Racial and cultural identity development of African-American and Puerto Rican individuals: Same process, different content

The United States is experiencing a rapid growth of racial and minorities. This rapid increase of minorities has significant implications in the workplace, educational and mental health systems. It is imperative that counselors and educators become more sensitive to and more competent to meet the needs of culturally diverse groups.;Psychology has responded to this need by generating theories and conducting research related to the ethnic and racial identity process. However, most of the theories and research have focused on either race or ethnicity. The primary objective of this study was to examine the similarities and differences between Puerto Ricans and African Americans using a theoretical model that integrates issues of race and ethnicity. The Racial/Cultural Identity Development (Atkinson, Morten and Sue, 1993) was used for this purpose. In addition to examining the minority identity process of these two groups, the impact of gender was assessed. Also the strength of the relationship between minority identity development and self-esteem was measured.;Fifty Puerto Rican and 57 African American community college students participated in the study. The subjects were asked to complete a demographic sheet, and the revised Tennessee Self-Concept Scale. Also the subjects completed an adapted version of the Cuban American Ethnic Attitudes (Fernandez, 1988). It was hypothesized that there would be differences between the minority groups and males and females in minority identity development. Differences were expected within the same group as well as across groups. It was also hypothesized that there would be a relationship between self-esteem and minority development. Lastly, differences between Puerto Ricans and African American in levels of self-esteem was also expected.;Results of the study indicate that while there were gender differences, the minority identity process is similar for both African Americans and Puerto Ricans. Self-esteem was significantly correlated with minority identity development. There were no differences in self-esteem between minority groups.;This study contributes to the research that examines the impact of the both the issues of race ethnicity and gender. It also provides support for the Racial/Cultural Identity Development model. The study has implications for both counselors and educators.