Chinese American women's ethnic identities: A qualitative study

The current study is an attempt to broaden the scope of understanding about ethnic identity development in elderly Chinese American women. Participants were 12 elderly Chinese American women (9 American-born and 3 foreign-born, mean age = 70.67 years) recruited in Northern California through snowball sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews that were audio-taped, transcribed, and analyzed. Qualitative data analysis adopted the theory-inductive principles of the grounded theory approach. A theoretical model was generated and presented in a diagram format.; The theoretical model proposed two developmental phases in elderly Chinese American women's ethnic identity formation: the acculturation phase and the appraisal phase. In the acculturation phase, the participants defined two senses of self. (a) being Chinese and (b) being American. In the appraisal phase, participants described how they made decisions about their ethnic identities. They avoided the groups that they did not want to associate with and were prone to choose what they felt proud of as their preferred identities. The study findings are consistent with Tajfel and Turner's social identity theory (1979) and Huang's multicultural identity formation model (1994). The study findings highlight the importance of family education. Recommendations for Chinese parents and counseling professionals on the issues of strengthening family ties and seeking family roots were discussed.