Racial identity and reflected appraisals as influences on Asian Americans' racial adjustment.

Abstract

J. E. Helms's (1990) racial identity psychodiagnostic model was used to examine the contribution of racial identity schemas and reflected appraisals to the development of healthy racial adjustment of Asian American university students (N = 188). Racial adjustment was operationally defined as collective self-esteem and awareness of anti-Asian racism. Multiple regression analyses suggested that racial identity schemas and reflected appraisals were significantly predictive of Asian Americans' racial adjustment. Implications for counseling and future research are discussed.

The Relationships of Racial Identity and Gender Role Conflict to Self-Esteem of Asian American Undergraduate Men

“…He also suggested that methodological limitations of prior studies on mental health have led to underestimations of Asian Americans' rate of psychological disorders. The studies that have been conducted on psychological well-being of Asian Americans have shown relationships between racial identity, ethnic identity, and self-esteem (Alvarez, 2002;Alvarez & Helms, 2001;Chua & Fujino, 1999;Kohatsu, 1992;Yip, 2003). Depending on the saliency of ethnic identity or racial identity to the student, its effect on self-esteem will vary (Yip).…”

“…Scales for measuring racial identity development have undergone various iterations ranging from the Racial Identity Attitude Scale, which primarily measured Black racial identity and was more closely linked to Cross' model of Nigrescence, to the Cultural Identity Attitudes Scale to the Visible Racial/Ethnic Identity Attitude Scale (VREIAS), which began to encompass other communities of color, to the more contemporary People of Color Racial Identity Attitude Scale (PRIAS) (Alvarez & Helms, 2001;Helms & Carter, 1990;Kohatsu, 1992;Liu, 2002;Parham & Helms, 1985;Pyant & Yanico, 1991;Solberg et al, 1994). Both the VREIAS and the PRIAS have been used as valid instruments to measure Asian American racial identity development and will be discussed further in the methodology section (Alvarez & Helms, 2001;Kohatsu, 1992;Liu, 2000Liu, , 2002.…”

“…Internalized racism is the impact of negative social images of one's own racial group where the dominant group's perceptions of the group are incorporated into the person's identity. In the existing racial identity development models, the goal for individuals is to develop more complex ways of information processing and negotiating the racial dynamics, particularly as it relates to their self-concept (Alvarez & Helms, 2001;Helms & Cook). Rather than maintaining an identity that is based on external perceptions of a racial group, internally defined conceptualizations of the racial identity are considered to reveal more complex modes of thinking.…”

“…Racial identity and gender identity have been shown to be related to students' psychological well-being (Cress & Ikeda, 2003;Kim et al, 1996), and more particularly to their self-esteem (Alvarez & Helms, 2001). This study focused on self-esteem since it was often used to operationalize psychological well-being in other studies (Parham & Helms;Sharpe & Heppner;Smith & Betz;Utsey, Ponterotto, Reynolds, & Cancelli, 2000;Yip, 2003).…”

“…Whereas earlier literature on Asian Americans focused on assimilation or acculturation, more recent scholarship has examined Asian American psychosocial development (Kodama, McEwen, Liang, & Lee, 2002), racial identity (Alvarez, 2002;Kohatsu, 1992), gender identity (Kim, O'Neil, & Owen, 1996;Liu, 2000), multiple social identities (Chen, 2005), student involvement (Liu & Sedlacek, 1999), use of counseling services (Chang & Yeh, 2003;Solberg, Ritsma, Davis, Tata, & Jolly, 1994), and self-esteem (Alvarez & Helms, 2001;Yip, 2003). One point of inquiry that needs to be inspected further is the intersection of identities within this population that may influence Asian American students' quality of life.…”