of the categorization process is that individuals strive to evaluate their own groups positively by the formation of intergroup social comparisons. The current study examined the intergroup processes of two sets of adolescents that were examined separately in previous studies of adolescent groups. Participants were assigned to one of two conditions in which either their peer group identity or national group identity was made salient. In each condition, participants were asked to evaluate their in-group and an out-group and make causal attributions for various positive and negative behaviors performed by each group. There were 90 participants (46 males, 43 females, and 1 participant who did not give gender details). Their ages were between 14 and 15 years old. Participants were recruited from a school in the East Midlands region of the United Kingdom. The study found that although the two groups did not differ in the degree to which they engaged in intergroup discrimination, important differences between them did emerge when levels of group identification were taken into account. Participants in the peer group condition reported higher levels of identification than did those in the national group condition. This suggests that peer group identity was more relevant to self-concept than national identity. The relationship between social identity and intergroup discrimination was in the direction theorized by SIT for participants in the peer group condition only. For these participants, a positive relationship was observed between identity and attributions for the in-group's positive behavior, as well as between identity and evaluation of the in-group on the positively valued music and adjectives. These findings suggest the need for future research that will consider how changes in the social context can impact adolescents' expressions of social identity. 1 table, 39 references, and appended group identification scale items and adjectives used in the group evaluation task