Ethnic and sexual identity development among american indians: a qualitative study

Abstract

Traditional psychological models of ethnic and sexual identity development have predicted that individuals marginalized due to their ethnicity or sexual orientation, will proceed through a specified series of stages in order to fully develop their identities within these domains, yet there has been no empirical research into possible interconnections between these domains and their development. Due to certain unique qualities of American Indian culture(s), the current study examined the relevance of these traditional models to the experiences of contemporary American Indians, while also exploring possible interconnections between ethnic identity and sexual orientation identity within this group. The in-depth interviews of ten self-identified American Indians were analyzed using a version of grounded theory. Results demonstrated important differences between the participants' experiences and the developmental trajectories predicted by traditional models of development, especially with regard to lesbian and gay identity development. In addition, important interconnections between the two identity domains were located.