Ethnic Identity Development

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Ethnic Identity Development

• Center for Student Cultural Diversity

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What is identity development?

• Identity development is a series of stages
  everyone must go through to determine who they
  are as an individual.

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What is ethnic identity development?

• A sense of group or collective identity based on
  ones perception that he or she shares a common
  racial heritage with a particular racial group
• Racial identity development theory concerns the
  psychological implications of racial-group
  membership, that is belief systems that evolve in
  reaction to perceived differential racial-group
  membership.

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Conformity

• In this stage, people of color identify strongly
  with White Dominant Society, permitting the White
  society to define their worth and value.
• Individuals in this stage often accept negative
  stereotypes about themselves and their group. In
  addition, they know very little and are not
  interested in learning about their own ethnic
  heritage or history.
• Such persons usually associate with primarily
  White people and have very little to do with
  members of their own ethnic group.

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Dissonance

• In this stage, persons have experiences, or gain
  insights, that cause them to question their
  conforming attitudes, and cause confusion and
  conflict.
• They question values of the dominant culture they
  have previously held in high esteem.

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Dissonance

• They become more aware of racism, oppression, and
  stereotyping.
• Ethnic minority individuals may attempt to
  develop friendly relations with members of their
  own ethnic group with whom they have previously
  not been able to identify.

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Resistance and Immersion

• This is a stage of extremes, during which
  individuals become immersed in their own cultural
  history, values, and life-style.
• Such persons are highly motivated to combat
  oppression, racism, and prejudice, and may
  evidence activist behavior and an increased
  distrust of the dominant culture.

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Resistance and Immersion

• Overall, individuals in this stage attempt to
  completely separate themselves from the dominant
  group, believing that majority people are
  responsible for their negative life
  circumstances.

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Introspection

• In this stage, individuals take a hard look at
  their total rejection of the dominant culture and
  total acceptance of their own group.
• Individuals often experience conflict and
  confusion regarding loyalty to their cultural
  groups and their personal preferences and
  autonomy.

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Introspection

• Internal conflict is most profound in this stage,
  as individuals struggle to find a balance between
  what they want for themselves, based on personal
  desires, needs, and aspirations versus what their
  own ethnic group expects of them.

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Synergetic Articulation and Awareness

• Persons in this stage have acquired knowledge and
  an appreciation of their own cultural group,
  which enable them to value and respect the
  culture and values of other people.
• Persons in this stage have resolved many of the
  previously experienced conflicts, resulting in
  fulfillment of their cultural identity.

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multiethnic identity development
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Personal Identity

• Stage 1 Identity is based on their primary
  reference group

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Group Choice

• Stage 2 Identity selection is often that of
  being forced into one group ethnic by societal
  standards/ perceptions

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Enmeshment/Denial

• Stage 3 This stage is characterized by
  confusion and guilt at having to choose one
  ethnic identity and a sense of dissatisfaction
  that this does not fully represent oneself.

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Appreciation

• Stage 4 Reference group orientation broadens
  beginning to expand their understanding of
  multiple heritages but may still maintain one
  group identification.

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Integration

• Stage 5 individual experience wholeness and
  integration. Value of all their racial and
  ethnic identities.
• Now able to recognize and appreciate the
  complexities and benefits of their culture (s)
  and ethnicities.

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White Racial Identity Development
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Contact

• In the contact stage, White individuals are
  unaware of themselves as racial beings because
  being White is so much the norm that it is taken
  for granted.
• Those in this stage who choose to interact across
  racial and cultural lines become aware of
  societal pressure against doing so.  

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Disintegration

• In the disintegration stage, Whites are forced to
  acknowledge that they are White.
• During this stage, Whites respond to minorities
  in three different ways over-identification with
  ethnic minorities, paternalistic attitudes toward
  ethnic minorities, or retreat back into White
  culture.  

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Reintegration

• Individuals in this stage may become very hostile
  toward ethnic minorities and become more
  positively biased toward their own group.
• They are either covertly or overtly anti-ethnic.
  Many in this stage are also angry and afraid.

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Pseudo-Independence

• This stage is characterized by an intellectual
  acceptance of ethnic minority persons.
• A pronounced feature of this stage is that, while
  cross-cultural communication occurs, it involves
  those minorities who are most similar to Whites.

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Pseudo-Independence

• For example, ethnic minorities with comparable
  values, educational and economic levels, and with
  sometimes similar physical features to White
  people, might be invited to socialize with White
  people.

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Autonomy

• In the autonomy stage, White individuals have
  greater acceptance of racial differences and
  similarities.
• Differences are not perceived as deficits and
  similarities are not seen as enhancers.

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Autonomy

• Autonomous people actively seek opportunities to
  involve themselves in cross-cultural interaction
  because they value cultural diversity and are
  secure in their own ethnic identity.

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Gay and Lesbian Identity Development
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Identity Confusion

• In this stage, a sense of incongruence (conflict
  between their perception of themselves as
  heterosexual and realization of gay or lesbian
  thoughts and feelings) develops.  

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Identity Comparison

• In this stage the person begins to accept the
  possibility of having a predominantly gay or
  lesbian orientation, and moves from confusion and
  incongruence toward addressing the social
  alienation resulting from a commitment to being
  gay or lesbian

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Identity Tolerance

• In this stage the person begins to admit to him
  or herself that he or she is probably gay or
  lesbian.
• This helps the person decrease identity confusion
  and allows him or her to pursue more of his or
  her own emotional, social, and sexual needs.

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Identity Tolerance

• The person seeks out contacts and friends in the
  gay or lesbian community and has a chance to see
  positive role models. If the contacts are
  positive, he or she will probably become more
  accepting of a gay or lesbian sexual identity.

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Identity Acceptance

• In this stage the individual increases contact
  with other gay and lesbian people and accepts a
  gay or lesbian identity.
• Incongruity and alienation often continue
  because of the lack of acceptance by the
  heterosexual community.

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Identity Acceptance

• The person may be able to fit in with both the
  gay or lesbian and straight world. For some
  individuals this strategy works and they
  successfully live their lives at this stage.

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Identity Pride

• People at this stage reject strategies to hide
  their sexual orientation and often reject
  heterosexual values and institutions.
• Personal reactions by heterosexual friends and
  others in this stage can be both positive and
  negative.
• If reactions are generally negative, then the
  person tends to stay in this stage. 

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Identity Synthesis

• In this stage the us and them mentality gives
  way to a more differentiated view.
• Feelings of pride continue, but the person comes
  to recognize that the dichotomy between the gay
  and straight world is not as clear cut as he or
  she previously perceived.

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Identity Synthesis

• Personal and public views of self are synthesized
  and a persons sexual identity becomes less
  important as sexual identity is integrated into
  all other aspects of self.

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Religious Identity Development

• Stage 1 Pre-encounter -In this stage the person
  has virtually no awareness of their own religious
  identity
• Stage 2 Encounter -In this stage a person
  probably has some personal encounter with
  religious prejudice as well as some sort of
  trigger that indicates the beginning of
  separation from the majority religion.

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Religious Identity Development

• Stage 3 Immersion/Emersion -In this stage a
  person has a desire to surround themselves with
  some or all forms of religious culture. The
  subject is energized by new information and newly
  developing beliefs in their hearts.

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Religious Identity Development

• Stage 4 Internalization -In this stage the
  subject turns his or her emotions and dedication
  inward. The subject will ask themselves many
  questions such as, "What does it mean for me to
  be a_________?"

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Religious Identity Development

• Stage 5 Internalization/Commitment
• The subject finds ways to interpret his or her
  own spirituality and personality in the context
  of their entire being.
• The focus is less on the inward person and more
  on the outward whole of humanity. This stage is
  somewhat of a thoughtful religious maturity.

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A Triarchic Model of Poverty
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STIGMATIZATION/MARGINALIZATION

• Poor children are at increased risk of receiving
  disparaging self-relevant information from the
  social environment, with poverty being viewed by
  many as the product of individual shortcomings
  and moral deficiencies rather than societal
  factors

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LIMITATIONS IN OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURE

• The nature of the opportunities available to
  individuals is another factor that must be taken
  into account when examining potential effects of
  poverty on development. The notion of a level
  playing field may be largely mythical,
  unsubstantiated by the reality of the
  relationship between socioeconomic background and
  opportunity structure.

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STRESS

• Poverty involves exposure to multiple stressors
  that can have an undesirable influence on
  development
• Economic deprivation entails stressful life
  events and chronic strains
• Compared to their non-poor counterparts, poor
  children encounter more family turmoil, violence,
  instability/unpredictability in routines of daily
  living

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Seven Vectors of College Student Development
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Vector One

• Developing Competence
• Although intellectual competence is of primary
  importance in college, this vector includes
  physical and interpersonal competence as well.
• The student who attends college seeking only
  credentials for entry into the work world is
  sometimes surprised to find that his or her
  intellectual interests and valued friendships
  change as a result of his or her personal
  development through the college years.

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Vector Two

• Managing Emotions
• Moving from adolescence to adulthood means
  learning how to manage emotions like anger and
  sexual desire. The young person who attempts to
  control these emotions by stuffing them finds
  they can emerge with more force at a later time.

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Vector Three

• Developing Autonomy
• Being able to take care of oneself, both
  emotionally and practically, is critically
  important to growing up and becoming independent
  from ones family of origin.

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Vector Four

• Establishing IdentityThe age-old question who
  am I? is asked and answered many times during a
  lifetime. Yet, that question has exquisite
  urgency and poignancy during the college years.
• This vector is especially problematic for women
  and ethnic minorities who may feel invisible in
  our society or have multiple roles to play in
  different situations.

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Vector Five

• Freeing Interpersonal RelationshipsFirst, one
  moves from valuing relationships based on need
  (dependence) to valuing individual differences in
  peopleNext, the person learns how to negotiate
  those differences in relationships.Finally, the
  young person begins to understand the need for
  inter-dependence and seeks mutual benefit from
  relationships.

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Vector Six

• Developing Purpose
• The young person identifies her or his career and
  life goals and, hopefully, makes appropriate
  choices to achieve those goals

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Vector Seven

• Establishing Integrity
• This level of maturity does not come easily. Once
  achieved, however, the young adult is able to
  live with those uncertainties that exist in the
  adult world.
• In addition, he or she adapts societys rules so
  they become personally meaningful.

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All the world is a stage, And all the men and
women merely players. They have their exits and
entrances Each person in time plays many parts.
William Shakespeare
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References

• Atkinson, Morten, Sue, 1979
• Atkinson Sue, 1993
• Bronfenbrenner, 1979, 1993
• Cross, 1987, 1995
• Helms, 1990, 1995
• Kilson, 2001
• Phillips,2007
• Phinney, 1990
• Poston, 1990
• Renn, 2000
• Root,1996
• Wallace, 2001