The influence of nationalism and national identity on well-being of Bulgarian and Romanian youth.

This study explores relations among nationalism, ethnic identity, perceived threat and attitudes towards the Roma among 178 Bulgarian and 211 Romanian adolescents (age: M = 16.96, SD = .75). Results indicated that Bulgarian youth revealed stronger nationalism, ethnic identity, perceived threat and negative attitudes toward Roma than their Romanian peers. A path model showed that perceived threat was a positive predictor of Romaphobia for both groups. Furthermore, we observed that Romaphobia was strongly related to adolescents’ nationalism and this relationship was mediated by perceived economic, symbolic and physical threat. Findings are discussed in terms of difference in salience and similarity of relations between nationalism and romaphobic attitudes for youth in two neighbor countries with a similar post-communist history

Identity resources for positive adaptation of Roma ethnic minority youth in Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Italy, Kosovo, and Romania

Abstract:This chapter applies a strengths-based, positive youth development (PYD) perspective of adolescence by investigating ethnic and national identity resources underlying positive adaptation in Roma minority youth in Albania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Kosovo, Italy and Romania. In all countries, Roma are traditionally marginalized and high risk group for compromised well-being. Participants were 513 Roma minority adolescents (age: M = 15.21 years, SD = 1.59) who filled in self-reports on Roma ethnic and national identity and self-esteem. Results of separate within group comparisons indicated that Roma in the Czech Republic, Kosovo and Italy showed higher endorsement of Roma ethnic than national identity, whereas national identity was stronger for youth in Romania and Albania. We also found positive effects of Roma identity on self-esteem for youth in the Czech Republic, whereas national identity was positively associated with self-esteem for Roma in Albania, Bulgaria and Romania. We suggest that the salience of ethnic and national identities for Roma is moderated by contextual conditions of countries hosting Roma and that these conditions are important factors in promoting their optimal adaptatio

The Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS)

Abstract. The Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS; Crocetti, Rubini, & Meeus, 2008) is a recently developed measure of identity that has been shown to be a reliable tool for assessing identity processes in adolescents. This study examines psychometric properties of the U-MICS in a large adolescent sample from seven European countries focused on the interplay of commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment. Participants were 1,007 adolescents from Bulgaria (n = 146), the Czech Republic (n = 142), Italy (n = 144), Kosovo (n = 150), Romania (n = 142), Slovenia (n = 156), and the Netherlands (n = 127). We tested the U-MICS measurement invariance, reliability estimates in each language version, and compared latent identity means across groups. Results showed that the U-MICS has good internal consistency as well as configural, metric, and partial scalar invariance across groups in the sampled countrie

Socially desirable responding: Enhancement and denial in 20 countries

Abstract: This article investigated the dimensionality, measurement invariance, and cross-cultural variations of social desirability. A total of 3,471 university students from 20 countries completed an adapted version of the Marlowe–Crowne scale. A two-dimensional structure was revealed in the pooled sample, distinguishing enhancement (endorsement of positive self-description) and denial (rejection of negative self-description). The factor structure was supported in most countries; medium-sized item bias was found in two denial items. In a multilevel analysis, we found that (a) there was more cross-cultural variation in denial than enhancement; (b) females tended to score higher on enhancement whereas males tended to score higher on denial; (c) the Human Development Index, an indicator of country socioeconomic development, was the best (negative) predictor of denial; and (d) both enhancement and denial seemed to be associated with country-level values and personality pertinent to “fitting in.” We conclude that social desirability has a positive and a negative impression management dimension that are meaningfully associated with country-level characteristics, and we argue that social desirability is better interpreted as culturally regulated response amplification