| Chapter 2: | Asian American Identity: A Review |
Ethnic-specific Identity in Asian Americans: Theory and Measurement Issues
As a result of the growing body of ethnic-specific identity literature, models of Asian American ethnic-specific identity have been devised to investigate the processes that individuals experience during the formation of their ethnic-specific identities (see Sue & Sue’s, 1990, Racial/Cultural Identity Development Model; Suinn et al.’s, 1992, Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation Scale for summaries). Whereas these relatively recent movements to develop Asian American identity measures are a step in the right direction, they tend to gloss over important aspects of the groups’ histories (which might relate to how one interprets or makes sense of her environment) and generational status (see, e.g., Chung et al., 2004; Oyserman & Sakamoto, 1997; Tsai et al., 2000).
Sue and Sue (1990) devised the Racial/Cultural Identity Development (R/CID) model in response to a growing interest in understanding racial/cultural identity within the context of cross-cultural counseling and the need to dispel the erroneous notion among clinicians that “all Asians are the same.” The R/CID consists of five stages: conformity, dissonance, resistance and immersion, introspection, and integrative awareness. In the conformity stage, similar to Jackson’s (1975) passive-acceptance stage and Cross’ (1971) preencounter stage, “minority persons are distinguished by their unequivocal preference for dominant cultural values over their own” (Sue & Sue, 1990, p. 96). The second stage of dissonance is characterized by the conflict an individual experiences over the disparate pieces of information or personal experiences that challenge her previous views and self-concept. An individual may have believed that the typical Asian American is passive and inarticulate, and then may encounter an Asian American leader who seems to break these stereotypes.
In the third stage, resistance and immersion, the individual tends to completely endorse minority-held views and to reject the dominant values of society and culture. In the fourth stage, introspection, individuals turn inward and more deeply examine their identity.