Tendencies and Types of Ethnic Socialization Among Adolescents

Introduction. Adolescents' ethnic socialization is a topical issue in modern socio-cultural conditions. Ethnic socialization determines the type of ethnic identity, value orientations and tolerance. The present study deals with characteristics of adolescents' ethnic socialization and reveals its types. The paper presents an innovative view of ethnic socialization types, which may be grouped as follows: (a) successful type, (b) incomplete type and (c) ethnic desocialization. Methods. The study employed the following techniques (a) the Tolerance Index express questionnaire by G. U. Soldatova et al.; (b) Bogardus Social Distance Scale; (c) Types of Ethnic Identity technique by G. U. Soldatova and S. V. Ryzhova; (d) Relationships Diagnostic Test by G. U. Soldatova; (e) The Portrait Values Questionnaire by Schwartz et al. The Mann–Whitney U test was a method for mathematical and statistical data processing. The study involved 250 school students from Chita at the age from 12 to 14 years. Results. The study revealed the following tendencies and risks in the adolescents' ethnic socialization: (a) negative ethnic stereotypes; (b) decrease in tolerance and universalism values; (c) ethnic selectivity; and (d) blurring ethnic identity. Discussion. The findings suggest that depending on the type of ethnic socialization, which includes the type of ethnic identity, tolerance level, characteristics of social distance, value orientations, and ethnic stereotypes, adolescents fall into one of three groups.