Culturally related anxiety and ethnic identity in Navajo college students.

The Cultural Involvement and Detachment Anxiety Questionnaire (D. W. McNeil, C. A. Porter, M. J. Zvolensky, & J. M. Chaney, 1998) and the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (J. S. Phinney, 1992) were administered to 160 Navajo college students to explore the relation between ethnic identity and culturally related anxiety, compare level of ethnic identity in reference to standardized samples, and test for gender differences. Correlations indicated a notable lack of relation between ethnic identity and cultural anxiety. This particular Navajo sample evidenced significantly higher levels of ethnic identity in comparison to students of Caucasian, Asian, Hispanic, or mixed ethnicity. There were no significant gender differences in culturally related anxiety. Results are discussed in relation to culturally related anxiety and ethnic identity in the Navajo, with implications for better understanding the nature of cultural anxiety in other American Indians and Alaska Natives.