Ethnic identity, identity coherence, and psychological functioning: testing basic assumptions of the developmental model

The purpose of the present study was to test three fundamental theoretical propositions from Phinney's (1990) developmental model about the relations among ethnic identity, identity coherence, and psychological functioning: (a) ethnic identity is more strongly related to identity coherence for ethnic minorities than for Whites; (b) ethnic identity is more strongly related to psychological functioning for ethnic minorities than for Whites; and (c) identity coherence mediates the association between ethnic identity and psychological functioning for ethnic minorities, but not for Whites. These hypotheses were tested in three independent samples of ethnically diverse youth. In general, we found weak to moderate support for these three hypotheses, suggesting that the theoretically proposed differences in ethnic identity between ethnic minorities and Whites may not be supported by data. Implications for theory and measurement of ethnic identity are discussed.