Essay On Ethnic Identity

Words: 780
Pages: 4

In Santrock (2016, p. 278), it is said that identity is a self-portrait composed of many pieces, one of them is from which part of the world or country a person is from and how intensely the person identifies with his or her cultural or ethnic identity. I was born and raised in a small European country that went through a war in the 1990’s, and was involved in an ethnic cleansing, better known as genocide. My mother and her side of the family were targeted and stereotyped because of their ethnicity, and I grew up watching and listening to the worst horrors a child can see or hear. I know for sure this has left an impact on my cognitive, socioemotional and identity development, as it left an impact on everyone else around me. However, I am not going …show more content…
The are becoming more and more independent and starting to think about their future, what career they might have, what relationship are they going to be in, are they going to have their own family and a house. These are the questions adolescences are exploring during this crucial period of development. Ethnic identity is an enduring aspect of the self that includes a sense of membership in an ethnic group, along with the attitudes and feelings related to that membership. Most adolescences from ethnic minorities develop a bicultural identity which is identifying themselves with their ethnic group, but at the same time also identifying with the majority culture, (Santrock, 2016, p. 281). This period is often unpleasant for ethnic minority adolescences because they might experience racism and they will often face an identity crisis. In Santrock (2016, p. 281), first-time immigrants are more likely to be secure in their identities and less likely to change much or develop a new identity. They might not speak English very well or be bothered by it, develop social networks other than