Motivation for National Identification and Ingroup Friendship: A Comparison of Jewish and Muslim Youth in Israel

• In Event: 2-018 - Explorations of Identity Development among Muslim Minority Adolescents in Different Contexts

Integrative Statement

Cultural or ethnic identification and friendship has an important role in adolescents' lives, as it relates to better wellbeing. They help adolescents feel grounded and gives them a sense of belonging to society (LaFromboise, Coleman, & Gerton, 1993). This might be especially important for adolescents who come from minority backgrounds, such as Muslim adolescents in Israel. But what motivates adolescents to identify with one cultural group or to associate with friend from one cultural group on another? Previous studies show that in majority groups, national identity positively relates to individuals’ motivation to maintain the status quo and negatively relates to their motivation to be concerned about the welfare of out-group individuals (Bardi, et al., 2014). In contrast, minority individuals may identify with the national group in an attempt to gain social status and connect with the majority group (Roccas, 2003).
This longitudinal study examined the relations between values (broad motivations) and national identity among two groups of adolescents. It hypothesized that values at T1 would predict national identity at T2; furthermore, this relationship was expected to differ across cultural groups. In addition, the motivation for ingroup friendship in one time point was examined.
We sampled 542 8th graders in five schools in Israel. The students represented two ethnic groups, majority Jewish-Israelis (n=233) and minority Muslim citizens of Israel (n=309) (mean aget1 =13.8, SD = .79; 48.8% females). After two years, the students were approached again. National identity was assessed by the Multidimensional Inventory of Black Identity (MIBI, Sellers, Rowley, Chavous, Shelton & Smith, 1997), adapted to Israeli identity. Values were measured by the Portrait Values Questionnaire (PVQ; Schwartz et al., 2001). The PVQ measures universalism values, i.e., concern and care for others, for equality and for social justice. This measure also assesses the opposite values – power values, which express the need to gain dominance and control over people and resources.
A cross-lagged model of the longitudinal relationship between values and national identity revealed that among the Muslim adolescents, power values in the 8th grade predicted an increase in national identity in the 10th grade, but not vice versa (i.e., no relations were found between national identity in the 8th grade and power values in the 10th grade) (see Figure 1). Among the majority-Jewish group, an increase in universalism values in the 8th grade predicted a decrease in national identity in the 10th grade, but no significant relations were found between national identity in the 8th grade and universalism values in the 10th grade (see Figure 2). For the Muslim group, friendship with the ingroup was positively related to tradition and negatively related to achievement values.
The implications of the findings for our understanding of the motivations for national identification and ingroup friendship of Muslim adolescents living as minorities in the Israeli context will be discussed.

Author

• Maya Benish-Weisman, University of Haifa
  Presenting Author