Becoming European: Mid- and Short-Term Development of a European Identity among Adolescents

Authors

Anna-Maria Mayer, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Elisabetta Crocetti, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Italy
Katharina Eckstein, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany
Peter Noack, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany
Philipp Juger, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

Background

European identity formation is a component of political identity and linked to the support of European institutions and values. Previous studies found that a large share of adolescents and young adults either identified to a similar extent with Europe and their nation, or even identified more strongly with Europe than with their nation. However, recent political elections have shown that a sizable share of European youth supports Eurosceptic and right-wing political movements.

To better understand how adolescents develop a European identity, we examined (1) developmental trajectories on the mid-term, (2) and short-term time scale, and (3) whether short-term processes are associated with those developmental trajectories.

Method

A total of 371 German adolescents (M_age = 14.24, SD_age = 0.55, 60.37% females) participated in a longitudinal study and in a ten-day daily diary study. We conducted latent growth curve analysis (LGCM) and assessed rank-order stability and profile similarity for both time scales. Next, conditional LGCMs were run to examine associations of both time scales.

Results

Regarding the mid-term time scale, we found a significant increase of all identity processes from the beginning to the middle of the school year and a significant decrease from the middle to the end of the school year. Regarding the short-term time scale across 10 days, growth curves varied according to the identity process. Stabilities were high for both time scales. Regarding the interrelations of both time scales, commitment at the beginning of the school year was negatively associated with fluctuations in commitment. We found no other interrelations between short- and mid-term processes.

Conclusion

Taken together, our results highlight the importance of examining different time scales, as well as different identity domains for comprehensively understanding identity development in adolescence. Furthermore, short-term processes are likely associated with long-term development. Our findings imply that strong commitments provide a feeling of sameness and continuity across time and situations, and that wavering commitments might relate to a loss of such a feeling.

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