Measurement of Ethnic Identity: Recurrent and Emergent Issues

Recent years have witnessed a proliferation of research on ethnic identity. To date, this research has been dominated by individual differences methods. Both Gaines, Bunce, Robertson, Wright, Goossens, Heer, et al. (this issue) and Juang and Nguyen's (this issue) examination of the psychometric properties of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM; Phinney, 1992 Phinney, J. S. 1992. The Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure: A new scale for use with diverse groups. Journal of Adolescent Research, 7: 156–176. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) demonstrate the promise of such methods. In this commentary, we briefly consider the measurement issues raised by Gaines et al. (this issue) and Juang and Nguyen (this issue). We then highlight the importance of taking a process approach to understanding ethnic identity. Our goal is to highlight new developments and unanswered questions. In so doing, we hope to detail the ways in which ethnic identity research has evolved over the past two decades and provide an impetus for the empirical investigation of unresolved issues.