Perspectives and Possibilities of Psychological Approach to the problem of Development in Middle School

The present research aims to study peculiarities of ethnical identity structure of Latvian residents whose school age was in post-soviet period. 89 interviews were carried out with adolescents and young adults, school and university students with both Russian and Latvian languages of education. The interview included questions on self-naming, ethnodifferentiating features of respondents. Respondents' emotional reactions during discussion of interethnic interaction and problems of ethnical self identification were analyzed. The findings allow making the following conclusions: most important ethnodifferentiating features in ethnical identity of Latvian Russian-speaking residents are Russian language and culture. The respondents think that the group of «Russians in Latvia» is formed not according to the ethnical principle and it would be more correct to call them «Russian-speaking residents of Latvia». Negative feelings such as shame, disappointment, and resentment are caused mostly by «ill-mannered» behavior by their group representatives as well as negative attitude and negative remarks from representatives of the out group. The positive feelings are mainly based on the feeling of belonging to a big nation with rich language and great culture. This research can't be considered fully finished since at the present moment using the findings of this interrogative research methods for the next, quantitative stage, are being worked out. Combining quantitative and qualitative methods allows getting a fuller and more objective understanding of ethnical identity of Russian speaking adolescents and young adults in Republic of Latvia.

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