1999/06/01 by Clarry Lay, Clarry H. Lay, Maykel Verkuyten
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Cultural Differences and Values #Racial and Ethnic Identity Research #Social and Intergroup Psychology
paper · doi:10.1080/00224549909598385
openalex publication_date 1999/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
Ethnic identity and its relation to personal self-esteem were examined by comparing 31 Chinese adolescents who immigrated to Canada and 31 Chinese adolescents who were Canadian born. The foreign-born adolescents were more likely to identify themselves as Chinese (rather than Chinese Canadian) and to include references to their ethnicity in response to an open-ended Who Am I Questionnaire, a variation of the Twenty Statements Test (M. H. Kuhn & T. S. McPartland, 1954). For the foreign-born group only, aspects of collective self-esteem were positively related to personal self-esteem. The differences between the groups supported a contextual emphasis for associating collective self-esteem with personal self-esteem. The data were consistent with an interpretation involving collectivistic-individualistic distinctions, with the foreign-born sample being more collectivistic.