Ethnic identity develops during early childhood and is associated with better adaptive behavior, according to new research by professor Esther Calzada focusing on Latino children.
Calzada interviewed more than 600 Mexican American and Dominican American young children (4 to 5-year-old) socially and economically disadvantaged, their parents, and their teachers. She found that most children showed an emerging ethnic identity, and that it was associated with fewer externalizing behaviors such as aggression and hyperactivity, and fewer internalizing behaviors such as somatization and depression, particularly at school. A report on this study was published in the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.