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Second generation adolescents from Asia &
Identity forming
What are the benefi ts and di f f icul ties of identi ty forming for second generation
adolescents from Asia in the Western world in comparison with native youth ?
Name: Sara Nguyen
Student number: 4081498
Subject: Wild Years
Docent: P. Welten
Words: 3269
Abstract
This article examines the process of forming an identity by second generation adolescents
from Asia living in a modern Western world. Beginning with two core-theories, that of Clarke
and Erikson, and ending with several scientific articles, I look at the benefits and difficulties
these adolescents have in comparison with the Western youth when they are forming their
identity. I expected and found that the second generation adolescents from Asia face a
potential conflict between two cultural identities , something native youth dont experience.
They feel pressure to both cultivate and minimize their ethnic membership. One of the
advantages these adolescents have in comparison with native youth, is that they may have
bigger chances in life because of their unique position.
Introduction.
According to Arnett and Hughes (2012) adolescence is a period of life in which young people
are developing and preparing themselves to have the responsibilities and roles the
adulthood in their culture require. Adolescence is a cultural construction. This means that
only in the cultures which allows children to postpone their responsibilities and give the
chances to explore themselves and the world, the phenomena adolescence can exists
(Arnett and Hughes, 2012).
Especially the industrialized countries provide this opportunity for children. These
countries have a highly developed economy, have already been through the industrialized
phase and are now focusing on services (Arnett and Hughes, 2012). Examples of these
countries are almost all countries in the West and countries in Asia as Japan and South
Korea.
Although the Asian countries like Japan and South Korea are industrial ized, there is a
big ethic difference between the countries in the West and the industrialized countries in
Asia (Waldmann, 2000). It is important to look at the ethical differences of these cultures,
where adolescents grow up in. Asia, especially East and South-East Asia is strongly
influenced by the Confucian ethics, whilst Europe ethics is based on Greek philosophy
(Waldmann, 2000).
The Confucian ethics seeks to find a harmonious balance between relationships,
especially family relationships (Waldmann, 2000). For adolescents holding on to this ethics, it
leads to respect for the past and the elder (Lalonde, Hynie, Pannu, e.a., 2004; Waldmann,
2000). Obligations to the group or society are important.
The Western ethics has more an individualistic dimension than Confucian ethics.
Everyone, including adolescents, is in pursuit of their own self-interest. The basic of Western
ethics is to be found in Greek philosophy, in which rationalist is most important and morality
is seen as depending on reasoning (Waldmann, 2000).
These ethics have a great impact at identity formation. According to White and Wyn (2014)
identity is a thing or person which remains the same over time and in different situations.
Young people have different sources which can support their identity formation. Family
members and peers from the same immigrant group provide the Asian possibilities for
identity formation, whilst the media and social institutions provide the Western possibilities
(Stroink and Lalonde, 2009)
Erikson (1968) conceptualized identity as a developmental process of maturation
from youth to adulthood. This means that identity forming is an active process. It is not a
simply stable entity, it is a dynamic and interactive process for forming an identity.
It is interesting to see how adolescents grow up in two cultures, and to see which
problems they are experiencing. These adolescents grow up bicultural (Stroink and Lalonde,
2009). This means they have an ethnic identity, which is a social identity based on the
culture of their parents, as modified by the characteristics of the Western culture (Yip and
Fuligni, 2002)
Because these adolescents have an unique place in the society, you can consider
them as a sub-culture. According to Clarke (1974), a sub-cultural membership may form an
identity because thats what is desired or because of the stigmatizing reaction of others.
Since this could lead to assimilation or segregation, its important to find out how second
generation adolescents handle the identity forming process (Mouw and Xie, 1999).
My main research question will be: What are the benefits and difficulties of identity
forming for second generation adolescents from Asia in the Western world in comparison
with native Western youth?. Other questions I will try to answer are: What are the benefits
and difficulties of identity forming for adolescents in genera l? and What are the differences
in identity forming for second generation adolescents from Asia in the Western world and
native adolescents?
I expect to find that second generation adolescents from Asia struggle to form their
own identity at least as much as the native youth. They will have problems with identify their
role in the society they grew up with, and the role in the society they are living in. Benefits
could be that they can handle differences in cultural behavior better and are better prepared
for changes than native youth.
Method.
I try to find the answers to the research questions to examine two core theories, that of
Erikson and Clarke and to use scientific literature. The core theories are found at blackboard
from University Utrecht, provided by the university.The core theory of Erikson is used
because it explains what identity is, and how adolescents form their identity in the modern
Western society. The core theory of Clarke is used because it tries to explain what sub-
cultures are, and how that can influence the identity formation by adolescents.
The scientific literature is found on google scholar with several different key words.
The key words which are used are: Second, Generation, Asians, Adolescents, Confucians,
Western, Culture, Identity, Bicultural, and Ethnic. The first four key words are used, because
that is the subject. The three following key words are used, because its the scope of the
research. The last three key words are used because its the object that is been examined in
this paper.
During these examination I use examples from my own experience in the
adolescence with regarding to identity formation. I do this to clarify the theories and
scientific literature with practical examples.
Results
What are the benefits and difficulties of identity forming for adolescents in general?
Adolescence is a period of life which has been almost a way of life between childhood and
adulthood according to Erikson (1968). In this period of life, adolescents have to deal with
crises in their identity process before they reach adulthood and therefore reach a final
identity. The psycho social crises between identity and role confusion exists during
adolescence.
Craving for locomotion is one of the discontented search of youth (Erikson, 1968). Its
the need for feeling needed by the community. Adolescents can participate in the
movements of the day to fulfill this need. A good example is that I have been and still am
doing volunteer work for endangered species and vulnerable children. In my case, this is a
solution for feeling needed in society.
Another danger of this stage is identity confusion (Erikson, 1968). Adolescents tend
to play with choices in their life, and then to deny that some irreversible commitment has
already taken place. They wont reach the moratorium stage, because they cannot freely
explore and experiment anymore what their identity should be when they become adults.
A benefit of this stage is that adolescents, when they get the chance, they can fully
explore and experiment what their identity should be when they become adults. For me
this means that I am able to go to school, to have various part-time jobs, to discover various
kinds of sport just to find out what kind of sport I like.
It is important to keep in mind that this has been based on western youth. Because
according to Erikson (1968) youth often rejects parents and authorities. But in the ethics of
Confucianism respect for the elder is important, even for adolescents. So the theory of
Erikson only explains the difficulties of adolescents who are living in the Western culture.
What are the differences in identity forming for second generation adolescents from Asia in
the Western world and native adolescents?
What is missing in the theory of Erikson is the difficulties and perhaps also the benefits of
adolescents who are living in a sub-culture. Clarke (1974) has considered a sub-culture as an
organized set of social meanings which bear a relation to the culture.
The second generation Asian adolescents growing up in the Western world can be
seen as a cub-culture, because this community has some systematically interrelated set of
cultural factors, like the ethics of the Confucianism. Those adolescents get labeled as Asian
people. And those who are labeled are constrained to organize and express their ethnicity in
ways of their choice (Kibria, 2000).
The theory of Clarke explains why the difficulties and benefits for the adolescents
who are living the dominant culture are not the only difficulties and benefits these bicultural
adolescents from Asia experience.
The Asian race operates as an involuntary sign over which the adolescent has little or
no control, giving off information to others about various aspects of her ethnic identity
(Kibria, 2000). Its the color of hair, shape of eyes and skin colors which reveal the ethnic
identity immediately. This lead almost automatically to a middle or intermediate position in
the hierarchy of society for Asian Western adolescents (Kibria, 2000).
This means that a bicultural identity brings with it the same implications as any
identity, but it has one more problem, the bicultural aspect (Stroink and Lalonde, 2009).
Forming an identity is an active process which contains those groups with who the
adolescent self identifies and the self-descriptions that derive from membership in those
groups.
For adolescents, this means that they feel pressure to compromise their cultural
values and behaviors to successfully meet the expectation of the wider social context
(Stroink and Lalonde, 2009). This can lead to assimilation, which means that adolescents give
up their cultural values and behavior to successfully meet the expectation of the wider social
context.
A personal example is the respect for elder people. I have been grown up with
knowing children should always bow for the elder, always stand up for the elder, never
contradict against the elder. As a child I have been called several nicknames like spleetoog
and stinkchinees. My mother always said never to draw attention to these people. She
always said: When you are older, they will respect you. When you are older, you can teach
them what respect is.
At the moment of writing Im 20 years old, and when I cycle throughout the street of
Eindhoven, I still have those moments that children from an age of 8/9 that they call me
nicknames. At the moment of writing I have learnt that my cultural values and behaviors do
not corresponds with the dominant values and behaviors, and there is nothing I can do but
to adapt myself to these values and behaviors.
What are the benefits of identity forming for second generation adolescents from Asia in the
Western world in comparison with native youth?
There are several benefits for growing up within the Asian and Western culture for
adolescents in comparison with native youth. The first one is found by Stroink and Lalonde in
2009. They said that being bicultural may be associated with enhanced feelings of efficacy
and competence. Native youth dont experience this.
I have heard several prejudices from native Dutch people about Asian people, which
lead me to behave like these prejudices. Some people believe that all the Asian people are
hardworking, eager to learn, and never make any problems in the neighborhood.
These people are most likely older people, who I have respect for. And when those
people are saying that I am hardworking, because I work during the week in the households,
I feel the pressure to do more in the short time I am in their house. When those people are
saying I am eager to learn, because I study at the university, I get more motivated to do my
best at the university and get higher grades.
Obeying to these prejudices gives me a better feeling of myself, and gives the society
I live in a better image of the Asian people. This is surely a benefit for myself and for the sub-
culture I belong to.
Growing up bicultural and therefor bilingualism stimulates cognitive development
(Mauw and Xie, 1999). In the adolescence phase, the brain is growing and most knowledge
will be kept and remembered.
So when adolescents grow up in the Asian and Western culture, they learn the norms
and values of both cultures and the languages from the countries the parents are from and
the country here they are living in. This is a lot of knowledge they have to process in their
brain, and they can only do so when the cognitive development is at its maximum. This leads
to faster and better processing from other knowledge, the knowledge that the native youth
also need to have.
Growing up bicultural can lead to a more complex identity and flexibility (Stroink and
Lalonde, 2009). This gives adolescents a chance to develop themselves to the fullest. This
also creates bigger chances of employment, especially in comparison with native youth.
Adolescents are in a stage where they can fully develop themselves if theyre given
the chance. Growing up in the Asian and Western culture means they can switch easily from
culture and get the benefits of both sides. For companies, this means that adolescents have
more knowledge of both cultures and therefore are better in knowing and behaving
according to the dominant norms and values. This benefit still exist when the adolescent
becomes an adult.
What are the difficulties of identity forming for second generation adolescents from Asia in
the Western world in comparison with native youth?
The benefit of being able to switch culture easily can also lead to a difficulty. Self-
stereotyping leads individual group members to define themselves more in terms of the
native groups defining features than in terms of their own unique characteristics (Stroink
and Lalonde, 2009). Whilst the native youth describe their own unique characteristics,
second generation adolescents from Asia growing up in the Western world tend to describe
themselves more in terms of the native groups defining features.
Especially adolescents can lose their own identity and therefore confuse the groups
characteristics as their own characteristics. Several second generation Asians growing up in
the Netherlands are stressed about their high-school degrees, because they feel the tension
to meet the expectations from the community they grew up in.
The community they grow up in, has this expectation since their birth. And not only
the community they grow up in, also the society wherein they will end up has this
expectation from second generation Asians growing up in the Western culture. Because
adolescents are growing up with this expectations all the time, they see the expectation to
get high degrees and working hard as a characteristic of their own.
But thats not the case. Its the expectations thats a characteristic of the sub-culture,
the in-group where the adolescents belong in. When these adolescents realize that getting
high degrees and performing excellent on school is not their own personality, they would
feel a lot less stress to meet this characteristic of the sub-culture.
Another difficulty that meets second generation adolescents from Asia, is
discrimination (Stroink and Lalonde, 2009). The distinctions of nationality and ethnicity
become irrelevant in the face of homogenizing racial processes (Kibria, 2000). Native youth
do not have the same problem, because people in the country they grow up in think is
relevant to have distinctions of nationality and ethnicity from other Western countries.
My own experience is that Dutch people do not really know the distinctions of
nationality and ethnicity in Asia. So in daily conversations, and during interviews a lot of
people ask things like: Oh yea, speaking Chinese is really difficult. Korean food is so
delicious. Japanese people love eating dogs, do you love that too? Even when I say that I am
from Vietnam, people are tending to ignore that, and try to make all those countries as one
country called Asia.
Its discrimination, because not all countries in Asia have the same culture. Even
worse, because my parents are from Asia, doesnt mean that I feel that I have an Asian
identity. Its seems people do not want to accept that second generation Asians growing up
in the Western culture can have two identities, or can have the Western identity. Because of
the looks, people tend to put second generation Asians in the Asian identity too easily.
This lead to the last difficulty for second generation Asians for identity formation. It is
that they experience conflict and confusion as they attempt to reconcile the values and
norms of their two cultures (Stroink and Lalonde, 2009). Its confusing for bicultural
adolescents who values and norms they want to adhere, because every decision they make
the community they grew up and the society they live in are watching. Adolescents feel they
have to make a choice between the two cultures they grow up in.
When adolescents find out its not necessary to make a choice between the two
cultures, but they can blend the norms and values, they get easily in conflict. Especially the
differences between the Greek philosophy and Confucianism makes it hard for adolescent
for them to blend these norms and values without getting in conflict .
It has already been said that the Greek philosophy is focused on rational thinking,
whilst the Confucianism emphasizes the harmonious relations between people (Waldmann,
2000).. This can lead to confusion about the actions native youth makes, and therefore
feeling shame for the native youth. But the native adolescents are the adolescents they also
hang out with. Its a struggle for adolescents how to maintain the norms and values they
grew up with and how to blend that with the dominant norms and values they are in. Native
youth dont experience this problem, since they only grew up with the dominant norms and
values.
Conclusion
The research question was: What are the benefits and difficulties of identity forming for
second generation adolescents from Asia in the Western world in comparison with native
Western youth?
Adolescents have to deal with crises in their identity process before they reach
adulthood and therefore reach a final identity. Craving for locomotion is one of the
discontented search of youth (Erikson, 1968). Another danger of this stage is identity
confusion (Erikson, 1968). Adolescents tend to play with choices in their life, and then to
deny that some irreversible commitment has already taken place. It is important to keep in
mind that the theory of Erikson has been based on western youth.
Therefore its necessary to have the theory of Clarke about sub-cultures. The second
generation Asian adolescents growing up in the Western world can be seen as a cub-culture
because this community has some systematically interrelated set of cultural factors, like the
ethics of the Confucianism. And those who are labeled in a sub-culture are constrained in
their ability to organize and express their ethnicity in ways of their choosing.
This means that a cultural identity brings with it the same implications as any social
identity, but it has the added role of informing ones culturally derived framework. For
adolescents means that they feel pressure to compromise their cultural values and
behaviors to successfully meet the expectation of the wider social context.
Growing up in two culture can be associated with certain benefits that native youth
dont have. Enhanced feelings of efficacy and competence, a more complex identity and
flexibility to operate in a global economy. Growing up bicultural and therefore bilingualism
stimulates cognitive development.
There will be always difficulties for adolescents growing up in two cultures. They have
and will keep experience discrimination. And native youth wont. They experience conflict
and confusion as they attempt to reconcile the values and norms of their two cultures. These
difficulties are add up by the long list the difficulties normal adolescents already
experience.
But there is good news. Scholars today have argued that racial minorities in the
Western world do have the same kinds of choices or options with respect to ethnicity that
are enjoyed by whites. This could mean that for second generation Asian adolescents
growing up in a Western culture, there are the same kinds of solutions and help for them as
for native youth for identity formation.
References.
Arnett, J.J., & Hughes, M. (2012). Adolescence and Emerging Adulthood. Harlow, England:
Pearson Education Limited.
Clarke, M. (1974). On the concept of 'sub-culture'. British Journal of Sociology, 428-441.
Erikson, E. H. (1968). Identity: Youth and crisis (No. 7). WW Norton & Company.
Erwin Waldmann (2000). Teaching ethics in accounting: a discussion of cross-cultural factors
with a focus on Confucian and Western philosophy. Accounting Education: an international
journal, 9:1, 23-35, DOI: 10.1080/096392800413636
Kibria, N. (2000). Race, ethnic options, and ethnic binds: Identity negotiations of second-
generation Chinese and Korean Americans. Sociological Perspectives, 43(1), 77-95.
Lalonde, R. N., Hynie, M., Pannu, M., & Tatla, S. (2004). The Role of Culture in Interpersonal
Relationships Do Second Generation South Asian Canadians Want a Traditional
Partner?. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 35(5), 503-524.
Mouw, T., & Xie, Y. (1999). Bilingualism and the academic achievement of first-and second-
generation Asian Americans: Accommodation with or without assimilation? American
sociological review, 232-252.
Stroink, M. L., & Lalonde, R. N. (2009). Bicultural identity conflict in second-generation Asian
Canadians. The Journal of social psychology, 149(1), 44-65.
White, R., & Wyn. J. (2014). Youth and Society (No. 3). Melbourne, Australia: Oxford
University Press.
Yip, T., & Fuligni, A. J. (2002). Daily variation in ethnic identity, ethnic behaviors, and
psychological wellbeing among American adolescents of Chinese descent. Child
development, 73(5), 1557-1572.
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