A Brief Discussion: Ethnic & Bicultural Identity Formation in American Society

by Lorraine Ledger

The ethnic identity formation process, which culminates in adulthood, is strongly affected by the interaction of social and cognitive development variables throughout childhood and adolescence.

Young children first learn and absorb their concepts of ethnic labels, attitudes, and behaviors from adult caretakers. By adolescence, students have acquired ethnic labels, an awareness of which attributes distinguish different groups (e.g., skin color, language, dress), hold attitudes toward their own and other groups, and demonstrate ethnically-linked social expectations and behavior patterns. Adolescence is a period when youths explore the world, experience some kind of crisis, and make commitments to ethnic roles as a result. Although an adolescent is developmentally capable of choosing an ethnic role, each person’s ethnic identity continues evolving throughout adolescence, with the decision-making process lasting into adulthood.

Social Behavior Variables

According to Knight, Bernal, Garza, and Cota (1993), there are five basic clusters of variables that impact children’s value-based social behaviors, and thereby contribute to their ethnic identity formation:

The broader social ecology
The socialization by familial and non-familial agents

A child’s self-concept
The immediate contextual features
A child’s cognitive development

Ethnic Identity Formation diagram (my graphic)

Terminology

Enculturation is the process of being socialized to conform to the values, beliefs, and behavioral standards of one’s own ethnic culture.

Acculturation is the process of adapting to the broader social surroundings.

Ethnic Identity is the sense of belonging to an ethnic group and the part of one’s thinking, perceptions, feelings, and behaviors that is due to ethnic group membership.

Non-Familial Agents are teachers, peers, neighbors, the media (especially TV), and other persons with whom children have regular contact.

According to the researchers, a relatively rural and/or relatively low socioeconomic environment may lead to socialization experiences that foster interdependency, respect for others, and more sharing of resources. In contrast, a more urban environment may lead to socialization experiences that foster independence, competition, and more reliance on social supports external to the family. This “social ecology”, then, lays the foundation for identity.

Biculturalism and Multiculturalism

Biculturalism refers to minority youths’ exposure to the majority culture and the degree to which youths then associate themselves with the majority culture. The concept may apply to majority youth who have contact with a minority group, or to two minority groups that interact. In increasingly pluralistic societies, contact is often with more than one group and, as a result, youth become multicultural. Adolescents’ ethnic identity is affected in very different ways by the varying choices they make in these multiethnic settings.

Keep in mind–we’re not necessarily talking about race here. Culture and ethnic identity may, or may not, be linked to a person’s race. In a discussion of identity, the more important consideration is a person’s perception of where they fit into society; this perception is based on many factors.

The most extensive definition of bicultural identity has been provided by M. Ramirez II in Psychology of the Americas: Mestizo perspectives on personality and mental health, NY : Pergamon, 1983. Although Ramirez is specifically addressing the cultural identity of Latinx people, his definitions set applicable standards for a discussion of other ethnic and cultural groups as well.

In his book, Ramirez outlines four different types of bicultural or multicultural identities for Latinx Americans:

SYNTHESIZED MULTICULTURAL
- Holds positive attitudes toward several cultures; functions competently in more than one culture; feels accepted by members of more than one group; feels committed to more than one culture, as expressed in philosophy of life and goals.

FUNCTIONAL MULTICULTURAL/MAINSTREAM ORIENTATION
- Functions competently in both Latino and mainstream cultures; feels more comfortable and self-assured in mainstream culture; greater commitment to mainstream culture, as expressed in philosophy of life and goals.

FUNCTIONAL MULTICULTURAL/LATINO ORIENTATION
- Functions competently in both Latino and mainstream cultures; feels more comfortable and self-assured in Latino culture; greater commitment to Latino culture, as expressed in philosophy of life and goals.

MONOCULTURAL
- Functions competently in Latino culture; feels more comfortable and self-assured when interacting within own group.

Stages of Ethnic Identity Development and Ego Identity Status

Building upon Erik Erikson’s Theory of Psychosocial Development, theories and models created within the last fifty years to explain early adult development emphasize Erikson’s Identity vs. Identity Confusion stage as the central focus. According to James Marcia (1966), Ego Identity Status formation is a dynamic process that involves both a crisis resolution and the making of commitments, as also later acknowledged and defended by the research of Knight et. al. discussed above.

Commitments are the level of the individual’s personal investment in each of the four personality components. Choices, Crises, and Commitments take place in the following categories:

Occupational
Religious

Political
Sex Role

hands of people reaching to each other — Photo by fotografierende on Pexels.com

Building further upon both Erikson and Marcia, Jean Phinney (1989) of California State University, Los Angeles, has designed a three stage model of Ethnic Identity Status formation:

STAGE 1: Unexamined Ethnic Identity – Initial acceptance of majority culture values and attitudes.

STAGE 2: Ethnic Identity Search – Stage 1 continues until adolescents encounter a situation that initiates an ethnic identity search. Stage 2 is a turning point and is characterized by exploration.

STAGE 3: Ethnic Identity Achievement – Internalized acceptance of one’s own ethnicity. Individuals who have achieved an ego identity have resolved their uncertainties about their future direction and have made commitments that will guide future action.

According to a recent longitudinal study of early adolescence ethnic identity, about 20% of the United States population consists of people from ethnic minority backgrounds and the number of people with multiple ethnic backgrounds is on the rise. In this study, Cindy Huang and Elizabeth Stormshak (2011) conclude, “This shift in the ethnic makeup of the American people suggests that the majority of youth in this country will develop as a person of color, further underscoring the importance for researchers to better understand the best ways in which development can be enhanced for these youth.”

With recent polemics and politically charged rhetoric around ethnic identity and cultural differences, often taking the form of violence, deeper personal and communal understanding of the subject is needed if Americans hope to settle into a peaceful coexistence. Schools, colleges, and other educational institutions should take seriously their leadership role to combat disinformation and misunderstandings, while also promoting systemic change, for the good of all children and adults.

family making breakfast in the kitchen — Photo by August de Richelieu on Pexels.com

REFERENCES

Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: Norton.

Erikson, E. H. (1959). Psychological issues. New York, NY: International University Press

Erikson, E. H. (1963). Youth: Change and challenge. New York: Basic books.

Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton.

Huang, C.Y. & Stormshak, E.A. (2011, July). A longitudinal examination of early adolescence ethnic identity trajectories. Journal of Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology, 17(3): 261-270. doi: 10.1037/a0023882

Special Report (1982). The Ku Klux Klan: A History of Racism and Violence. Klanwatch. Montgomery, Alabama.

Knight, G., Bernal, M, Garza, C., & Cota M. (1993). A Social Cognitive Model of the Development of Ethnic Identity and Ethnically Based Behaviors. Ethnic Identity: Formation and Transmission Among Hispanics and Other MInorities, pp. 214-234.

Marcia, J. E. (1966). Development and validation of ego-identity status. Journal of personality and social psychology, 3(5), 551.

Phinney J.S. (1989). Stages of ethnic identity development in minority group adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 9:34–49.

Ramirez II, M. (1983). Mestizo Perspectives on Personality and Mental Health. Psychology of the Americas. NY: Pergamon.