A Secondary Survey Analysis Study of African American Ethnic Identity Orientations in Two National Samples

This study used secondary survey analysis to explore the national variability in the ethnic identity orientations of African Americans, making use of Cross’s racial identity model as a framework. Respondents to two national panel surveys (the National Black Election Panel Study and the National Survey of Black Americans) were classified into one of three racial identity profiles (preencounter, immersion, and internalization). Based on the classification procedure used here, these three racial identity types represent substantial proportions of the African American community, how they differ in important ways in terms of their demographic backgrounds, their reported experiences with racism, their psychological well-being, and in the stability of their racial identity orientations.