PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

The adverse position of Romani migrant girls and women within their communities and wider society with respect to conservative social roles and a reduced range of possibilities for self-actualization received thus far minimal scientific attention. The present dissertation is therefore concerned with structural and socio-cultural factors which influence particular ways of socialization and developmental trajectories of Romani migrant girls. We especially focus on personal goals, type of self in family and levels of subjective well-being.

In order to draw conclusions regarding Romani migrant group, a control group of German non-migrant peers from similar social background was obtained. The first aim of this dissertation was to examine whether potential disadvantages faced by Romani girls (based on prior reports and literature) appear in comparison to their non-migrant peers. The second aim was to formulate and empirically validate conceptual models which: a) investigate the internal relations between distal and proximal constructs used in the model (describing linkages between relevant socio-cultural variables, Self in family and outcome variables) and b) examine the predictive value of relevant socio-cultural and Self in family variables with respect to particular goal outcomes.

Significant between-group differences were established regarding socioeconomic and educational capital, Women’s intra-family status and cultural values (depicting Romani migrant participants as worse off, less egalitarian and collectivistic). Accordingly, Romani migrant group generated more family-oriented and work related personal goals in comparison to German group. However, two groups differed only slightly with respect to expressed educational goals, level of Self-concordance, Choice in life and Subjective well-being. Theorized antecedents of Kagitçibasi`s Self in family constructs were only partially confirmed, mostly due to flawed construct validity of the Autonomous- and Related self in family scales. Matching the theoretical expectations, this study confirmed a beneficial effect of a warm parenting style and Monitoring on Subjective well-being. Further on, measure of Collectivism also contributed to SWB indicating the value of connectedness and close family relationships in the age of adolescence. Also, a difference in SWB across different types of personal goals was confirmed. As Self-determination theory predicts, material goals had the lowest impact on SWB. Finally, models of relevant socio-cultural variables used to predict the choice of a personal goal or an obstacle in goal pursuit demonstrated a rather low predictive power. However, the observed trends will be discussed.