Adolescent identity formation: The interrelatedness of gender and ethnicity

Previous research in adolescent identity development has focused on variables of gender and race and the effect of each on adolescent identity development. In order to test the interaction of race and gender and their impact upon adolescent identity\ud development, questionnaires measuring self-esteem, ego-identity,\ud and ethnic identity achievement were distributed among 78 subjects. Subjects were from various ethnic backgrounds, and were in either their first or second year of college. It was anticipated that students of color, and specifically women of color, would be higher in ethnic identity than Whites. In fact, Ethnic Whites scored as high as Blacks for the measure of ethnic identity. There were no results for the\ud main effect of gender. The meaning of these findings was discussed