The self-image and acculturation of Chinese-American adolescents

A review of the literature on Chinese Americans reveals a dearth of research on developmental issues. Although the Chinese American adolescent population has been increasing steadily, there are few empirical studies examining the self-images and personality development of these teenagers. This study investigates the self-images of first generation Chinese American adolescents by comparing them with Caucasian adolescents and attempts to determine if they have significantly different self-images from white teenagers. This study also examines whether acculturation level is related to self-image.;A two-way ANOVA compared the two groups, showing that Chinese Americans appear to have significantly lower self-images than whites on all of the OSIQ's eleven scales and total score. A Pearson Product-Moment correlation between EIS and OSIQ total scores revealed no linear relationship between acculturation and self-image. The Chinese American adolescents in this study tended to have significantly lower self-esteem scores and tended to feel more uncertain about their ability to cope with their world. They also reported more negative feelings about their families than the white subjects. In the follow-up interviews, the Chinese American adolescents discussed their dissatifaction with their parents, while the white adolescents tended to express warm feelings about family relationships. Both Chinese American and white subjects stated that they had generally positive attitudes toward the study. The implications of the study's results for clinical work are also discussed.;All of the 100 Chinese American subjects were administered the Offer Self-Image Questionnaire (OSIQ) and Ethnic Identity Scale (EIS), measures of self-image and acculturation respectively. These teenagers came from the Chicago area and were 16 to 19 years old. They were first-generation, U.S.-born, Chinese Americans who came from middle-class families and were compared to a control group of 100 white middle-class teenagers. The white control subjects recruited for the study had demographic backgrounds (SES, area of residence, type of school, etc.) that matched the demographic backgrounds of the Chinese American subjects. In addition, a random sample of 20 Chinese American adolescents and 20 white adolescents were given follow-up interviews.