Do Modernity and Traditionality Exist in Chinese Americans?

American researchers have not clearly conceptualized nor quantified whether traditionality and modernity exist in the United States despite these constructs being psychological variables investigated in China and Taiwan. The article first begins with delineating the conceptual and measurement barriers when quantifying traditionality and modernity in previous empirical literature. Next a project is discussed that measured these two constructs through developing a quantitative scale for Chinese-Americans measuring traditionality and modernity. A 46-item scale was given to 172 self-identified Chinese-Americans after items were constructed through review by two panel of experts as well as presented at state, regional and international conferences. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using maximum likelihood with a promax rotation yielded a five factor structure with 21 items. The five factor structure included themes of Family Relationships, Family Gender Roles, Indigenous Spiritual Practices, Image Management and Cultural Adherence. The new themes presenting the conceptualization of these two constructs are discussed along with an analysis of how the scale items further elucidate traditionality and modernity