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disagreed, 50.5 per cent of non-Aborigines disagreed) show a large
group of Aborigines who supported the view that they were seen as
important and would be missed.
Statement 4 responses showed 46.7 per cent of Aborigines who
felt they did matter to people. It was the non-Aborigi∏al group
which gave a negative response to this statement. Forty-three point
four per cent of non-Aborigines agreed that sometimes they felt they
didn’t matter to anyone.
The hypothesis that Aborigines would see themselves as being
a non~persont someone who did not matter* was not supported.
This was not so in the case of non-Aborigines.
24.32 Confirmation of identity by others
De Levita maintains that adolescents are primarily concerned
with consolidating social roles - sometimes being
...morbidly, often curiously preoccupied with what
they appear to be in the eyes of others compared
with what they feel they are. The sense of ego-
identity is the accrued confidence that one’s own
ability to maintain inner sameness and continuity,
one’s ego, in a psychological sense, is matched
by the sameness and continuity of one’s meaning
for others (de Levita,1965:62).
Thus the young person looks for continuity of regard: but for
this he needs continuity in his own life.
Statement 24 addresses this question.
24.32 (a) Hypothesis
It was hypothesized that there would be a spread of responses
to Statement 24.
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