Ethnic Identity Development in Minority Adolescents

Ethnic identity is a sense of belonging or attachment to one's ethnic group and the feelings that accompany that sense of belonging. During adolescence, identity issues become important as young people move toward adulthood and begin to make decisions about the kind of person they will be in the future. For members of ethnic minority groups, ethnicity is a central aspect of their identities (Phinney, 1990). An ethnic identity develops through a process similar to the formation of an ego identity, as described by Erik Erikson and studied empirically initially by James Marcia (1994). The formation of an ethnic identity occurs typically during adolescence and young adulthood, but it may occur later in life, depending on the context.

In early childhood, children who are exposed to diverse ethnic groups learn the names of their ethnic groups and some of their distinguishing characteristics, such as food, customs, and language. During early and middle childhood, children begin to attach meanings to their ethnic group membership. These meanings will depend to a large extent on the context in which they live. When parents convey a positive sense of their groups and when cohesive ethnic communities provide opportunities for cultural involvement in customs and activities, children will develop good feelings about their ethnicity. However, virtually all minority children are exposed as well to messages from the larger society about their groups. These messages often include images of their groups as less worthy, less accomplished, and less attractive than members of the dominant group. These negative stereotypes can become internalized, so that some minority children feel unhappy about their group memberships and may, in fact, wish to belong to the dominant group.

Minority children thus enter adolescence with a range of feelings and attitudes, both positive and negative, about their groups and their relationship to them. The task for minority adolescents is to explore the meaning of their group memberships for themselves, attempt to resolve conflicting attitudes, and come to an understanding of the implications in their lives, that is, to develop a secure ethnic identity. Models that have described the development of ethnic identity (Phinney, 1993), racial identity (Wijeyesinghe & Jackson, 2001), and minority identity generally (Atkinson, Morten, & Sue, 1993) are similar in suggesting that the process can be thought of in terms of distinct phases or aspects. At the earliest phase, individuals have given little thought to the meaning and implications of their ethnicity. A second phase involves a period of exploration of one's ethnicity or race. This can lead to a resolution that includes a commitment to a particular way of being a member of the group. These are not, however, true stages, as they do not occur in an invariant sequence, show a single developmental direction, or imply that everyone progresses through all phases.