SELF-ESTEEM, SELF-CONCEPT STABILITY, AND ASPECTS OF ETHNIC-IDENTITY AMONG MINORITY AND MAJORITY YOUTH IN THE NETHERLANDS

This study investigates the relationship between ethnic identity and s elf-feelings among minority and majority youth living in the Netherlan ds, Contrary to existing studies, not only global self-esteem is asses sed but also self-concept stability, and in addition, not only ethnic group membership was studied but also different aspects of ethnic iden tity ethnic group identification and ingroup evaluation. There were no significant differences between minority and majority youth for globa l self-esteem and for self-concept stability. In addition, among the v arious ethnic groups there was only a small group who reported fluctua ting self-feelings. However as predicted, minority youth identified mo re strongly with their ethnic group and evaluated their group more pos itively than Dutch contemporaries. It is concluded that research shoul d pay attention to the different aspects involved in order to understa nd more fully the possible consequences of ethnic minority identity fo r psychological well-being.