The Role of Language, Parents, and Peers in Ethnic Identity Among Adolescents in Immigrant Families

To construct a model of the influences on ethnic identity among adolescents in immigrant families, we surveyed adolescents and their parents from 81 Armenian families, 47 Vietnamese families, and 88 Mexican families. Adolescents completed measures of ethnic language proficiency, in-group peer social interaction, and ethnic identity. Parents completed a measure of support for cultural maintenance. Across all groups, ethnic language proficiency and in-group peer interaction predicted ethnic identity, and parental cultural maintenance predicted adolescent ethnic language proficiency. However, because of differences among the groups, a separate model was required for each ethnic group. The results suggest both common processes and group differences in the factors that influence ethnic identity.     

Ethnic and American Identity as Predictors of Self-Esteem Among African American,Latino, and White Adolescents

In order to examine ethnic and American identity as predictors of self-esteem among adolescents, we surveyed 669 American-born high school students (372 Latinos, 232 African Americans, and 65 Whites). Participants completed measures of self-esteem, ethnic identity, American identity, attitudes toward other groups, and demographic variables. Multiple regression analyses of self-esteem were carried out separately for each ethnic group, using ethnic and American identity, other-group attitudes, gender, age, socioeconomic status, and grade point average as predictors. Results indicated that for all groups ethnic identity was a significant predictor of self-esteem. For the White students only, American identity was a strong predictor of self-esteem and was highly correlated with ethnic identity. Other predictors varied across ethnic groups. Although ethnic identity was a significant predictor of self-esteem, it accounted for a relatively small proportion of the variance, suggesting the importance of other influences on self-esteem.