The role of ethnic identity in adolescents’ family processes was examined among ninth graders from Latin American, Asian, and European backgrounds. Stronger ethnic affirmation and exploration were associated with family processes across a variety of indicators, but links with culturally-relevant processes such as family respect and obligation were stronger than links with dyadic cohesion with parents. Similarly, links between ethnic identity and time spent assisting the family on a daily basis were stronger than links between identity and time spent engaging in family leisure activities. Mediational analyses indicated that the greater sense of respect, obligation, and time spent assisting the family among adolescents with Latino and Asian backgrounds were due in part to their stronger ethnic identification. Longitudinal analyses suggest that identity and family processes continue to be linked throughout development.

Purpose and meaning are primary facets of eudaimonic well-being, yet are understudied in adolescent development. Using data from 579 adolescents from Latin American, Asian, and European backgrounds, demographic differences in purpose and meaning, links with psychological and academic adjustment, links with ethnic identity, and the mediating role of purpose and meaning in associations between ethnic identity and adjustment were examined. Although no generational or gender differences in purpose and meaning were found, Asians reported higher search for meaning than did Latin Americans and Europeans. Presence of meaning was positively associated with self-esteem, academic attitudes and motivation, daily well-being, and ethnic affirmation and exploration, whereas search for meaning was related to lower self-esteem and less stability in daily well-being. Presence of meaning mediated associations between ethnic identity and adjustment, explaining 28-52% of the initial effect of ethnic identity and providing one mechanism to account for ethnic identity’s protective effect on development. Key Words: purpose and meaning in life, ethnic identity, adolescent adjustment

Protective effects of ethnic identity on individuals’ daily psychological well-being were examined in a sample of 415 ninth grade adolescents from Mexican and Chinese backgrounds. Utilizing daily diary assessments and multilevel modeling, adolescents with a higher regard for their ethnic group were found to have greater levels of daily happiness and marginally less daily anxiety averaged over the two-week study period. Ethnic regard also moderated the daily association between normative stressful demands and happiness, as well as the association between stressful demands and happiness experienced one day after the original stressors occurred. Moderating effects were found even after controlling for self-esteem. Results point to the positive influence of ethnic identity in adolescents’ daily lives.

An important question for the acculturation of adolescents from immigrant families is whether they retain ethnic labels that refer to their national origin (e.g., Mexican, Chinese) or move toward the adoption of labels that are dominant in American society (e.g., Latino, Asian American, American). Approximately 380 adolescents from Asian and Latin American immigrant families selected ethnic labels each year during the four years of high school. Results indicated no normative developmental trend either toward or away from the inclusion of pan-ethnic or American terms in adolescents’ ethnic labels. Significant numbers of adolescents changed their ethnic labels from year to year, however, and these changes were linked with changes in adolescents’ closeness with their parents, strength of ethnic identification, and proficiency in their families’ heritage languages.

Changes in adolescents’ ethnic exploration, belonging, and committed identity statuses (e.g., foreclosure, achievement) were examined over the four years of high school. Results from 541 adolescents with Latin American, Asian, and European backgrounds suggest that, as a group, adolescents do not report developmental changes in their ethnic exploration and belonging over time. Normative changes toward more committed identity statuses also were not found. Yet, within-person analyses of change reveal that individual adolescents exhibited substantial fluctuation in exploration, belonging, and identity status across the years, and this fluctuation was associated with concurrent changes in family cohesion, proportion of sameethnic peers, and ethnic centrality. Discussion focuses on the value of examining intraindividual change over several years in order to more fully understand processes of ethnic identity development during adolescence.