Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences Niemann et al. / What Does It Mean to Be Mexican? What Does It Mean to Be “Mexican”? Social Construction of an Ethnic Identity

To better understand the impact of ethnic identity, it is important to examine people’s social construction, or definition, of that identity. In this study, the social construction of ethnic identity of predominantly low-acculturated, first- and second-generation U.S. Mexicans and Mexican Americans was examined by asking focus group participants to talk about what it meant to them to be members of their ethnic groups. These open-ended responses then were coded along Phinney’s aspects of ethnicity. Several interesting pat-terns emerged, some of which have not been emphasized in previous literature, such as conflict with African Americans and Chicanas/Chicanos. Discussion centers on the value of listening to people’s social constructions of their ethnic identity to better under-stand their social realities. An ethnic group is the reference group with whom people share a common history, physical features, and culture, and it is through interaction with refer-ence group members that people identify themselves as members of a given group and incorporate an ethnic identity (Phinney, 1996). People’s personal realities or social constructions of their ethnic groups can have implication