Iraqi adolescents: self-regard, self-derogation, and perceived threat in war.
A year into the 2003 US-Iraq war, how were adolescents in Baghdad faring? Conflict-related events typically lower psychological well-being; in contrast, investment in and protection of threatened identities should lead to self-esteem striving and, presumably, better well-being. How threatened do Iraqi adolescents feel? Is their self-esteem related to their sense of threat? Do age, religion, ethnicity, and gender alter the link between perceived threat and self-esteem? We use data from 1000 randomly selected adolescents living in Baghdad during July 2004. Iraqi adolescents reported high levels of threat; those feeling more threatened reported higher levels of self-esteem. Social background correlates with both self-esteem and perceived threat, but controlling for social background does not eliminate the relationship between self-esteem and perceived threat. We interpret our results in light of theory and research concerning social identity, mortality threats, and war trauma.
Department of Sociology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221-0378, USA. carltosl@uc.edu
Steve
S
Carlton-Ford
Morten G
MG
Ender
Ahoo
A
Tabatabai
D000293:Adolescent; D001290:Attitude / Q000208:ethnology*; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007493:Iraq; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D012933:Social Identification; D012938:Social Perception; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014857:Warfare