title: The development of ethnic identity during adolescence.
abstract: The development of ethnic identity is a critical facet of adolescence, particularly for adolescents of color. In order to examine the developmental trajectory of ethnic identity, African American, Latino American, and European American early and middle adolescents (N = 420) were assessed over 3 years. Two components of ethnic identity were assessed--group-esteem was found to rise for both early and middle adolescents; exploration rose for middle adolescents. African Americans and Latino Americans were lower in group-esteem but have greater increases than European Americans, particularly across a school transition. The course of ethnic identity development during early and middle adolescence, the role of school context, and the variability in developmental trajectories among racial and ethnic groups are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607-7137, USA. sefrench@uic.edu
authors.forename: Sabine Elizabeth
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: French
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Seidman
authors.forename: LaRue
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.forename: J Lawrence
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Aber
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010553:Personality Development; D012933:Social Identification; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires