title: Ethnic identity development: implications for mental health in African-American and Hispanic adolescents.
abstract: One of the key tasks of adolescence is identity development. This includes ethnic identity, or the aspect of identity related to one's membership in an ethnic group. Ethnic identity development has implications for mental health. Those adolescents who achieve a secure sense of themselves as ethnic group members have higher self-esteem and tend to have better mental health overall. This paper reviews the pertinent literature that connects ethnic identity to mental health outcomes in African-American and Hispanic adolescents. The relevance to mental health nursing is also highlighted.
authors.affiliation: University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA. greigrc@ufl.edu
authors.forename: Ramona
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Greig
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001741:Black or African American / Q000523:psychology*; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health; D008960:Models, Psychological; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D012933:Social Identification; D014481:United States