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Interethnic Factors as Predictors of the Subjective Well‐Being of Minority Individuals in a Context of Recent Societal Changes
Author(s) -
Kus Larissa,
Ward Colleen,
Liu James
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
political psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.419
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1467-9221
pISSN - 0162-895X
DOI - 10.1111/pops.12038
Subject(s) - psychology , salience (neuroscience) , social psychology , mediation , relative deprivation , perception , ethnic group , social identity theory , context (archaeology) , identity (music) , sociology , social group , cognitive psychology , history , social science , physics , archaeology , neuroscience , anthropology , acoustics
Our research examined the impact of contextual intergroup variables on the subjective well‐being of ethnic Russians in E stonia ( N = 190) who have experienced major social changes with the demise of the S oviet U nion. A mediational model was tested where aspects of intergroup relations (i.e., relative deprivation, status legitimization, and temporal comparisons) acted as mediators of the influence of cultural identity and representations of history on subjective well‐being. Preliminary analyses indicated polemical representations of history in which E stonian historical narratives are established around the struggle for independence, and R ussian representations of history are consolidated around victory in W orld W ar II . Mediation analyses demonstrated that the importance of R ussian history increased the perceptions of relative deprivation, status delegitimization, and the frequency of temporal comparisons, which negatively affected life satisfaction. At the same time, the importance of E stonian history led to positive perceptions of the intergroup situation and, in turn, to greater subjective well‐being. The effect of R ussian identity on well‐being was mediated by delegitimizing beliefs, but not by relative deprivation and temporal comparisons. E stonian identity did not exert a significant effect on the proposed mediators. The research demonstrates the salience of the effects of contextual intergroup factors on subjective well‐being, and the article discusses implications for the study of intergroup relations and subjective well‐being.