Negnik M.(2002), the Identity Dilemma of Russian-born Adolescents in ILl

Negnik M. (2002)

Between the Two Worlds – the Identity Dilemma of Russian-born Adolescents in Israel 

The present study investigated the process of ethnic and cultural adjustment for the first generation Russian Jewish adolescents in Israel concerning their self-identification, attitude to the main ethnic and social groups and language behavior.

The research was conducted in 2001 and the data was collected via semi-structured interviews in the homes of the interviewees. The subjects had arrived to Israel not less than six and not more than eleven years earlier and were strictly of European origin (Ashkenazi).

The present study fully confirms Fishman’s statement that the language shift of immigrants has commonly proceeded more rapidly than their re-ethnithication (Fishman, 1989:191).