Ethnic identity, identity coherence, and psychological functioning: Testing basic assumptions of the developmental model.

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to test three fundamental theoretical propositions from Phinney's (1990) developmental model about the relations among ethnic identity, identity coherence, and psychological functioning: (a) ethnic identity is more strongly related to identity coherence for ethnic minorities than for Whites; (b) ethnic identity is more strongly related to psychological functioning for ethnic minorities than for Whites; and (c) identity coherence mediates the association between ethnic identity and psychological functioning for ethnic minorities, but not for Whites. These hypotheses were tested in three independent samples of ethnically diverse youth. In general, we found weak to moderate support for these three hypotheses, suggesting that the theoretically proposed differences in ethnic identity between ethnic minorities and Whites may not be supported by data. Implications for theory and measurement of ethnic identity are discussed.

Personal Identity Development in Hispanic Immigrant Adolescents: Links with Positive Psychosocial Functioning, Depressive Symptoms, and Externalizing Problems

“…Specifically, immigrants and minority group members must make sense of themselves culturally (e.g., deciding what it means to be Hispanic and how their ethnic group fits into the larger national context, and how Hispanic or not they want to be, how much Spanish they want to speak) as well as focus on more general identity domains such as career, relationships, and values (Syed and Juang 2014). Achieving identity coherence, and minimizing identity confusion, may therefore be more difficult for immigrant and minority adolescents because of the greater amount of identity work required of them as compared to majority-group adolescents.…”

Personal and cultural identity development in recently immigrated Hispanic adolescents: Links with psychosocial functioning.

“…Personal and cultural identity have inspired separate literatures (Syed & Juang, 2014). Personal identity focuses on the set of goals, values, and beliefs that an individual has developed and/or internalized (Waterman, 1999).…”

From tolerance to understanding: Exploring the development of intercultural competence in multiethnic contexts from early to late adolescence

“…However, because learning about others (e.g., by engaging in intercultural contact) and learning about yourself (e.g., by engaging in ethnic identity exploration) are both important for the development of CQ, in the present study, we integrate the two lines of research to investigate how intercultural contact, age, and ethnic identity exploration are related to CQ among adolescents. These processes may differ between immigrant and non‐immigrant background adolescents, as the former are typically in the cultural minority, and thus may engage in more intercultural contact, and their ethnic identity may be more salient (Syed & Juang, ; Tropp & Pettigrew, ). Therefore, we will investigate whether relations between these constructs differ between students of immigrant and non‐immigrant background.…”