Asian American Adolescent Identity

Abstract

The formation of ego identity in Asian American late adolescents attending Virginia Tech was examined within the frameworks of Erikson's psychosocial theory and Berry, Trimble, and Olmedo's model of acculturation. Ego identity was measured using the Achieved sub-scale of the Revised Version of the Extended Objective Measure of Ego Identity Status, an instrument based on the theoretical constructs of Erikson. Ethnic identity was measured using the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure and American Identity was measured using the American Identity Measure, both developed by Phinney. It was hypothesized that ethnic identity and American identity would be significant predictors of ego identity status. One hundred students of Asian descent attending Virginia Tech participated in this study. There were significant results for the T-test comparisons between the Asian-born and American-born subgroups for the variables ego identity, ethnic identity, and American identity. This study revealed that American-born respondents had higher average scores on the three identity measures. It also revealed that ethnic identity and American identity are significant predictors of ego identity for this group of individuals, supporting the hypothesis.