The Current National Identity State Of Adolescent And Its Impact On Subjective Well-being:The Longitudinal Mediation Role Of Self-esteem

National identity is a kind of special and important group identity,and research has shown that group identity is significantly and positively related to individual subjective well-being,but studies on the relationship between national identity and subjective well-being have yielded inconsistent findings and therefore need to be further explored.In addition,most studies on the relationship between the two were cross-sectional,making it difficult to draw causal relationships,and there are fewer studies that focus on the mechanisms of their interactions.Adolescents are the key targets of patriotic education in China,and their level of national identity should be given more attention.Therefore,this study investigated the current state of national identity among secondary school students and university students,and used a longitudinal design to explore the effect of national identity on subjective well-being and its mechanisms.In study 1,We developed a Chinese National Identity Questionnaire and tested its reliabilities and validities.Based on the existing literature analysis and theoretical conceptions,an item bank was established,items were screened and analysed and discussed to form the initial questionnaire.The questionnaire was distributed among university students and the final questionnaire was developed through item analysis,EFA,CFA and other reliability and validity tests.The questionnaire contained12 items,including the two dimensions of experience and affection.The two-dimensional structural model had good fit indices,?~2/df=3.856,CFI=0.953,TLI=0.941,RESEA=0.076,SRMR=0.040,and the internal consistency coefficients of the questionnaire and the two dimensions(0.814-0.893)The internal consistency coefficients of CNIQ and the two dimensions(0.814-0.893),the retest reliability(0.767)and the criterion validities(0.620,0.820)were good.The Chinese National Identity Questionnaire developed in this study has good reliability and validity indicators,is short and easy to administer,and can be used as a valid instrument to measure the level of national identity of Chinese people.In study 2,we used CNIQ developed by Study 1 as an instrument to distribute nationwide to investigate the current state of national identity among university and secondary and high school students in China,and to analyse the differences in national identity levels on selected demographic variables.The results showed that the national identity of university,secondary and high school students was at a high level.The differences between the two sexes in national identity were examined and found that college males scored higher than females in both total national identity scores and in all dimensions,while secondary school males and females did not differ significantly in their national identity levels.Differences in national identity levels by ethnicity were then examined,and the results showed that the differences in national identity levels between Han Chinese and ethnic minority university and secondary school students were not significant.In Study 3,we used university students as subjects to firstly examine the relationship between explicit and implicit national identity,and secondly,to analyse the mediation role of self-esteem between national identity and subjective well-being through three follow-ups over one year.The CNIQ,the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the General Well-being Scale were used to measure subjects’levels of explicit national identity,self-esteem and subjective well-being respectively.The Single Item Implicit Association Paradigm(SC-IAT)was used to measure subjects’implicit national identity levels.The results showed that:(1)University students scored high in implicit national identity;(2)University students’explicit national identity and implicit national identity were not significantly correlated;(3)Explicit national identity in T1 significantly and positively predicted self-esteem in T2,and self-esteem in T2 significantly predicted subjective well-being in T3,but the longitudinal mediating effect of self-esteem between explicit national identity and subjective well-being was not significant;(4)Implicit national identity and subjective well-being significantly and positively predicted each other;(5)T1 implicit national identity significantly and positively predicted T2 self-esteem,and T2 self-esteem significantly and positively predicted T3 subjective well-being,but the longitudinal mediating effect of self-esteem between implicit national identity and subjective well-being was insignificant.In Study 4,we further examined the relationship between explicit national identity,self-esteem and subjective well-being through three longitudinal follow-ups over a period of about one year,using secondary school students as subjects.The results showed that:(1)Explicit national identity and subjective well-being were significantly and positively predicted by each other;and(2)A full longitudinal mediation model between external national identity and subjective well-being was valid for self-esteem.In summary,this study concluded the following:(1)The two-dimensional model of the Chinese National Identity Questionnaire fitted well,with good reliability and validity indicators,and can be used as a valid instrument to measure the level of national identity of Chinese people;(2)The explicit national identity of Chinese secondary and high school students and college students was at a high level in both total score and all dimensions.National identity level of male college students was significantly higher than that of female college students,while the difference between the two sexes in national identity level of secondary school students was not significant;the difference between the national identity levels of Han and minority college and secondary school students was not significant;(3)The level of implicit national identity was high among university students,and the correlation between implicit national identity and explicit national identity was not significant;(4)Explicit national identity and subjective well-being significantly and positively predicted each other;(5)Implicit national identity and subjective well-being were significantly and positively predicted by each other;(6)Self-esteem worked as a longitudinal mediation role between explicit national identity and subjective well-being.