Racial identity development and minority or majority status: a test of Helms' model in minority and majority subgroups

Date

2010-02-16T19:07:50Z

Authors

Tatlay, Pardeep Kaur

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Abstract

This study examined three research questions pertaining to J.E. Helms' (1984) racial identity development model to determine whether its predictions for general minority and majority populations are valid for three minority and majority subgroups. Participants consisted of 355 Caucasian. Chinese. Japanese, and Punjabi individuals who were undergraduate university students at a predominantly White university in Western Canada. Participants completed a Personal Data Sheet, the Black Racial Identity Attitude Scale (minority scale). and the White Racial Identity Attitude Scale (majority scale). Analyses reveal that Helms' model does not accurately classify first-generation minorities or second-generation minorities. but does accurately classify third-/fourth-generation majorities (p < .05). These results are different than predicted by Helms' model and as such. suggest that this model may have limited generalizability.

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Keywords

Janet E. Helms, minorities, Canada

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