Acculturation, Ethnic Identity, and Coping

Ethnic identity is understood as a dynamic state, that is determined by three components: (1) by the degree of inclusion in the group of one's cultural origin; (2) the tendency to assimilate to the ethnic group of origin; and (3) the complementary tendency to differentiate from one's own ethnic group. In the same degree as the inclusion intensifies, the tendency to assimilate decreases and the tendency to differentiate increases and vice versa. A state of balance of the two complementary tendencies to assimilate and to differentiate is assumed to exist at an intermediate degree of inclusion (Brewer, 1992). The model predicts that the intermediate balanced state of identity is associated with greater personal resources of those who are in this balanced state of ethnic identity. This ethnic identity model was elaborated by exploring the relationship of adaptive personal resources such as coping styles, self-esteem, developmental state, and the dispositional personal resource of sociability to ethnic identity states of Turkish migrant adolescents living in Germany. The model tended to be supported by these predictors when antecedent measures were included. When the predictors were measured concurrently, the low ethnic identity level revealed the highest level of resources and the high ethnic identity state the lowest. Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. This article is available in Online Readings in Psychology and Culture: http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/orpc/vol8/iss1/2