Social Identity and Navajo High School Students: Is a Strong Social Identity Important in the School Context?

In this paper, we explore the concept of identity. We do this by suggesting that one's identity self-concept is multi-dimensional (personal, social, & cultural). Before examining the question in the title, we distinguish between these constructs. We then describe social identity theory and illustrate its utility by examining Navajo high school students' positive and negative ability beliefs about school and how social identity theory might explain the results. We conclude by pointing to the need for more research in this important area of study, particularly in terms of the need for similar research with other cultural groups. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. This article is available in Online Readings in Psychology and Culture: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/orpc/vol3/iss1/5