Ethnic Identity, Acculturation, and Emotional Well-being Among Asian American and Asian International Students

In this study, we studied acculturation, ethnic identity, emotional well-being, and demographic characteristics of Asian American and Asian international students. The results indicated that Asian American students scored higher on acculturation and ethnic identity than Asian international students, but the two groups did not differ in emotional well-being. Asian American students ’ emotional well-being was predicted by their ethnic identity, but not by acculturation. A moderate, negative relationship was found between acculturation and ethnic identity for both Asian American and Asian international students. One of the most popular topics in Asian American studies is acculturation (Sue & Sue, 1999), a psychological process that is believed to have a crucial role in American ethnic minorities ’ and immigrants ’ adjustment to living in The authors extend their appreciation to Clara Hill for reviewing and commenting on an earlier draft of this article. The authors also thank Robert Paul and Lea LaVish for editing the final draft. Appreciation also goes to Nobuyuki Tamura, Manabu Kuroki, and Mizuki Yamazaki for their contribution to the project reported here. Both authors have contributed to the article equally. Portions of this article were presented a