The purpose of the proposed research is to examine the role of ethnic identity in the everyday lives of African, Asian and Latino American youths. Adolescence is a development period of identity search and construction;and for minority youth, this identity may be particularly complex given the meaning and significance that United States society places on ethnicity. While many theorists have discussed the fluidity of ethnic identity, there is surprisingly little empirical support and even less longitudinal research. Incorporating developmental and social psychological theories, we take a person by situation approach to our study by examining the fluidity of ethnic identity as youths move through their natural environments and settings. As such, the proposed research examines the impact of context, at a global and immediate level, on the fluidity of ethnic identity salience. Since youths bring certain personal characteristics (e.g., stable ethnic identity) into each setting it is also important to examine the unique experiences of ethnic identity salience for the same individual across different contexts as well as for different individuals in the same contexts. To this end, we employ a combination of experience sampling, daily diary and survey methods to measure ethnic identity at more than on level. As well, the literature on ethnic identity suggests that it is related to how youths feel about themselves;therefore, this study will examine how the fluidity of ethnic identity salience is associated with the fluidity of psychological feelings across days and situations. Finally, we will examine these associations over a three-year period in order to examine how everyday experiences impact the development and maintenance of stable ethnic identity over time. Developmental theorists have suggested that it is youths repeated experience in settings that culminate over time to influence the development and maintenance of more stable traits;we will test this theory by examining ethnic identity. We believe that this project is of particular relevance to understanding the everyday experiences of minority youth in the United States and how these experiences shape their psychological adjustment (e.g., depression, anxiety) and feelings of self-worth (e.g., self-esteem) over time. By including African, Asian and Latino American youth, we will be able to examine differences between youths in each of these groups as well as commonalities they share as minorities.
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