ETHNIC IDENTFI11: ESTONIAN MOTHERS AND DAUGHTERS IN TWO DIFFERENT CONTEXTS, ESTONIA AND CANADA Kadri-Ann Laar A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Education University of Toronto 0 Copyright by ICadri-Ann Laar 1996 Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services senrices bibliographiques 395 Wellingdon Street 395. Wm Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ot&waON KIAON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde me licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive pennettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliotheque nationale du Cmda de reproduce, loan, distnibute or sell reproduire, pr&er, disbn'buer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette these sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format electronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriete du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette these. thesis nor substantial extracts &om it Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. Ethnic Identity: Estonian mothess and daughte~tsin two different contexts, Estonia and Canada Kadti-Ann Laar Doctor of Philosophy, 1996 Graduate DepartPlent of Education, University of Toronto In the past decade ethnic identity has been recognized as an important but neglected aspect of ego identity, especially for members of a minority group. According to Phinney (1990) ethnic identity refers to an individual's sense of self as a member of an ethnic group and the attitudes and behaviours associated with that sense. This research is an exploratory study of the possible relationships between ethnic identity, generation, environment, and personality variables among 20 mother- daughter dyads of Estonian background. Half of the pairs were born and raised in Estonia, and the other half were raised but not necessarily born in Canada. All the mothers had pursued a university education, and all the daughters were university students. Each participant was interviewed and each completed the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM), a self-report index of the salience of ethnicity in her life, and the Differential Diagnostic Technique ( DDT) , a visual-motor iii projective personality test, which yields scores of both ego strength or overall mental health, and personality structure or type. The scores obtained from these measures were subjected to correlational analyses and analyses of variance. These scores were converted into categorical data to explore their relationships using a multivariate statistical technique called dual scaling (Nishisato, 1994). From these analyses several interesting patterns emerged. As a group, Estonians in Canada reported higher scores in ethnic identity and more positive attitudes toward other ethnic groups than Estonians in Estonia, demonstrating a relationship between ethnic identity and environment. Estonians in Estonia seemed to attribute less importance to their ethnicity and to be less open to interaction with representatives of other ethnic groups than Estonians in Canada. Furthermore higher ethnic identity scores in the total sample clustered with lower ego strength and a general tendency toward loss of control, while more positive attitudes toward other ethnic groups were linked to greater control of hostile impulses. These findings illustrate the associations between ethnic identity and personality. In terms of ethnic identity and generation, the older generation showed higher scores in ethnic identity than the younger one. The results of this study are interpreted from a psychoanalytic perspective. My greatest thank you is for my fellow Estonians, the women in this study. I am grateful for their willingness to take considerable time from their busy lives to share their thoughts, and feelings with me. I am especially indebted to the mothers and daughters in Estonia, who trusted a complete stranger with their life stories, and to my three contacts in Tallinn, who brought us together. To the members of the Estonian fraternity and sorority, in Toronto, the students and teachers of the Estonian school, my recognition for participating in the pilot study. That same recognition is extended to all the members of the Estonian folk-dance group and choir for distributing the ethnic identity measure in Estonia during the Song Festival in 1990. The return rate surpassed my greatest expectations. I wish to acknowledge the members of my thesis committee for their always timely response to my work. To Dr. Solveiga Miezitis, my committee chair, my gratitude for her continued interest and understanding of the topic of ethnic identity, an understanding that is grounded in life experience. To Dr. Morris Eagle my thanks for his personal input in the early stages of this project and his comprehensive writings on psychoanalytic theory. To Dr. Otto Weininger a special thank you for introducing me to the Differential Diagnostic Technique, the personality test used in this study, and for rekindling my interest in psychoanalytic theory and practice. I am most grateful for his sensitivity in times of doubt and need. To Dr. Joel Weiss, my appreciation for teaching me qualitative methodology, and for his valuable feedback regarding my work. I want to especially mention Dr. Mary Morris as her contribution to this thesis goes well beyond her expertise in scoring and interpreting the Differential Diagnostic Technique. She has been a constant source of encouragement and support through this entire process. I am most grateful for her wisdom and kindness. This same kindness has been extended to me by others, in particular by Linda Ennis, a fellow traveler on the "thesis journey", with whom I could always be my true self. I would also like to thank the members of the Psychoanalytic Women's Group for their interest and encouragement of my work. I am much indebted to Muriel Fung, for her statistical assistance and expertise, specially with the dual scaling procedure, to Pam Leavere for her clerical help with the Tables, and my aunt, Hilja Jams, for her assistance with translations into the Estonian language. I am also grateful vi for the financial support awarded to my research by the Ontario Graduate Students Scholarship. To my children Ingrid, Kristi, and Erik, who shared me with the thesis for several years, my apologies and recognition for their patience and understanding. To my husband, who sometimes seemed to wonder about this whole exercise, a thank you for always standing by me. To the thesis, my transitional object, a thank you for opening up new vistas and allowing me to move on. To my mother More me and my children after vii THE EAST-WEST BORDER The East-West Border is always wandering, sometimes eastward, semetimea west, and we do not knaw exactly where it is just now: in Guagarela, in the Urals, ot maybe in our~elv~s, so that one ear, one eye, one nostril, one hand, one foot, one lung and one testicle or one ova- is on the one, another on the other side. Only the heart, only the heart is always on one side: if we are looking northward, fa the West; if we are looking southward, in the East; and the mouth doesn't know on behalf of which or both it has to speak. Jaan Kaplinski (1987) viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Title i Abstxact if Acknarrledgemsnts iv Dedication vii The East West Border wiii Table of Contents ix List of Tables xi PAGE L INTRODUCTION 1 Estonia and the Estonians The Estonian Community in Toronto The Researcher Reasons for Undertaking the Study The Purpose of the Study 11. LITERATURE REVIEW Empirical Studies on Ethnic Identity Components of Ethnic Identity Structure of Ethnic Identity Ethnic Identity Development Ethnic Identity and Personality Variables Theoretical Bases for the Study of ~thnic~dentity Taj fel ' s Social Identity Theory Lewin's Field Theory The Choice of a ~sychoanalyticApproach LU. METHOD 67 participants Research Instruments The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure The Differential Diagnostic Technique The Interview Procedures IV. DATA AWYSIS 93 Quantitative Data Analyses of Ethnic Identity Variables 93 Quantitative Data Analysis of Ethnic Identity and Personality Variables 95 Dual Scaling 97 Qualitative Data Rnalysis 102 v. RESULTS Quantitative Results Pilot Study Sample Combined Sample Main Study Sample Qualitative Reeults VI. DISCUSSION Ethnic Identity and Environment Intergroup elations ships and Environment Ethnic Identity and Generation Intergroup Relationships and Generation Ethnic Identity and personality Variables Intergroup Relationships and Personality Variables Ethnic Identity and Gender Differences Intergroup Relationships and Gender Differences Idiosyncratic Aspects of an Estonian Identity Summary and Conclusions Limitations of the Study Directions for Future Research REFERENCES APPENDIXES Appendix A Aa Estonian History Ab The MEIH questionnaire Ac Scoring of the NEIM Ad The DDT (sample figures) Ae Scoring of the DDT Af Interpretation of the DDT Ag Interview Schedule Ah Consent form Ai Categorization of the DDT scores for Dual Scaling: Rationale Appendix B Statistical Tables Categorization of MgIM scores for Dual scaling (Pilot) 305 Categorization of NBIM scores for Dual scaling (Main) 306 Categorization of DDT scores for Dual scaling 307 Pilot study ANOVAs for MgfM scores by environment (Tables 1-5) 308 Dual scaling for