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Racist Events and Ethnic Identity in Low Income, African Americans
Author(s) -
Sherry Alissa,
Wood Keith,
Jackson Emily B.,
Kaslow Nadine
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/j.0021-9029.2006.00063.x
Subject(s) - ethnic group , feeling , social psychology , psychology , identity (music) , meaning (existential) , low income , gender studies , sociology , socioeconomics , anthropology , physics , acoustics , psychotherapist
This study was designed to determine the relation between racist events and ethnic identity in a group of 100 low‐income African Americans. Findings indicated that the more racist events one experienced, the more ethnic behaviors they endorsed and the more they had explored the meaning of their ethnic background. In addition, racist events were also indicative of feeling less close to individuals of other ethnic groups. Results suggest that experiencing racist events may contribute to an increased identification with one's own ethnic background and less affiliation with those of other ethnic backgrounds, with the cumulative effect of racist events over one's lifetime contributing the most to this finding.