Abstract
Recent research suggests that although ethnic discrimination may have negative consequences for psychological well-being among youth of Chinese descent as it does for other ethnic groups, ethnic identity beliefs may buffer against such effects. Data for this study were drawn from the Early Adolescent Cohort Study, an investigation of contextual influences on the social, emotional, and academic adjustment of youth in ethnically diverse New York City middle schools. The present study sample consists of Chinese American (n = 84) and African American (n = 119) sixth graders. Results suggest that Chinese American youths’ own positive affect toward their ethnic group (private regard) was positively associated with higher self-esteem. In addition, the more favorably Chinese American youth perceived that others view their group (public regard), the fewer depressive symptoms they reported. In addition, among Chinese American youth, more favorable public regard attenuated the negative relationship between peer ethnic discrimination and depressive symptoms. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of the commonalities among ethnic and racial minority groups’ experiences of discrimination as well as the unique challenges that Chinese American youth face.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
The Early Adolescent Cohort Study is part of the NYU Center for Research on Culture, Development, and Education, of which Diane Hughes and Niobe Way are two co-Principal Investigators.
References
Aiken, L. S., & West, S. G. (1991). Multiple regression: Testing and interpreting interactions. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Alvarez, A. N., Juang, L., & Liang, C. T. (2006). Asian Americans and racism: When bad things happen to “model minorities”. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 12(3), 477–492.
Brody, G. H., Chen, Y., Murry, V. M., Ge, X., Simons, R. L., Gibbons, F. X. et al. (2006). Perceived discrimination and the adjustment of African American youths: A five-year longitudinal analysis with contextual moderation effects. Child Development, 77(5), 1170–1189.
Brown, C., & Bigler, R. (2005). Children’s perceptions of discrimination: A developmental model. Child Development, 76(3), 533–553.
Chavous, T. M., Bernat, D., Schmeelk-Cone, K., Caldwell, C., Kohn-Wood, L. P., & Zimmerman, M. A. (2003). Racial identity and academic attainment among African American adolescents. Child Development, 74(4), 1076–1091.
Choi, H., Meininger, J. C., & Roberts, R. E. (2006). Ethnic differences in adolescents’ mental distress, social stress, and resources. Adolescence, 41(162), 263–283.
Crocker, J., Luhtanen, R., Blaine, B., & Broadnax, S. (1994). Collective self-esteem and psychological well-being among White, Black, and Asian college students. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 20(5), 503–513.
Fisher, C. B., Wallace, S. A., & Fenton, R. E. (2000). Discrimination distress during adolescence. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 29(6), 679–695.
French, S., Seidman, E., Allen, L., & Aber, L. (2006). The development of ethnic identity during adolescence. Developmental Psychology, 42, 1–10.
Fuligni, A. J., Witkow, M., & Garcia, C. (2005). Ethnic identity and the academic adjustment of adolescents from Mexican, Chinese, and European backgrounds. Developmental Psychology, 41(5), 799–811.
Gibbons, F. X., Hsiu-Chen, Y., Gerrard, M., Cleveland, M. J., Cutrona, C., Simons, R. L., & Brody, G. H. (2007). Early experience with racial discrimination and conduct disorder as predictors of subsequent drug use: A critical period hypothesis. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 88S, S27–S37.
Goto, S. G., Gee, G. C., & Takeuchi, D. T. (2002). Strangers still? The experience of discrimination among Chinese Americans. Journal of Community Psychology, 30(2), 211–224.
Greene, M., Way, N., & Pahl, K. (2006). Trajectories of perceived adult and peer discrimination among Black, Latino, and Asian American adolescents: Patterns and psychological correlates. Developmental Psychology, 42(2), 218–238.
Hughes, D., & Johnson, D. J. (2001). Correlates in children’s experiences of parents’ racial socialization behaviors. Journal of Marriage and Family, 63, 981–995.
Kiang, L., Yip, T., Gonzales-Backen, M., Witkow, M., & Fuligni, A. J. (2006). Ethnic identity and the daily psychological well-being of adolescents from Mexican and Chinese backgrounds. Child Development, 77(5), 1338–1350.
Kovacs, M. (1985). The children’s depression inventory. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 21, 995–998.
Lee, R. M. (2003). Do ethnic identity and other group orientation protect against discrimination among Asian Americans? Journal of Counseling Psychology, 50(2), 133–141.
Lee, R. M. (2005). Resilience against discrimination: Ethnic identity and other-group orientation as protective factors for Korean Americans. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(1), 36–44.
Lee, R. M., & Yoo, H. C. (2004). Structure and measurement of ethnic identity for Asian American college students. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51(2), 263–269.
Lee, S. J. (1996). Unraveling the model minority stereotype: Listening to Asian American youth. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Louie, V. (2004). Compelled to excel: Immigration, education, and opportunity among Chinese Americans. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Luhtanen, R., & Crocker, J. (1992). A collective self-esteem scale: Self-evaluation of one’s social identity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18(3), 302–318.
Martinez, R. O., & Dukes, R. L. (1997). The effects of ethnic identity, ethnicity, and gender on adolescent well-being. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 26(5), 503–516.
New York City Department of City Planning. (2000). The newest New Yorkers. Retrieved May 2007 from the New York City Department of City Planning website http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/census/nny_exec_sum.shtml
Pahl, K., & Way, N. (2006). Longitudinal trajectories of ethnic identity among urban Black and Latino adolescents. Child Development, 77(5), 1403–1415.
Phinney, J. S., Cantu, C. L., & Kurtz, D. A. (1997). Ethnic and American identity as predictors of self-esteem among African American, Latino, and White adolescents. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 26(2), 165–185.
Qin, D., Way, N., & Pandy, P. (in press). The other side of the model minority story: The familial and peer challenges faced by Chinese American adolescents. Youth & Society.
Quintana, S. M. (2007). Racial and ethnic identity: Developmental perspectives and research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 54(3), 259–270.
Romero, A. J., & Roberts, R. E. (2003). The impact of multiple dimensions of ethnic identity on discrimination and adolescents’ self-esteem. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 33(11), 2288–2305.
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Rosenbloom, S. R., & Way, N. (2004). Experiences of discrimination among African American, Asian American, and Latino adolescents in an urban high school. Youth & Society, 35(4), 420–451.
Sellers, R. M., Copeland-Linder, N., Martin, P. P., & Lewis, R. L. (2006). Racial identity matters: The relationship between racial discrimination and psychological functioning in African American adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 16(2), 187–216.
Sellers, R. M., Rowley, S. J., Chavous, T. M., Shelton, J. N., & Smith, M. A. (1997). Multidimensional inventory of Black identity: A preliminary investigation of reliability and construct validity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(4), 805–815.
Sellers, R. M., & Shelton, J. N. (2003). The role of racial identity in perceived racial discrimination. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(5), 1079–1092.
Sellers, R. M., Smith, M., Shelton, J. N., Rowley, S. J., & Chavous, T. M. (1998). Multidimensional model of racial identity: A reconceptualization of African American racial identity. Personality & Social Psychology Review, 2(1), 18–39.
Shelton, J. N., Yip, T., Eccles, J. S., Chatman, C. M., Fuligni, A. J., & Wong, C. (2005). Ethnic identity as a buffer of psychological adjustment to stress. In G. Downey, J. S. Eccles, & C. M. Chatman (Eds.), Navigating the future: Social identity, coping and life tasks. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
Simons, R. L, Simons, L. G., Stewart, E. A., Chen, Y., & Brody, G. (2003). Incidents of discrimination and risk for delinquency: A longitudinal test of strain theory with an African American sample. Justice Quarterly, 20, 501–528.
Way, N., Santos, C., Niwa, E., & Kim, C. (in press). A contextualized understanding of ethnic identity among Chinese American, African American, Puerto Rican, and Dominican youth. In M. Azmitia (Ed.), The intersection of personal and social identities during adolescence. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development.
Whitesell, N. R., Mitchell, C., Kaufman, C. E., Spicer, P. et al. (2006). Developmental trajectories of personal and collective self-concept among American Indian adolescents. Child Development, 77(5), 1487–1503.
Williams, D. R., Yu, Y., Jackson, J. S., & Anderson, N. B. (1997). Racial differences in physical and mental health. Journal of Health Psychology, 2(3), 335–351.
Wong, C. A., Eccles, J. S., & Sameroff, A. (2003). The influence of ethnic discrimination and ethnic identification on African American adolescents’ school and socioemotional adjustment. Journal of Personality, 71(6), 1197–1212.
Ying, Y., Lee, P. A., & Tsai, J. L. (2000). Cultural orientation and racial discrimination: Predictors of coherence in Chinese American young adults. Journal of Community Psychology, 28(4), 427–442.
Yip, T. (2005). Sources of situational variation in ethnic identity and psychological well-being: A palm pilot study of Chinese American students. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31(2), 1603–1616.
Yip, T., & Fuligni, A. J. (2002). Daily variation in ethnic identity, ethnic behaviors, and psychological well-being among American adolescents of Chinese descent. Child Development, 73(5), 1557–1572.
Acknowledgments
This research was supported in part by an NSF postdoctoral fellowship to the first author (Grant No. 0511985) and an award by the National Science Foundation to Diane Hughes and Niobe Way for the Early Adolescent Cohort Studies of the Center for Research on Culture, Development, and Education at New York University (Grant No. 0218159).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rivas-Drake, D., Hughes, D. & Way, N. A Closer Look at Peer Discrimination, Ethnic Identity, and Psychological Well-being Among Urban Chinese American Sixth Graders. J Youth Adolescence 37, 12–21 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-007-9227-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10964-007-9227-x