Positive Ethnic Identity Content Among Adolescents With Minority Ethnic Backgrounds Living in Sweden.

Abstract

Previous research on adolescents with minority ethnic backgrounds has often centered on risks and vulnerabilities due to the effects of racism in society. This however leaves a gap in the literature when it comes to positive aspects of ethnic identity, and the gap is even more pronounced when it comes to European contexts since the few previous studies have largely been performed in the United States. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore positive ethnic identity content among adolescents with minority ethnic backgrounds living in Sweden. Fifteen late adolescents, self-identifying with a minority ethnic background, who reported that their ethnicity was central to their sense of self and who had explored what their ethnic identity meant to them, were interviewed. The interviews were inductively coded and were analyzed using thematic analysis. Three main themes with subthemes were identified. The first main theme was A Minority Ethnic Identity - a Sense of Belonging, in which the adolescents' positive content related to their minority ethnic background was characterized as being close to their hearts and connected to family and home. The second, A Swedish Identity - Being an Active Part of Swedish Society, contained positive content about values in Swedish society, such as tolerance and gender equality as well as their agency in utilizing opportunities in society. In the last theme, A Pluricultural Identity - Cultural Richness, positive content centered around an appreciation of having several ethnicities and cultural backgrounds as part of one's ethnic identity, rendering a whole that is more than the sum of its parts. The present study illuminates differences in what constitutes positive ethnic identity content among minority adolescents in Sweden depending on which aspect of their ethnic identity is in focus. This has implications for research on ethnic identity as it underlines the need to be deliberate and specific when formulating questions about someone's ethnic identity, lest valuable information and complexity go undiscovered.