Cara, O; (2013) Acculturation strategies and ethno-national identification: a study of adolescents in Russian-language schools in Riga. Doctoral thesis , UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

With the collapse of the Soviet Union the political status of the Russian-speaking population in Latvia changed, affecting their ethnic self-concept and identification with the new state. Despite the relatively successful adaptation by many Russian-speakers, however, the ethnic issue, language in particular, remains contentious due to its politicisation. The main aim of this study is to thus look at how adolescents construct and maintain their ethnic identities and choose acculturation strategies and how their teachers and peers may influence these processes. This study involves a mixed methods design where survey (450 pupils across 20 schools) instruments are used for statistical models for ethnic identification and acculturation and qualitative data (interviews and observations) capture the subjective and situational aspects of ethnicity or explore how adolescents construct their ethnicity within the school context and what subjective meaning they give to different acculturation strategies and ethnic identities. The study of Russian-speaking adolescents showed their preference for integration and its evident competition with separation on the attitudinal level and even more so in actual behavioural patterns. These adolescents identify with both Latvian and Russian culture and groups and form a unique Latvian Russian identity. The study also demonstrates the role of significant others, such as parents, teachers, peers and Latvians in the acculturation and identification processes

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