Affective Bicultural and Global-Human Identity Scales for Mexican-American Adolescents

Abstract

Scales were developed to measure affective aspects of Latino, American, and global-human identities among first- and second-generation Mexican-American adolescents. Participants were 84 boys and 93 girls from the Los Angeles high schools. 60 were born in Mexico, and 117 were born in the United States and had at least one parent born in Mexico. The affective Latino and American measures were independent and predictably related to a behaviorally oriented measure of acculturation. They were also used to identify Berry's four modes of acculturation: Separated, Assimilated, Marginalized, and Bicultural. The four acculturation groups rated similarly on self-esteem and academic aspiration. The first and second generations each scored higher on Latino identity than on American identity.