Group identification and perceived discrimination : a study of international students in the UK

Race discrimination--Great Britain;Group identity;Reference groups;Students, Foreign--Great Britain

Ramos, Miguel R. ; Cassidy, Clare ; Cassidy, Clare

University:University of St Andrews

Department:Psychology & Neuroscience (School of)

关键词: Race discrimination--Great Britain;    Group identity;    Reference groups;    Students, Foreign--Great Britain;   

Others  :  https://research-repository.st-andrews.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10023/934/Miguel%20R.%20Ramos%20PhD%20thesis.PDF?sequence=7&isAllowed=y

来源: DR-NTU

【 摘 要 】

This thesis examined how international students experience life in the UK and,in particular, how these students respond to experiences with discrimination andsocial exclusion. Specifically, we drew on the rejection-identification model(Branscombe et al., 1999) in order to examine the impact of minority groupidentification as a coping strategy against perceptions of discrimination. Despite thenumber of studies supporting the rejection-identification model (e.g. Schmitt et al., 2002, Schmitt et al., 2003), discrepant findings were found in other research (e.g. McCoy & Major, 2003; Eccleston & Major, 2006). In order to solve theseinconsistencies we proposed to extend this model in two important ways. Firstly,building on important work on the multidimensionality of social identification (e.g. Cameron & Lalonde, 2001; Ellemers et al., 1999; Jackson, 2002), we argued that amultidimensional perspective of the rejection-identification model is fundamentalgiven that different dimensions of social identification (i.e. ingroup affect, centrality, and ingroup ties) have different effects on psychological well-being. Secondly, we hypothesised that the protective effect of the different dimensions of socialidentification depended upon individual preferences, beliefs and behaviours towardsown and host group (i.e. acculturation strategies). These two extensions to therejection-identification model were tested longitudinally with a sample of 160international students. Results indicated that none of the dimensions of socialidentification serve to protect students from the harmful effects of discrimination.Indeed, support was found for the argument that it is important to investigate possiblemoderators of the rejection-identification relationship. Our results also indicated thatwhen international students perceive discrimination, a separation strategy allows them to maintain ingroup affect, and in this way protect their self-esteem. Integration,marginalisation, and assimilation strategies were associated with lower ingroup affectleaving these students without a successful strategy to cope with discrimination.Although the aim of this thesis was to examine the experiences of internationalstudents, in Chapter 7 we replicated our previous model with a sample of Polishimmigrants (N = 66) in order to test whether our results could be generalised to otherminority groups. Results supported the previous findings with international students. Finally, the discussion of this thesis focused on the importance of taking into account individual acculturation strategies in order to understand the relation between perceived discrimination, minority group identification, and well-being. We also focused on how the knowledge generated by this research may support international students.