Responding to Societal Devaluation: Effects of Perceived Personal and Group Discrimination on the Ethnic Group Identification and Personal Self-Esteem of Latino/Latina Adolescents

Authors

Brian E. Armenta, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
Jennifer S. Hunt, SUNY College at Buffalo

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2009

Comments

Published in Group Processes & Intergroup Relations 12:1 (2009), pp. 23–39; doi 10.1177/1368430208098775 Copyright © 2009 SAGE Publications. Used by permission. Online at http://gpi.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/12/1/23

Abstract

The Rejection-Identification model (Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999) posits that perceived discrimination may lead to increased ingroup identification, which can help maintain psychological well-being in the face of societal devaluation. To address unknown aspects of this model, we examined the effects of perceived per¬sonal and group discrimination on the group identification and personal self-esteem of Latino/Latina adolescents. Results showed that perceived group discrimination was related to higher personal self-esteem via direct and indirect routes (i.e. through group identification). However, perceived personal discrimination was directly and indirectly associated with lower personal self-esteem. Moreover, these two levels of discrimination showed interactive effects on both group identification and personal self-esteem. These results highlight the importance of distinguishing between levels of discrimination in the Rejection-Identification model.