The purpose of this dissertation was to investigate whether perceived autonomy and intimacy in family of origin experiences contributed to the retention of an individual's ethnic identity. The hypothesis under investigation focused on the predictive relationship of these variables with a sample of 195 Roman Catholic parishioners representing the following ethnic groups: Irish, Italian, Puerto Rican, Polish and French. The sample included 43 Irish Americans, 35 Italian Americans, 36 Puerto Rican Americans, 41 Polish Americans and 40 French Americans. The subjects completed a mailed questionnaire packet concerning family of origin and ethnic identity characteristics and experiences. The findings indicated that autonomy and intimacy were significant in predicting the retention of an individual's ethnic identity in varying degrees and within specific populations. Positive intimacy and negative autonomy were found to be significant in predicting the retention of ethnic identity for the entire sample group. Autonomy and intimacy were found to be significant in predicting the retention of ethnic identity for the Polish sample group. Positive intimacy and positive autonomy were found to be significant in predicting the retention of ethnic identity for the men in the sample. In conclusion, the findings suggest that perceived autonomy and intimacy in family of origin experiences contribute to the retention of an individual's ethnic identity in varying degrees and in different populations. Implications for future research are also discussed.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-7678 |
| Date | 01 January 1991 |
| Creators | D'Amato, Alfred Angelo |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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