Ethnic identity and its relation to personal self-esteem: A comparison of Canadian-born and foreign-born Chinese adolescents

Ethnic identity and its relation to personal self-esteem were examined by c omparing 31 Chinese adolescents who immigrated to Canada and 31 Chinese ado lescents who were Canadian born. The foreign-born adolescents were more lik ely 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 collect ive self-esteem were positively related to personal self-esteem. The differ ences between the groups supported a contextual emphasis for associating co llective self-esteem with personal self-esteem. The data were consistent wi th an interpretation involving collectivistic-individualistic distinctions, with the foreign-born sample being more collectivistic.