+Ethnic Identity Scale
Umaña-Taylor, Yazedjian, & Bámaca-Gómez (2004)
Topic: Social Identities - Ethnic and Gender Identity
Description of Measure:
The 17-item Ethnic Identity Scale includes 3 subscales measuring exploration (7 items), resolution (4 items), and affirmation (6 items) where items are scored on a 4-point Likert scale.
Instructions:
The U.S. is made up of people of various ethnicities. Ethnicity refers to cultural traditions, beliefs, and behaviors that are passed down through generations. Some examples of the ethnicities that people may identify with are Mexican, Cuban, Nicaraguan, Chinese, Taiwanese, Filipino, Jamaican, African American, Haitian, Italian, Irish, and German. In addition, some people may identify with more than one ethnicity. When you are answering the following questions, we’d like you to think about what YOU consider your ethnicity to be.
Please write what you consider to be your ethnicity here __ and refer to this ethnicity as you answer the questions below.
Response Options:
- Does not describe me at all
- Describes me a little
- Describes me well
- Describes me very well
SubItems:
Notation after each item indicates the relevant subscale (i.e., A = affirmation, E = exploration, and R = resolution); + indicates a positively worded item; - indicates a negatively worded item. Negatively worded items should be reverse scored so that higher scores indicate higher levels of affirmation, exploration, and resolution
Items:
- My feelings about my ethnicity are mostly negative (-A).
- I have not participated in any activities that would teach me about my ethnicity (-E).
- I am clear about what my ethnicity means to me (+R).
- I have experienced things that reflect my ethnicity, such as eating food, listening to music, and watching movies (+E).
- I have attended events that have helped me learn more about my ethnicity (+E).
- I have read books/magazines/newspapers or other materials that have taught me about my ethnicity (+E).
- I feel negatively about my ethnicity (-A).
- I have participated in activities that have exposed me to my ethnicity (+E).
- I wish I were of a different ethnicity (-A).
- I am not happy with my ethnicity (-A).
- I have learned about my ethnicity by doing things such as reading (books, magazines, newspapers), searching the internet, or keeping up with current events (+E).
- I understand how I feel about my ethnicity (+R).
- If I could choose, I would prefer to be of a different ethnicity (-A).
- I know what my ethnicity means to me (+R).
- I have participated in activities that have taught me about my ethnicity (+E).
- I dislike my ethnicity (-A).
- I have a clear sense of what my ethnicity means to me (+R).
Citation:
Umaña-Taylor, A. J., Yazedjian, A. & Bámaca-Gómez, M. Y. (2004). Developing the Ethnic Identity Scale using Eriksonian and social identity perspectives. Identity: An International Journal of Theory and Research, 4, 9-38. https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532706XID0401_2 Links to an external site..