THE ROLES OF ETHNIC AND IDEOLOGICAL IDENTITY IN PREDICTING FIDELITY IN AFRICAN AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN AMERICAN ADOLESCENTS

This longitudinal study constituted an examination of Erik Ei-lksonʹs proposition that advanced identity formation should facilitate the ascendance of the ego strength of fidelity. Differing hypotheses were generated, according to ethnicity. for the associations between ethnic and ideological identity and between identity and fidelity. Forth-nine African American and 27 European American high school students from rural. low income backgrounds completed the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure and the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status, and one year later completed the Psychosocial Inventory of Ego Strengths to assess Fidelity. Correlational analysis revealed a positive and significant relation between ethnic and ideological forms of identity for the African American participants, but not for European Americans. Utilizing standard multiple regression, the dependent variable of Fidelity was shown to be predicted by ethnic identity for the African American participants. Neither form of identity predicted fidelity for the European American participants. Implications for future research are given.