Constructing a minority group identity out of shared rejection: the case of international students

Abstract

With a sample of international students, we investigated how perceptions of rejection by the host community are related to a sense of identification with other international students. Based on the rejection-identification model (Branscombe, Schmitt, & Harvey, 1999) we predicted that perceiving prejudice from the host university would be negatively related to psychological well-being. We expected that group identification with international students would mediate a positive effect of perceived discrimination on self-esteem, thus suppressing the negative effect of perceiving prejudice on self-esteem. Consistent with predictions, results supported a model in which identification with international students increased in response to perceiving prejudice and suppressed the costs of perceiving oneself as excluded from the host community. Interestingly, identification with participants' home country was not predicted by perceptions of discrimination. Results are discussed in terms of how minority group members construct group identities in response to the intergroup context.

Emotional Attachment, Performance, and Viability in Teams Collaborating with Embodied Physical Action (EPA) Robots

“…They found that being exposed to the same set of behaviors (i.e., supervisor's actions) in similar situations is likely to engender a similar response from each employee (i.e., trust or not in the same supervisor). This is not unlike the group responses from racial and gender minorities who have not experienced crucial events in life together but still develop similar responses and attitudes to such events (e.g., acts of discrimination; (Harrison, Price, & Bell, 1998;Schmitt, Spears, & Branscombe, 2003;Wright, Ursano, Bartone, & Ingraham, 1990). This does not preclude the possibility of individual differences but can instead help explain how different individuals can have similar reactions to events they did not experience together, which can in turn lead to a group response.…”

“Depression is who I am”: Mental illness identity, stigma and wellbeing

“…That is, social identifications buffers individuals against the negative consequences of stigma. RIM has been investigated in the context of ethnic minority identities (Branscombe et al, 1999;Latrofa, Vaes, Pastore, & Cadinu, 2009;Schmitt, Spears, & Branscombe, 2003), older people (Garstka, Schmitt, Branscombe, & Hummert, 2004), women (Schmitt, Branscombe, Kobrynowicz, & Owen, 2002) and people with physical disabilities (Fernández, Branscombe, Gómez, & Morales, 2012), but not, to our knowledge, in the context of mental illness groups.…”

International Education and the Post-9/11 Syndrome: A Study of International Educators in Selected Miami-area Colleges

“…They must also engender systems that reproduce non-discriminatory policies, culture, and outcomes, and that offer opportunities for international students and scholars to overcome the deleterious effects of discrimination on their identity development. Schmitt, Spears, and Branscombe (2003) found through path analysis that international students' perception of discrimination engendered lower self-esteem and higher identification with other international students. They also found that identification with other international students led to an increase in self-esteem.…”

“…Some other studies take the form of position papers and evaluative reports (e.g., Sigya & Hayward, 2003;APLU, 2004) that seek to advance or legitimize certain agenda or points of view. A few studies, however, baulk this general trend (e.g., Schmitt, Spears, and Branscombe, 2003;McKeown, 2003;Mpoyi & Thomas, 2003;Fullerton, 2005;Min-Hua , 2007;Poyrazli and Lopez 2007). In this literature review, I have covered each of these broad swathes, while giving primacy to the meta-analytical and research studies.…”