12.34 Do labels matter?

A study was performed to examine the self-identification of college students of Asian descent with various identity categories and assess whether there are attitudinal differences across these categories. Undergraduates at a large midwestern university who had identified themselves as being of Asian descent on their admission application were asked to participate in the study.12 A total of 620 undergraduates filled out the survey. One question classified the participants into groups by asking them to indicate the option with which they primarily identify: (a) Asian American, (b) specific ethnicity (for example, Chinese), (c) ethnicity American (for example, Chinese American), and (d) other. The responses to the remaining survey items were then compared across these four groups. One item was "The campus is supportive of Asian American students." Responses were on a four-point scale (1 = strongly disagree, 4 = strongly agree). A summary of the results follows:

Label n X Asian American 130 2.93 Specific ethnicity 248 3.00 Ethnicity American 174 3.01 Other 68 3.39