ERIC Number: EJ1221287
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Apr
Pages: 14
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: EISSN-2158-2440
EISSN: N/A
Measurement Model for Students' Ethnic Identity, National Identity, and Perception of Social Mobility in China: Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses
Yuan, Zhenjie; Li, Xia
SAGE Open, v9 n2 Apr 2019
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and construct validity of the Ethnic Identity, National Identity, and Perception of Social Mobility Scale in China. The data for this study were collected in 2014 and 2016, from one middle school in China. The school deployed a Chinese ethnic minority education policy, aimed at cultivating youth elites who uphold the Chinese government. The educational process involved significant interventions in the students' identity building and their perception of social mobility. The total sample of 338 students was recruited in 2014 for exploratory factor analysis (EFA), while 609 students were recruited in the same school in 2016 for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). EFA was first used to devise an optimal structure. The results of EFAs supported a two-factor solution to ethnic identity: "commitment" and "exploration;" a three-factor solution for national identity: "commitment," "exploration," and "behavioral involvement;" and a three-factor solution for perception of social mobility: "sense of being elite," "perception of social status," and "educational attainment." The second step was to confirm the structure, using CFA methods. CFA showed that the eight-factor model for Ethnic Identity, National Identity, and Perception of Social Mobility Scale provides a good fit for the data. These findings shed light on a combined way of approaching the relationship between identity building and social mobility within the educational sectors of a multi-ethnic society. Based on a Chinese context, this study offers a situated and contextualized quantitative approach to examining the Chinese state's efforts toward identity building and promoting upward social mobility within the educational sector. Future research and the potential limitations of the study are discussed.
Descriptors: Ethnicity, Social Mobility, Self Concept, Factor Structure, Construct Validity, Reliability, Middle School Students, Student Attitudes, Educational Policy, Factor Analysis, Social Status, Intervention, Educational Attainment, Cultural Context, Foreign Countries, Self Concept Measures, Student Characteristics
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Junior High Schools; Middle Schools; Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: China
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A