The emergence, structure and development of ethnic identity during childhood: the case of Roma identity

This study investigates the emergence, development and structure of ethnic identity during childhood. Forty Roma children living in Greece aged between 2.8 and 11.9 years answered questions about their awareness/recognition of four aspects of their ethnic identity-namely place of habitation, traditional costumes, the Roma language, and early betrothal of children-their identity and their sense of stability and constancy. The study also investigates how the children feel about the abandonment of those four aspects. The evidence from the current data supports the hypothesis that awareness of ethnic identity emerges before the age of 4. Moreover, this study offers direct empirical evidence of the multidimensionality of ethnic identity. A model of three concentric rings is proposed, extending from a core containing the most highly valued aspects of ethnic identity to the outer annulus that comprises the nonpermanent and nonstable aspects of ethnic identity. The aspects in each annulus differ in terms of the development of the sense of stability and constancy and the feelings associated with loss of the aspects in question. Even the youngest participants considered the aspects in the core to be stable and constant as well as emotionally charged; and even the 11-year-olds did not consider the aspects contained in the outer, more fluid annulus as stable and constant aspects of their ethnic identity. The development of an aspect is determined by what the majority of adults in a society, at a particular time in history, consider to be most important.