Self-Esteem, Cultural Identity, and Psychosocial Adjustment in African American Children

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Abstract
Identity development in African American children-has been afocus of research for over a half century. However, confusion remains about the nature of identity formation in African American children. This article reviewed the literature on self-esteem and cultural identity the two most studied aspects of identity in African American children, to better understand their relationships to psychosocial adjustmentas well as to each other The limitations of the social-psychological perspective were noted, and the need to consider cognitive-developmental and culturalfactors was addressed. Self-esteem and cultural identity were found to be independent aspects of personal identity in African American children that follow the same cognitive-developmental course. Cultural identity seemed to be more influential in the psychosocial adjustment of African American children. Discussion of the clinical and educational implications of thesefindings emphasized the importance of the concept of competence ratherthan self-esteem. It was concluded that the concept of competence provides a more integrative perspective on the interactions of social experiences, cultural factors, and cognitive development in the process of identityformation in African American children.