Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ting Toomey Et Al Ethnic Identity
Ting Toomey Et Al Ethnic Identity
24 (2000) 4781
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijintrel
Abstract
This study examined the inuence of ethnic background, ethnic identity, and cultural
identity on conict styles among African Americans, Asian Americans, European
Americans, and Latino(a) Americans. Panethnic factor analysis yielded four dimensions of
ethnic identity: ethnic belonging, fringe, intergroup interaction, and assimilation. A secondorder factor analysis yielded two clear identity dimensions: ethnic identity salience and
cultural identity salience. In addition, panethnic factor analysis yielded seven conict
management styles: integrating, compromising, dominating, avoiding, neglecting, emotional
expression, and third party. Some of the major ndings of the study are: (1) African
Americans have a stronger ethnic identity and a weaker cultural identity than the other
ethnic groups; (2) European Americans have a weaker ethnic identity than the other
groups; (3) Latino(a) Americans and Asian Americans use avoiding and third party conict
styles more than African Americans, and, Asian Americans use avoiding conict style more
than European Americans; (4) Individuals with a strong cultural identity (i.e., identifying
with the larger US culture) use integrating, compromising, and emotionally expressive
conict styles more than individuals with a weak cultural identity; (5) Individuals with a
strong ethnic identity (i.e., identifying with their ethnic memberships) use integrating
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Annual Conference of the Speech
Communication Association, New Orleans, Louisiana, November, 1994. We want to thank Bill
Gudykunst and the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments on an earlier version of this
paper.
* Corresponding author. Department of Speech Communication, California State University at
Fullerton, Fullerton, CA 92834, USA. Fax: +1-714-278-3377.
p
0147-1767/99/$ - see front matter # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 4 7 - 1 7 6 7 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 2 3 - 1
48
conict style more than individuals with a weak ethnic identity; (6) bicultural, assimilated,
and traditional-oriented groups use integrating and compromising conict styles more than
the marginal group, and the marginal group uses third party help more than the other three
groups. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: ethnic identity; cultural identity; conict styles
Introduction
Conict is a pervasive human phenomenon that penetrates all forms of social
relationships in all ethnic and cultural groups. From intergroup conict to
interpersonal friction, conict is often an intrinsic part of the human relating
process. Conict itself, however, is not necessarily a negative or positive
phenomenon. It is how we manage conict that can lead to constructive or
destructive outcomes. Conict is dened in this study as an intense disagreement
process between a minimum of two interdependent parties when they perceive
incompatible interests, viewpoints, processes, and/or goals in an interaction
episode (Ting-Toomey, 1994a, 1994b).
While there are many factors that can contribute to an escalatory conict
episode, conict style is viewed as one of the critical factors that can exacerbate
an already intense conict situation. Conict style refers to patterned responses to
conict in a variety of situations. Conict interaction style is learned within the
primary socialization process of one's cultural or ethnic group. Individuals learn
the norms and scripts of appropriate conict conduct and eective conict
behavior in their ethnic and cultural environment.
Unfortunately, while there has been a blossoming interest concerning the study
of interpersonal and intercultural conict communication in the past ve years
(e.g., Cahn, 1992, 1994; Leung, Au, Fernandez-Dols, & Iwawaki, 1992; Trubisky,
Ting-Toomey, & Lin, 1991), there is a paucity of research addressing the critical
role of ethnic identity and its eect on conict styles. Interpersonal conict
researchers in the US tend to focus their attention in uncovering conict norms
and rules of the European American group to the neglect of practices by many
non-European American communities. Intercultural researchers, on the other
hand, tend to focus their attention in identifying dierences of conict patterns
between US and non-US cultures to the neglect of examining ethnic variability of
conict styles within the US sample.
With the changing demographic trends of the US population within the next 50
years (when one in every three US Americans will be a person of non-white
heritage, Thornton, 1992), it is vital that theory-development in the area of ethnic
identity and conict style should be as inclusive and as ethnocentric-free as
possible. As Yinger (1994) notes: ``by the middle of the twenty-rst century, if the
present trend continues, the United States will be a truly global society, with
slightly over half of primarily European ancestry and nearly half of Latino,
49
African, Asian, and Native American background. How the United States
develops as a multi-ethnic society will be of critical importance . . . for its own
quality of life'' (p. 35). Understanding the relationship between ethnic identity
salience and conict management styles in African, Asian, European, and
Latino(a) American groups will help us to understand conict variations across
groups. Understanding such stylistic variations can serve as a rst step in the
constructive management of intraethnic and interethnic conicts.
Towards this end, this project tests the eects of ethnic background, ethnic
identity, and cultural identity on conict styles among four US membership
groups. This study is concerned with the general phenomenon of ethnic identity as
a construct with composite elements that are relevant to dierent ethnic groups in
the larger US culture. Identifying common ethnic/cultural identity dimensions and
decoding particular conict style factors will oer us a clearer, comparative
picture of identity issues and conict style preferences across various US groups.
Understanding the complex relationships among ethnic background, ethnic
identity, and cultural identity on dierent conict styles will help us to deal with
conict modes more adaptively in a diverse range of ethnic contact situations.
Ethnic identity
Ethnic identity is a complex, multidimensional construct. It is the subject of
continuous fascination that is debated and argued about by researchers from
diverse disciplines (see, for example, Alba, 1990; De Vos & Suarez-Orozco, 1990;
Espiritu, 1992; Hecht, Sedano, & Ribeau, 1993; Keefe, 1992; Mirande & Tanno,
1993; Phinney, 1990; Roosen, 1989; Waters, 1990). Ethnic identity is an elastic
concept that is often shaped and molded by the researcher's lens of emphasis.
There are two important issues that are central to the study of ethnic identity:
ethnic identity salience and ethnic identity content. While ethnic identity salience
refers to the degree of importance of ethnic identity to the individuals, ethnic
identity content refers to the ethnic values that individuals subscribe to and
practice. These two issues are central to understanding the role of ethnic identity
on conict management styles within and across the four US ethnic groups.
Ethnic/cultural identity salience
Drawing from social identity theory (Tajfel, 1978; Tajfel & Turner, 1979) and
acculturation theory (Berry, Kim, Power, Young, & Bujaki, 1989), ethnic identity
is viewed as a multidimensional construct that includes issues of group
membership, self-image, ethnic aliation and larger cultural aliation, and
ingroup and intergroup attitudes. More specically, ethnic identity is
conceptualized in this paper as a composite of attitudes, feelings, and perceptions
of the degree of aliation and belonging towards one's own ethnic group and/or
the larger culture. It also embodies favorable and unfavorable attitudes toward
ingroup/outgroup interactions. Ethnic identity salience involves the extent to which
50
51
1992) has identied four common themes of ethnic identity that are relevant to
dierent ethnic group members at any stage of racial/ethnic identity development:
ethnic belonging (i.e., positive aliation with one's own ethnic group), ethnic
identity achievement (i.e., active search for ethnic identity knowledge), ethnic
practices (i.e., participation in ethnic activities), and other-group orientation (i.e.,
attitudes and feelings toward members of other ethnic groups).
Overall, it appears that the study of ethnic identity salience has both ethnicgeneral and ethnic-specic elements. As a general phenomenon, ethnic identity in
a pluralistic society is a composite construct that involves ethnic group belonging,
ingroup/outgroup attitudes, and the larger cultural identity issues. Ethnic identity
is basically concerned with the intergroup boundary maintenance theme. As a
specic phenomenon, ethnic identity encompasses the unique history, common
ancestral descent, shared fate, and shared ethnic traditions and values. Thus, in
order to understand the role of ethnic identity salience in a pluralistic society,
both ethnic identity maintenance and the larger cultural identity maintenance
should be taken into consideration. In order to gain a more complete
understanding of this inuence of ethnic/cultural identity, the following section
describes the content of ethnic identity.
Content of ethnic/cultural identity
To understand dierences and similarities in conict styles across dierent
ethnic or cultural groups, it is necessary rst to have a perspective to explain why
and how ethnic/cultural groups are dierent or similar. An ethnic variability
perspective refers to how ethnic groups vary on a continuum of variations in
accordance to some basic dimensions or core value characteristics. While there are
many dimensions in which ethnic or cultural groups dier, one dimension that has
received consistent attention from intercultural researchers around the world is
individualism-collectivism. Countless intercultural and ethnic studies (see, for
example, Asante & Asante, 1990; Bellah, Madsen, Sullivan, Swidler, & Tipton,
1985; Bond, 1991; Casas & Pytluk, 1995; Davis, 1990; Gudykunst & TingToomey, 1988; Hecht, Collier, & Ribeau, 1993; Hofstede, 1991; Markus &
Kitayama, 1991; Sodowsky, Kwan, & Pannu, 1995; Triandis, 1995) have provided
theoretical and empirical evidence that the value dimensions of individualism and
collectivism are pervasive in a wide range of ethnic and cultural communities.
Value characteristics serve as the content of ethnicity and culture that guide
individuals' behaviors and practices.
The value dimensions of individualism and collectivism, as existing on a
continuum of value tendency dierences, can be used as a beginning point to
understand some of the basic ethnic/cultural communication dierences.
Essentially, individualism refers to the broad value tendencies of a group in
emphasizing the importance of individual identity over group identity, individual
rights over group rights, and individual interests over relational or group interests.
In comparison, collectivism refers to the broad value tendencies of a group in
emphasizing the importance of the ``we'' identity over the ``I'' identity, group
52
53
Since we do not know the precise relationship among ethnic background (i.e.,
the four broad ethnic categories of African, Asian, European, and Latino(a)
Americans), cultural identity (i.e., identifying with the larger US culture), and
ethnic identity (i.e., identifying with one's specic ethnic group), the rst research
question in this study asks:
RQ1
54
seeks to satisfy her/his own interest or own face need. The second dimension
represents the degree (high or low) to which a person desires to incorporate the
other's conict interest. The two dimensions combine for ve styles of handling
interpersonal conict: integrating, compromising, dominating, obliging, and
avoiding. Briey, the integrating style reects a need for solution closure in
conict and involves high concern for self and high concern for other in conict
negotiation. Integrating style attempts to merge both self-interest goal and otherinterest goal via open channels of conict negotiation. The compromising style
involves a give-and-take concession approach in order to reach a mid-point
agreement concerning the conict issue. It is in the intermediate position of high
concern for self and other. The dominating style, in turn, is characterized by an
individual's need to control or dominate the conict situation. It emphasizes
conict tactics that push for one's own position or goal at the expense of the
other person's conict interest. The obliging style is characterized by a high
concern for the other person's conict interest above and beyond one's own
conict interest. It emphasizes accommodating the need of the other person at the
expense of self's interest. Finally, the avoiding style involves evading the conict
topic, the conict party, or the conict situation altogether.
In linking Ting-Toomey's (1988) conict face-negotiation theory with Rahim's
(1992) styles of conict management (i.e., integrating, compromising, dominating,
obliging, and avoiding), certain observations can be made. Her theory proposes
that members who subscribe to individualistic values tend to use direct modes of
conict management, such as integrating, compromising, and dominating/
controlling styles. Comparatively, members who subscribe to collectivistic, groupbased values tend to use indirect modes of conict management, such as obliging/
accommodating style and avoidance style. On a broad level, Rahim's (1983, 1992)
ve conict styles serve as a useful start for this study and are compatible with
Ting-Toomey's (1988) face-negotiation theory. However, on a specic level of
application, Rahim's conict approach is reective of an individualistic, Western
interpretation of what constitutes appropriate and eective conict
communication. In particular, obliging and avoiding styles often take on a
Western slant of being negatively disengaged (i.e., ``placating'' or ``ight'' from the
conict scene). However, obliging and avoiding conict styles are not necessarily
perceived as negative by many Asian and Latin ethnic groups. These two styles
are typically employed by collectivists to maintain mutual-face interests (TingToomey, 1988, 1999).
Conict styles: specic issues
More specically, for example, for individuals who subscribe to traditional
Asian values, the moral philosophy of Confucianism guides their interpersonal
behaviors and practices. The philosophy of Confucianism emphasizes harmonious
interpersonal relationships and the concept of proper facework negotiation in
interpersonal relationships. Obliging the needs of the other person or avoiding the
conict situation altogether is one way to ``give face'' and also ``save face'' for
55
56
According to Boadu (1990), the oral artistry in the traditional African society
serves three functions: ritual, entertainment, and education. The pedagogical role
of the oral artist in the traditional African society ``is illustrated by the art of
storytelling. An elderly person tells stories to the young ones around the courtyard
in the moonlight. The storyteller performs not for any nancial gain but for other
reasons artistic commitment, for teaching the moral values of their society, and
to exposing them to the sociocultural background of their society'' (p. 85). Oral
artistry, in traditional African society, has an ``imaginative quality and relies on a
play of the mind and spontaneity of composition'' (Boadu, 1990, p. 84).
Spontaneous aective expressions and rich storytelling are highly valued
communication practices in traditional African society. Additionally, the ethnic
socialization experiences of African Americans within the larger US society may
also contribute to their emotionally expressive conict style. As Locke (1992)
comments that ``future successes for their sons [and daughters] hinges on an
ability to be alternatively assertive and acquiescent . . . the environment of
African-American children is an ambiguous and marginal one in which they live
simultaneously in two worlds the African-American world and the world of the
dominant culture'' (p. 21). Phinney and Chavira (1995), in investigating ethnic
socialization by parents of ethnic minority adolescents, found that African
American parents reported more frequent discussion of prejudice and
discrimination issues with their daughter/son than Japanese American and
Mexican American parents. Ting-Toomey (1986), in testing Kochman's (1981,
1986) thesis on ethnic conict style, found that African American females tend to
use more emotionally expressive conict style (i.e., in close relationship conicts)
than African American males or European American males and females. Overall,
it appears that while African Americans prefer emotionally engaged conict styles
in dealing with dierences, European Americans prefer factual inductive modes in
dealing with conict problems.
In sum, while past studies have examined conict styles on either the crosscultural national level or racial dierence level, the objective of this study intends
to understand the intricate relationships among ethnic background, ethnic identity
salience, and cultural identity salience on various conict styles in four US ethnic
groups. The remaining four research questions guide the analysis of the results of
this study:
RQ2
RQ3
RQ4
RQ5
What is the eect of ethnic backgound on the conict styles of the four
US ethnic groups?
What is the eect of ethnic identity salience on the conict styles of the
four US ethnic groups?
What is the eect of cultural identity salience on the conict styles of the
four US ethnic groups?
What is the interaction eect of ethnic background, ethnic identity
salience, and cultural identity salience on the conict styles of the four US
ethnic groups?
57
Method
Respondents
The overall sample size for the four ethnic groups contained 662 respondents.
There were 238 males (36.1%) and 422 females (63.9%), and two missing values.
There were 194 European American respondents, 135 African American
respondents, 181 Asian American respondents, and 152 Latino(a) American
respondents. The majority of the respondents were recruited from several mediumsized universities in the southern region of California. Other respondents included
professionals from the southern part of California. The average age of the
participants was 23.83 (SD=7.81). The average educational level of the
respondents was at the level of a college sophomore. Overall, 41.9% of the
respondents reported their conict with classmates, 42.2% with coworkers, 4.7%
with neighbors, and 11.1% marked ``other''.
In the European American sample, there were 77 (39.9%) males and 116
(60.1%) females. The European American self-report ethnic background labels
included 67.2% ``Europeans'', 6.8% ``Italian Americans'', 3.1% ``German
Americans'', and others. In terms of generation, 7.7% of European Americans
identied themselves as rst generation immigrants, 11.9% as second generation,
19.6 as third generation, and 60.8% marked ``other''. In the African American
sample, there were 41 (30.4%) males and 94 (69.6%) females. The African
Americans self-report ethnic background or labels included 59% ``African
Americans'', 23.9% ``Blacks'', 6% ``Afro-Americans'', and others. In terms of
generation, 0.7% of African Americans identied themselves as rst generation
immigrants, 1.5% as second generation, 17.0% as third generation, 78.5% marked
``other''.
In the Asian American sample, there were 64 (35.6%) males and 116 (64.4%)
females. The Asian Americans self-report ethnic background or labels included
32.7% ``Chinese Americans'', 19.9% ``Vietnamese Americans'', 12.2% ``Asian
Americans'', 8.3% ``Filipino Americans'', 8.3% ``Japanese Americans'', 6.4%
``Asian Indians'', 5.8% ``South East Asian Americans'', 5.1% ``Korean
Americans'', and others. In terms of generation, 75.7% of Asian Americans
identied themselves as rst generation immigrants, 14.4% as second generation,
3.9% as third generation, and 1.1% marked ``other''.
In the Latino(a) American sample, there were 56 (36.8%) males and 96 (63.2%)
females. The Latino(a) Americans self-report ethnic background or labels included
35.8% ``Hispanics'', 20.4% ``Mexicans'', 16.8% ``Mexican Americans'', 12.4%
``Latino(a)s'', 7.3% ``Chicano(a)s'', and others. In terms of generation, 34.9% of
Latino(a) Americans identied themselves as rst generation immigrants, 19.1% as
second generation, 24.3% as third generation, and 15.1% marked ``other''.
Procedures
The objective of the study was to examine the inuence of ethnic background,
58
ethnic identity salience, and cultural identity salience on conict styles in four US
ethnic groups. A questionnaire was developed to assess ethnic/cultural identity
salience and conict styles across dierent ethnic groups in the US. Independent
(ethnic background, cultural identity, ethnic identity salience) and dependent
variables (conict styles) were measured through self-report survey data. The
questionnaire was constructed by using items from various existing scales
concerning ethnic/cultural identity and conict styles. Additionally, some items
were written specically for this study to complement and tap dimensions not
addressed by the instruments used. Many of the conict questions were reworded
to address the context of conict style patterns among acquaintances. Each
questionnaire took approximately 3045 min to complete.
In section I, participants were instructed that when lling out the conict
section, think of how they typically handle face-to-face conicts with
acquaintances (e.g., classmates, neighbors, co-workers) who are from the same sex
and same ethnic group as the respondents. Conict was dened for them as any
``intense disagreement between two parties which involves incompatible goals,
needs, or viewpoints''. After completing the rst section of the survey, the
respondents were asked what kinds of acquaintances they have in mind in lling
out the conict responses. Four options were provided: classmates, co-workers,
neighbors, and others. Those who indicated that they answered with anyone other
than an acquaintance (e.g., family members, best friends) were excluded from this
analysis. In section II, prior to completing the ethnic/cultural identity section of
the questionnaire, respondents were instructed to think of the most important
ethnic group which aects their everyday experience or behavior. A blank was
provided for them to self-report their ethnic background label. Section II
contained two parts: ethnic/cultural identity salience items and intergroup attitude
items. After lling out the ethnic/cultural identity items, respondents lled out
answers in the demographic section.
Measurements of ethnic background, ethnic identity salience, cultural identity
salience, and conict styles
Ethnic background was operationalized via self-report labels used by the
respondents in section II of the survey. Ethnic and cultural identity salience items
appeared in the second section of the questionnaire. The items were drawn from
the various scales used in past research, and new items were generated for this
study. Aspects of ethnic/cultural identity salience from the acculturation
perspective (Berry et al., 1987, 1989), and Phinney's (1992) general ethnic identity
salience were examined. More specically, items were included and adapted from
Phinney's (1992) Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM), Helms and
Parham's (1993) Black Racial Identity Attitude Scale (RIAS-B), and Luhtanen
and Crocker's (1992) Collective Self-Esteem scale. Additional items were also
written for the purpose of this study. There were a total of 84 ethnic/cultural
identity items included in the survey. The items were randomly distributed in
.60
.15
.06
.16
.15
.67
.18
.18
.64
.36
.09
.05
(continued on next page)
.06
.06
.01
.59
.09
.02
.13
.10
.15
.03
.07
.02
.08
.02
.06
.08
.04
.13
.05
.01
.02
.07
.03
.08
.04
.10
.03
.56
.26
.04
.06
.06
.52
.01
.20
.27
.32
.02
.02
.19
.28
.22
.01
.63
.32
.11
.25
.12
.11
.10
.72
.05
.55
.08
.65
.18
.24
.02
.63
.03
.55
.11
.09
.63
.71
.68
.65
.06
.65
.57
.07
.50
.03
.62
.04
.14
1. I have spent time trying to nd out more about my own ethnic group, such as history, traditions and customs.
4. I like meeting and getting to know people from ethnic groups other than my own.
5. I think a lot about how my life will be aected by my ethnic group membership.
7. I sometimes feel it would be better if dierent ethnic groups didn't try to mix together.
8. I am not very clear about the role of my ethnicity in my life.
9. I often spend time with people from ethnic groups other than my own.
13. In order to learn more about my ethnic background, I have often talked to other people about my ethnic group.
15. I do not try to become friends with people from other ethnic group(s).
16. I participate in cultural practices of my own ethnic group, such as special food, music, or customs.
17. I am involved in activities with people from other ethnic groups.
19. I enjoy being around people from ethnic groups other than my own.
23. I am increasing my involvement in activities with my ethnic group.
24. I feel an overwhelming attachment to being a member of my ethnic group.
25. I involve myself in causes that will help members of my ethnic group.
26. I am determined to nd my ethnic identity.
27. I often regret that I belong to the ethnic group I do.
28. I feel excitement in my own ethnic environment.
29. I nd myself thinking more about my ethnic group membership than when I was younger.
31. I generally do not feel comfortable being around members of other ethnic groups.
32. I am active in social clubs which include mostly members of my own ethnic group.
33. It is easy for me to get along with members of dierent ethnic groups.
36. I think a lot about how my life will be aected by my ethnic group membership.
39. I often feel lost about who I am as an ethnic being.
40. I believe that the best way for members of dierent ethnic groups to get along is to assimilate to the overall US
culture.
41. I usually do not feel comfortable around members of my own ethnic group.
42. It is important for me to identify closely with the overall US culture.
43. I generally identify strongly with the overall US culture.
47. The ethnic group I belong to is an important reection of who I am.
.00
.57
.02
.50
.02
.67
.01
.54
.05
.61
.64
.08
.17
.13
.10
.20
.02
.08
.60
.29
.62
.12
.03
.02
Item
Table 1
Ethnic identity factors
S. Ting-Toomey et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 24 (2000) 4781
59
48.
49.
52.
55.
59.
61.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
73.
74.
76.
77.
79.
81.
82.
83.
Items used to dene factors.
I feel I do not have much to oer to the ethnic group I belong to.
I often feel confused about which ethnic group I should identify myself with.
The ethnic group I belong to is important to my sense of what kind of person I am.
In general, belonging to my ethnic group is an important part of my self-image.
I feel good about the ethnic group I belong to.
I usually go by the values of the overall US culture.
I feel very ``confused'' about my sense of ethnic membership.
It is important for me to internalize the overall US cultural values.
I feel comfortable identifying with both my ethnic heritage and the overall US culture.
I often feel ``left out'' when others around me talk about ethnic identity issues.
The overall US culture is an important reection of who I am.
I often feel ``suspended'' and ``lost'' as far as ethnic group membership is concerned.
It is important for me to be accepted both by my ethnic group and the overall US culture.
I feel like I live on the ``fringe'' in terms of my sense of ethnic group belongingness.
The values of my own ethnic group are very compatible with that of the overall US culture.
I do not spend much time with members of the other ethnic group(s).
I feel unable to involve myself in activities with members of the other ethnic group(s).
I frequently involve myself in activities with members of the other ethnic group(s).
Sometimes I feel it would be better that my ethnic group did not mix with members of the other ethnic group(s).
I often nd myself referring to members of the other ethnic group(s) in a negative way.
I have many friends from the other ethnic group(s).
I feel unable to involve myself comfortably in activities with members of the other ethnic group(s).
I generally do not trust members of the other ethnic group(s).
Item
Table 1 (continued )
.16
.08
.62
.67
.41
.09
.09
.12
.17
.15
.06
.14
.31
.05
.16
.07
.04
.01
.18
.24
.05
.05
.19
.53
.67
.30
.33
.62
.17
.73
.24
.24
.62
.15
.72
.03
.65
.05
.06
.05
.13
.10
.11
.05
.12
.07
.10
.08
.13
.10
.10
.09
.02
.02
.24
.10
.03
.02
.06
.03
.00
.70
.66
.63
.65
.53
.63
.66
.54
.23
.10
.06
.06
.11
.67
.08
.60
.55
.11
.68
.10
.54
.15
.55
.01
.04
.05
.10
.10
.12
.00
.16
60
S. Ting-Toomey et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 24 (2000) 4781
61
62
for the specic ethnic groups were: African Americans .90, Asian Americans .89,
European Americans .88, and Latino(a) Americans .90. The second factor
consisted of 11 items. All items that loaded for this factor reected a sense of
marginalism or the feelings of being on the fringe of ethnic identity. Thus, this
factor was labeled ``fringe''. The combination of these items yielded an alpha of
.89. The alpha scores for the specic ethnic groups were: African Americans .90,
Asian Americans .89, European Americans .84, and Latino(a) Americans .89. The
third factor was made up of 14 items. These items reected the desire or the lack
of desire to interact with members of other ethnic groups. Consequently, this
factor was labeled ``interaction''. The alpha for this factor was .89. The alpha
scores for the specic ethnic groups were: African Americans .88, Asian
Americans .87, European Americans .92, and Latino(a) Americans .90. The fourth
factor contained nine items. Generally, all these items reected primarily
assimilation attitudes. As a result, the factor was labeled ``assimilation''. The
resulting alpha for assimilation was .83 for the panethnic sample. The alpha scores
for the specic ethnic groups were: African Americans .88, Asian Americans .76;
European Americans .82, and Latino(a) Americans .76.
In examining the four ethnic identity dimensions, it was determined that they
could be dimensions of two overarching factors that measure strong and weak
ethnic identity and strong and weak cultural identity. Items with positive and
negative factor loadings were recoded to be consistent within each factor. A
second order factor analysis was performed on the four ethnic identity factors (see
Table 2). These four factors loaded on two distinct factors, with belong (.78) and
fringe (.89) loading on factor one (which will henceforth be labeled as salience of
``ethnic identity''), and interaction (.87) and assimilation (.59) loading on factor
two (which will be referred to as salience of ``cultural identity''). Salience of ethnic
identity was dichotomized to form strong and weak ethnic identity categories
using a median split. Salience of cultural identity was also dichotomized to form
strong and weak cultural identity using a median split. The median for ethnic
identity salience was 3.60. The median for cultural identity salience was 3.51.
The overall results of the rst-order factor analysis yielded an initial four ethnic
identity dimensions, namely, belonging, fringe, intergroup interaction, and
assimilation. The second-order factor analysis produced two distinctive
dimensions: ethnic identity salience and cultural identity salience.
Table 2
Second-order factor analysis for ethnic identity
Rotated Factor Matrix
Factor 1
Factor 2
Factor
Factor
Factor
Factor
.78
.89
.15
.25
.24
.12
.87
.59
1:
2:
3:
4:
Belong
Fringe
Interact
Assimilate
1. I would attempt to avoid being ``put on the spot'' and try to keep my
conict with the other person to myself.
3. I would try to stay away from disagreement with the other person.
6. I would give some to get some in order to reach a compromise.
8. I would use my inuence to get my ideas accepted.
9. I would try to nd a middle course to resolve an impasse.
10. I would use my authority to make a decision in my favor.
12. I would win some and lose some so that a compromise could be
reached.
13. I would avoid an encounter with the other person.
14. I would argue my case with the other person to show the merits of my
position.
17. I would try to keep my disagreement with the other person to myself in
order to avoid hard feelings.
18. I would use my expertise to make a decision in my favor.
20. I would usually propose a middle ground for breaking deadlocks.
21. I would try to avoid unpleasant exchanges with the other person.
22. I am generally rm in pursuing my side of the issue.
25. I would generally avoid an argument with the other person.
26. I would sometimes use my power to win a competitive situation.
28. I would use a ``give and take'' so that a compromise could be made.
29. I would sit down with the other person to negotiate a resolution to his/
her objectionable behavior.
30. I would generally ask a third person to intervene in our dispute and
settle it for us.
33. I would be emotionally expressive in the conict situation.
34. I would ask a third party to make a decision about how to settle the
dispute between myself and the other person.
36. I would rely on a third person to negotiate a resolution to the conict.
Item
Table 3
Panethnic conict factors
.09
.09
.20
.01
.10
.09
.28
.18
.22
.03
.10
.22
.11
.20
.04
.02
.34
.53
.00
.11
.01
.02
.52
.03
.07
.06
.05
.14
.55
.14
.59
.01
.13
.53
.21
.61
.01
.07
.04
.10
.08
.16
.09
Factor 2
.50
Factor 1
.21
.09
.18
.79
.09
.79
.10
.79
.09
.05
.23
.05
.21
.20
.08
.06
.08
.06
.10
.20
.07
.03
.05
.23
.08
.24
Factor 4
.03
.01
.06
.12
.01
.07
.05
.11
.02
.11
.14
.03
.01
.08
.01
.12
.02
.01
Factor 3
.00
.00
.00
.01
.01
.59
.25
.02
.27
.02
.60
.25
.11
.07
.04
.14
.54
.09
.63
.03
.60
.17
.01
.03
.52
.05
.07
.01
.01
.00
.08
.08
.10
.03
.03
.68
.01
.09
.51
.05
.70
.05
.10
.06
.04
.11
.03
.11
.15
.06
.05
.08
.04
.00
Factor 7
.04
.02
.50
.07
.02
.64
.10
.65
.03
.06
Factor 6
.00
.05
(continued on next page)
Factor 5
37. I would generally ``grin and bear it'' when the other person did
something I did not like.
38. I would typically leave the other person alone.
40. I would ask a third person for advice in settling the dispute.
41. I would meet with the other person to see if we could work out a
resolution to our conict.
42. I would use my feelings to guide my conict behaviors.
43. I would prefer the other person to be emotionally expressive with me in
the conict situation.
44. I would generally endure actions by the other person that I did not like.
46. I would integrate my viewpoints with the other person to achieve a joint
decision about the conict.
47. I would typically go through a third party to settle our conict.
48. I would meet with the other person to bargain for a resolution to our
conict.
49. I would appeal to a person at a higher level to settle my conict with
the other person.
50. I would use my feelings to determine what I should do in the conict
situation.
51. I would work with the other person to reach a joint resolution to our
conict.
52. I would ask another person to help negotiate a disagreement with the
other person about his/her behavior.
55. I would try to tolerate our disagreement and not make waves.
56. I would be patient and hope the other person would change his/her
behavior.
58. I would use my feelings to determine whether to trust the other person.
59. I would usually bear my resentment in silence.
60. I would attempt to solve our problems by talking things over in a calm
and polite manner.
61. I would say nothing and wait for things to get better.
Item
Table 3 (continued )
.19
.11
.04
.01
.74
.08
.11
.07
.59
.04
.55
.12
.08
.61
.02
.09
.20
.17
.00
.57
.21
.51
.00
.16
.08
.16
.08
.03
.16
.62
.62
.13
.64
.08
.65
.10
.60
.14
.11
.06
.13
.11
.06
.18
.01
.77
.15
.26
.02
.03
.19
.06
.04
.08
.16
.01
.03
.15
.13
.05
.01
.01
.10
.01
.21
.04
.04
.02
.67
.04
.07
.14
.56
.10
Factor 4
.53
.14
.13
.07
Factor 3
.05
Factor 2
.58
Factor 1
.05
.05
.02
.08
.04
.14
.06
.21
.00
.08
.01
.20
.00
.25
.04
.01
.16
.07
.16
.09
Factor 5
.06
.08
.01
.05
.03
.06
.05
.08
.08
.13
.01
.03
.08
.09
.14
.05
.06
.04
.07
.05
Factor 6
.04
.61
.11
.04
.05
.00
.07
.10
.74
.03
.01
.05
.11
.01
.75
.59
.08
.03
.15
.04
Factor 7
64
S. Ting-Toomey et al. / International Journal of Intercultural Relations 24 (2000) 4781
63. I would generally keep quiet and wait for things to improve.
64. When we discuss the problem I would refuse to cooperate.
65. I would listen to what my ``gut'' or ``heart'' says in the conict
situation.
66. I would try to get us to work together to settle our dierences.
67. Out of anger, I would say things to damage the other person's
reputation.
68. I would say nothing and deal with the situation by adopting a strategy
of forgive and forget.
70. I would make sure the other person realized that resolving our
dierences was important.
71. I would hope that the situation would solve itself.
72. I would say nasty things about the other person to other people.
73. I would let the other person know that I did not want him/her to ever
talk to me again.
74. I would usually let my anger be known in a conict situation.
75. I would try to negotiate upfront a solution to our conict.
76. I would allow things to cool o rather than taking any action.
78. I would tell the other person that there were problems and suggest that
we work them out.
79. I would say and do things out of anger to make the other person feel
bad.
80. While in the presence of the other person, I would act as though he/she
did not exist.
81. I would tell the other person what was bothering me and ask for his/her
opinions on the matter.
83. I would talk openly and honestly about our dierences.
Item
Table 3 (continued )
.05
.15
.09
.01
.07
.06
.05
.63
.17
.10
.61
.07
.23
.08
.04
.56
.02
.61
.20
.19
.56
.57
.02
.01
.52
.09
.53
.04
.05
.20
.14
.54
.16
.03
.17
.21
.15
.16
.08
.01
.01
.03
.08
.21
.09
.09
.24
.03
Factor 3
.18
.26
.11
Factor 2
.63
.06
.11
Factor 1
.07
.09
.65
.63
.13
.03
.03
.02
.13
.15
.08
.55
.03
.02
.23
.03
.02
.00
.12
.07
.09
.18
.06
.02
.18
.09
Factor 5
.23
.63
.65
.29
.18
.24
.63
.21
.49
.05
Factor 4
.05
.02
.11
.17
.13
.17
.08
.10
.04
.09
.11
.06
.18
.06
.15
.08
.10
.14
Factor 6
.10
.12
.05
.16
.29
.02
.01
.06
.02
.11
.03
.17
.05
.15
.13
.07
.09
.56
Factor 7
66
Conict styles
The analysis performed for conict styles was limited to eight factors. An
eight-factor solution was used because of Rahim's (1983) ve conict style
dimensions, plus the additional conict factors (from various scales and newly
written items) of neglect, third party help, and emotional expression. Seven out
of the eight met both criteria for interpretation. These seven-factor conict styles
are, henceforth, labeled as the Conict Style Dimensions (CSD) Scale (see Table
3). Reliability coecients (Cronbach's alpha) also were calculated for all
measurement scales.
The rst factor contained 17 items. All items that loaded on this factor reected
an emphasis on the avoiding conict style. Thus, the rst factor was labeled
``avoidance''. A combination of the 17 items yielded an alpha of .88 for the
panethnic sample. The alphas for the specic ethnic groups were: African
Americans .86, Asian Americans .85, European Americans .92, and Latino(a)
Americans .87. The second factor was composed of 12 items. All items that
loaded for this factor reected an emphasis on integrating. As a result, this second
factor was labeled ``integrating''. The alpha result of these 12 items was .87. The
alphas for the specic ethnic groups were: African Americans .86, Asian
Americans .88, European Americans .89, and Latino(a) Americans .84.
The third factor was comprised of seven items. All of these items reected the
preference of third party help in dealing with the conict. Consequently, this
dimension was termed ``third party''. The resulting alpha was .88. The alphas for
the specic ethnic groups were: African Americans .85, Asian Americans .89,
European Americans .90, and Latino(a) Americans .88. The fourth factor
contained seven items. All items reected the dimension of neglect (i.e., passive
aggressive anger responses) conict style. This factor was labeled ``neglect''. These
items yielded an alpha of .83. The alphas for the specic ethnic groups were:
African Americans .83, Asian Americans .79, European Americans .85, and
Latino(a) Americans .82.
The fth conict style factor consisted of ve items. All items reect the
compromising style of conict management. The items on the ``compromising''
factor yielded an alpha of .75. The alphas for the specic ethnic groups were:
African Americans .80, Asian Americans .69, European Americans .80, and
Latino(a) Americans .60. The sixth factor consisted of six items. All of these items
reected the dominating style of conict, thus this factor was labelled
``dominating''. The resulting alpha for this factor was .73. The alphas for the
specic ethnic groups were: African Americans .74., Asian Americans .79,
European Americans .76, and Latino(a) Americans .73. The seventh factor was
comprised of six items. Items reected emotional expression (plus relying on
emotions to guide conict responses) during conict situations. This factor was
labelled ``emotion''. The alpha for this factor was .75 for the panethnic sample.
The alphas for the specic ethnic groups were: African Americans .75, Asian
Americans .73, European Americans .80, and Latino(a) Americans .71. Thus,
according to the results of factor analysis, seven conict style factors emerged
across the four ethnic groups.
67
MANOVA
Research question one
The rst research question focused on the relationship between ethnic
background and ethnic/cultural identity salience. The data were analyzed using
multivariate analysis of variance. The independent variable was ethnic background
(i.e., the broad ethnic categories) and the dependent variables were ethnic and
cultural identity salience. Bartlett's test of sphericity (.47, 1 df, P = ns) indicated
that multivariate analysis of variance was not warranted. Thus univariate tests
were utilized. The univariate tests for both ethnic identity salience
(F[3,587]=36.32, P < .001) and cultural identity salience (F[3,587]=22.17,
P < .001) were signicant. Post hoc comparisons of the means using Tukey tests
(P = .05) revealed that African Americans had a higher ethnic identity than the
other ethnic groups and that European Americans had a lower ethnic identity
than the other ethnic groups. Further, post hoc comparisons revealed that African
Americans had a lower cultural identity than the other ethnic groups (see Table 4
for means and standard deviations).
Research questions 25
The other four research questions focused on the inuence of ethnic
background, ethnic/cultural identity salience on conict styles. The data were
analyzed using multivariate analysis of variance. The independent variables were
ethnic background, ethnic identity salience, and cultural identity salience. The
dependent variables were integrating, compromising, dominating, avoiding,
neglecting, emotional expression, and third party conict styles. Table 5 reports
the means and standard deviations for the main eects. Bartlett's test of sphericity
(496.31, 21 df, P < .001) indicated that multivariate analysis of variance was
warranted. The multivariate main eect for ethnic background was signicant
(Wilks' lambda=.93, F[21,1634]=1.87, P = .01). Two of the univariate tests were
signicant: avoiding (F[3,575]=4.95, P < .01) and third party (F[3,575]=4.41,
P < .01). Integrating (F[3,575]=1.11, P = ns), compromising, (F[3,575]=1.52,
P = ns), neglecting (F[3,575]=2.40, P = ns), dominating (F[3,575]=.67, P = ns),
and emotional expression (F[3,575]=.42, P = ns) were not signicant. Post hoc
Table 4
Means and standard deviations for ethnic identity and cultural identity among the ethnic groups
Ethnic group
African American
Asian American
European American
Latino(a) American
Ethnic identity
Cultural identity
SD
SD
3.99
3.67
3.29
3.66
.63
.59
.49
.61
3.16
3.57
3.56
3.50
.59
.42
.43
.50
68
Table 5
Means and standard deviations for conict styles
Main eect
Ethnic background
African American
Asian American
European American
Latino(a) American
Ethnic identity
Strong
Weak
Cultural identity
Strong
Weak
Ethnic background
African American
Asian American
European American
Latino(a) American
Ethnic identity
Strong
Weak
Cultural identity
Strong
Weak
Integrating
Compromising
Dominating
Avoiding
SD
SD
SD
SD
3.52
3.45
3.38
3.43
.68
.63
.67
.63
3.46
3.50
3.52
3.43
.74
.58
.61
.56
3.19
3.20
3.24
3.28
.73
.76
.69
.71
2.74
3.13
2.92
2.94
.62
.57
.70
.64
3.56
3.33
.67
.61
3.51
3.43
.61
.64
3.26
3.18
.75
.69
2.89
2.98
.69
.61
3.56
3.31
.66
.31
3.60
3.34
.63
.59
3.25
3.18
.74
.70
2.96
2.91
.69
.62
Neglecting
Emotional expression
Third party
SD
SD
SD
1.96
2.13
2.08
2.27
.77
.69
.75
.84
3.16
3.20
3.19
3.28
.75
.69
.70
.71
2.24
2.59
2.36
2.56
.83
.86
.83
.87
1.99
2.24
.76
.77
3.26
3.11
.73
.68
2.31
2.58
.90
.79
1.95
2.28
.73
.79
3.28
3.11
.71
.70
2.36
2.53
.85
.85
comparisons of the means with Tukey tests (P = .05) revealed that Latino(a)
Americans and Asian Americans use the avoiding and third party styles more
than African Americans. Also, Asian Americans use avoiding more than
European Americans.
The multivariate main eect for ethnic identity salience was also signicant
(Wilks' lambda=.95, F[7,569]=4.32, P < .001). Three of the univariate eects
were signicant: integrating (F[1,575]=9.92, P < .01), neglecting (F[1,575]=6.82,
P < .01), and third party (F[1,575]=14.17, P < .001). Compromising
(F[1,575]=.75, P = ns), avoiding (F[1,575]=.94, P = ns), dominating
(F[1,575]=1.28, P = ns), and emotional expression (F[1,575]=2.19, P = ns) were
not signicant. An examination of the means in Table 5 indicates that individuals
with a strong ethnic identity use integrating style more and neglecting and third
party styles less than individuals with a weak ethnic identity.
The multivariate main eect for cultural identity salience was also signicant
69
(Wilks' lambda=.90, F[7,569]=8.78, P < .001). Four of the univariate tests were
signicant:
integrating
(F[1,575]=26.79,
P < .001),
compromising
(F[1,575]=22.18, P < .001), neglecting (F[1,575]=33.46, P < .001), and emotional
expression (F[1,575]=4.72, P < .05). Avoiding, (F[1,575]=.54, P = ns),
dominating (F[1,575]=.40, P = ns), and third party (F[1,575]=3.52, P = ns) were
not signicant. An examination of the means in Table 5 indicates that individuals
with a strong cultural identity use integrating, compromising, and emotionally
expressive styles more and neglecting style less than individuals with a weak
cultural identity.
The multivariate interaction eect for ethnic background, ethnic identity
salience, and cultural identity salience (Wilks' lambda=.95, F[21,1634]=1.42,
P = ns) was not signicant. Likewise, the interaction eect for ethnic background
and ethnic identity salience (Wilks' lambda=.95, F[21,1634]=1.28, P = ns) was
not signicant. The multivariate interaction eect for ethnic identity salience and
cultural identity salience was signicant (Wilks' lambda=.96 F[7,569]=3.70,
P < .01). Three of the univariate eects were signicant: integrating
(F[1,575]=5.15, P < .05), compromising (F[1,575]=12.35, P < .001), and third
party (F[1,575]=8.58, P < .01). Avoiding (F[1,575]=1.84, P = ns), neglecting
(F[1,575]=3.23, P = ns) dominating, (F[1,575]=.04, P = ns), and emotional
expression (F[1,575]=.51, P = ns) were not signicant. Table 6 displays the means
and standard deviations for the signicant univariate interaction eects of cultural
and ethnic identity salience. T-tests and an examination of the means in Table 6
indicate that bicultural (t=6.76, df=362, P < .001), assimilated (t=5.56,
df=329, P < .001), and traditional-oriented groups (t=4.97, df=329,
P < .001) use the integrating conict style more than the marginal group.
Assimilated (t=5.67, df=329, P < .001), bicultural (t=4.91, df=362,
P < .001), and traditional-oriented groups (t=2.57, df=329, P < .05) also use
compromising conict style more than the marginal group. Additionally, t-tests
and examination of the means in Table 6 further indicate that the marginal group
uses third party more than assimilated (t = 4.43, df=329, P < .001), bicultural
(t = 4.53, df=362, P < .001), and traditional-oriented groups (t = 5.45, df=329,
P < .001). Finally, t-tests and examination of the means in Table 6 indicate that
assimilated (t=3.02, df=296, P < .01) and bicultural individuals (t=2.11,
Table 6
Means and standard deviations for integrating, compromising, and third party in the cells for the cultural identity and ethnic identity interaction eect
Acculturation type
Bicultural
Traditional-oriented
Assimilated
Marginalized
Integrating
Compromising
Third Party
SD
SD
SD
3.61
3.49
3.53
3.17
.69
.63
.61
.56
3.57
3.43
3.65
3.26
.61
.59
.66
.58
2.35
2.26
2.37
2.75
.92
.87
.77
.77
70
SD
Compromising
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
3.77
3.33
3.61
3.36
3.58
3.44
3.54
3.32
.74
.70
.59
.53
.60
.61
.62
.47
39
95
89
67
100
65
67
69
3.29
1.36
3.32
1.63
2.51
1.76
3.92
2.89
.30
2.64
1.00
1.95
.15
2.68
.35
1.74
.71
3.34
Avoiding
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
3.02
2.63
3.10
3.18
2.88
2.97
2.95
2.94
.69
.56
.64
.47
.71
.68
.70
.58
39
95
89
67
100
65
67
69
3.49
.57
1.35
1.06
.42
.55
.68
5.29
6.55
3.46
2.81
3.22
3.49
Neglecting
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
1.66
2.08
2.08
2.19
1.98
2.22
1.89
2.63
.66
.78
.72
.66
.76
.73
.67
.82
39
95
89
67
100
65
67
69
2.95
3.12
3.99
2.34
3.96
1.75
6.69
.03
.94
.87
1.18
1.56
4.35
2.37
.76
1.76
.52
1.44
.40
3.01
.94
1.29
2.35
.86
1.21
2.14
1.37
1.59
2.06
2.96
2.21
2.61
.74
.57
.54
.16
.25
.07
.94
.92
1.19
1.65
4.43
1.80
.29
2.55
3.44
2.02
.77
5.25
2.69
3.01
5.67
a
Note: 1=African American and strong cultural identity, 2=African American and weak cultural
identity, 3=Asian American and strong cultural identity, 4=Asian American and weak cultural identity, 5=European American and strong cultural identity, 6=European American and weak cultural
identity, 7=Latino(a) American and strong cultural identity, and 8=Latino(a) American and weak cultural identity; P < .05, P < .01.
71
standard deviations, and t-tests for the signicant univariate interaction eects of
cultural identity and ethnic background. For the sake of parsimony, the ndings
of the t-tests will only be summarized here. First, t-tests revealed a trend that
individuals with a strong cultural identity used compromising more than
individuals with a weak cultural identity. There were some exceptions (especially
Latino(a) Americans with a strong cultural identity), but this was a consistent
trend for the various ethnic groups. Second, t-tests revealed that African
Americans with a weak cultural identity used avoiding less than all other groups.
Further, Asian Americans with a weak cultural identity used avoiding more than
most of the other groups (except Asian and African Americans with a strong
cultural identity). Finally, Latino(a) Americans with a weak cultural identity used
neglecting more than all other groups. Additionally, African Americans with a
strong cultural identity used neglecting less than almost every other group (except
Latino(a) Americans with a strong cultural identity).
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to investigate the inuence of ethnic background,
ethnic identity salience, and cultural identity salience on conict styles among
African Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, and Latino(a)
Americans. Panethnic factor analysis yielded four dimensions of ethnic identity:
ethnic belonging, fringe, intergroup interaction, and assimilation. A second-order
factor analysis yielded two clear identity dimensions: ethnic identity salience and
cultural identity salience. In addition, panethnic factor analysis yielded seven
conict management styles: integrating, compromising, dominating, avoiding,
neglecting, emotional expression, and third party. Using the discovered factors,
the inuence of ethnic identity salience, cultural identity salience, and ethnic
background on conict styles was determined.
The major ndings of the study are: (1) African Americans have a stronger
ethnic identity and a weaker cultural identity than the other ethnic groups; (2)
European Americans have a weaker ethnic identity than the other ethnic groups;
(3) Latino(a) Americans and Asian Americans use avoiding and third party
conict styles more than African Americans, and Asian Americans use avoiding
conict style more than European Americans; (4) Individuals with a strong
cultural identity (i.e., identifying with the larger US culture) use integrating,
compromising, and emotionally expressive conict styles more and neglecting
conict styles less than individuals with a weak cultural identity; (5) Individuals
with a strong ethnic identity (i.e., identifying with their ethnic memberships) use
integrating conict style more and neglecting and third party conict styles less
than individuals with a weak ethnic identity; (6) bicultural, assimilated, and
traditional-oriented groups use integrating conict style more than the marginal
group and the marginal group uses third party help more than the other three
groups; (7) assimilated, bicultural, and traditional-oriented individuals prefer
compromising conict style more than the marginal group, and, the assimilated
72
and bicultural groups prefer compromising style more than the traditionaloriented group; (8) Asian Americans with a weak cultural identity use avoiding
conict style more than other ethnic groups regardless of cultural identity, while
African Americans with a strong cultural identity use avoiding conict style less
than other ethnic groups regardless of cultural identity; and (9) Latino(a)
Americans with a weak cultural identity use neglecting conict style more than
other ethnic groups regardless of cultural identity, while African Americans with a
strong cultural identity use neglecting conict style less than other ethnic groups
regardless of cultural identity. In this section, the ndings will be discussed in
accordance to the ve research questions.
Ethnic/cultural identity salience
The rst research question focused on the relationship between ethnic
background and ethnic/cultural identity salience. A factor analysis was conducted
to determine the relevant factors for ethnic/cultural identity. The four ethnic/
cultural identity dimensions that were found in the initial factor analysis include:
belonging, fringe, interaction, and assimilation. These dimensions consist of items
from the various scales and also items written specically for this study. All four
dimensions yielded fairly high reliability coecients across groups. The dimension
of ethnic belonging reects the degree to which members feel attached and
comfortable with their own ethnic group. This dimension is similar to Berry et
al.'s (1989) traditional-oriented type. The dimension of fringe refers to the degree
of clarity or confusion individuals have concerning their own ethnicity. This
dimension reects, to some extent, Berry et al.'s (1989) marginal-oriented type.
Many newly-written items loaded on this factor. The third dimension emerged in
the factor analysis was degree of perceived positive/negative intergroup interaction.
This dimension captures Phinney's (1992) ``other-group orientation'' concept.
Many items were also written by the authors of this study to tap dominant/
minority group contact attitudes. Finally, the dimension of assimilation reveals the
degree to which individuals identify with the overall US culture. Many of the
items that loaded on this dimension were written for the present study and adhere
closely to Berry et al.'s (1989) assimilation type.
In the second-order factor analysis, these four dimensions loaded on two
distinct factors: salience of ethnic identity and salience of cultural identity.
Belonging and fringe loaded on the rst factor and captured the essence of the
salience of ethnic identity (i.e., strong ethnic membership belonging with ethnic
identity clarity). Intergroup interaction and assimilation loaded on the second
factor and reected the essence of the salience of cultural identity (i.e., strong
cultural membership belonging with positive dominant/minority group contact
attitudes). Aspects of ethnic identity salience, according to this study include, but
are not limited to, the extent to which people feel a sense of belongingness,
involvement in ethnic activities, favorable ingroup attitudes, feel that the ethnic
group is an important reection of the self, and that there is a sense of ethnic
identity clarity. Aspects of cultural identity salience were found to include a
73
74
identify themselves in ethnic or racial terms'' (pp. 157158). Indeed, for many
European Americans, ethnic and cultural identity involves voluntary choices
rather than constraints. However, for many minority group members, ethnic and
cultural identity maintenance issues involve the continuum of voluntary
involuntary dimension and the continuum of perceived intergroup acceptancerejection dimension. One reason for this is phenotype identity (Cox, 1994) and the
resulting political and social issues of oppression, power struggles, and
discrimination (Asante & Asante, 1990). As a result, many ethnic minorities
identify strongly with their ethnic group. In a review of previous studies of ethnic
identity, Cox (1994) found that signicant numbers of Latino(a), Asian, and
African Americans identify strongly with their respective ethnic groups.
Ethnic background, ethnic/cultural identity salience on conict styles
Research Questions 25 focused on the inuence of ethnic background and
ethnic/cultural identity salience on conict styles. A factor analysis was conducted
to determine the relevant conict styles. The results of the factor analysis
indicated that conict styles can be conceptualized in terms of seven factors across
dierent ethnic groups in the larger US culture: integrating, compromising,
dominating, avoiding, neglecting, emotion, and third-party. The conict style
factors that emerged were from a mixture of scales and items created specically
for this study. All conict factors yielded acceptable reliability coecients across
the four ethnic groups. However, the scales from the original instruments are not
fully represented in the factors that emerged in this study. To illustrate, Rahim's
(1983) ROCIII consists of ve conict style scales: integrating, compromising,
dominating, avoiding, and obliging. The present study uncovered four of these ve
conict styles: integrating, compromising, dominating, and avoiding. Obliging
dropped out from the factor analysis. It can be reasoned that for acquaintance
conicts, respondents in this study did not perceive obliging conict style as an
option in managing their acquaintance disagreements. They appear to approach
acquaintance conict either directly through the use of dominating, integrating,
and compromising conict styles or exit strategies such as avoidance.
The second research question focused on the inuence of ethnic background on
conict styles. MANOVA revealed that African Americans use avoiding and third
party less than Latino(a) and Asian Americans, while European Americans use
avoiding less than Asian Americans. These ndings are consistent with previous
research on conict styles used by these groups. For example, Kochman (1981)
found that African Americans, during conict, prefer to confront individuals
directly. Hecht et al. (1993) explain that this style is considered appropriate in
African American membership group because of concerns for expressiveness and
individuality. Using a third party is one way to avoid direct confrontation with
another, and thus, would not be consistent with African American interaction
norms. In addition, European Americans also tend not to use avoiding style of
conict management because of individualism and self-face concerns (TingToomey, 1988). In contrast, Latino(a) and Asian Americans tend to be more
75
collectivistic than African and European Americans and, as a result, they prefer
avoidance style in dealing with conicts (Marin & Marin, 1991; Ting-Toomey,
1988).
The third research question explored the inuence of ethnic identity salience on
conict styles. MANOVA indicated that individuals with strong ethnic identities
use integrating more and neglecting and third party less than individuals with
weak ethnic identities. In other words, individuals with strong ethnic identities
tend to be more direct and confrontive during conict than individuals with weak
ethnic identities. Perhaps individuals with strong ethnic identities have developed a
strong sense of self in comparison to individuals with weak ethnic identities (TingToomey, 1993). With a secure sense of self, individuals become more condent
and assertive in dealing with conict issues. With an insecure sense of self,
individuals become more hesitant and unsure of how they should approach
conict. Individuals with weak ethnic identities tend to prefer a neglecting style
(i.e., venting anger in a passive aggressive way) of conict or seek third party help
in mediating the conict situation.
The fourth research question investigated the inuence of cultural identity on
conict styles. MANOVA revealed that individuals with strong cultural identities
use integrating, compromising, and emotional expression more and neglecting less
than individuals with weak cultural identities. These results provide some support
for Ting-Toomey's (1988) propositions on conict face-negotiation theory.
Individuals with strong cultural identities tend to subscribe to the conict norms
of upfront, open communication because of the predominance of individualism in
the US. In comparison, individuals with weak cultural identities tend to subscribe
less to the low-context way of conict practices. Individuals with weak cultural
identities in this study tend to prefer the neglect mode of conict more so than
individuals with strong cultural identities. This fact can be due to their identity
vulnerability nature of approaching conict situations assertively and condently.
The nal research question focused on the inuence of the interactions among
ethnic background and ethnic/cultural identity salience. MANOVA and t-tests
revealed two relevant interaction eects. First, there was an interaction eect on
conict styles for cultural identity and ethnic identity. The interaction of these two
variables creates four categories consistent with Berry et al.'s (1987) acculturation
typology: traditional-oriented (strong ethnic identity and weak cultural identity),
bicultural (strong ethnic identity and strong cultural identity), assimilated (weak
ethnic identity and strong cultural identity), and marginalized (weak ethnic
identity and weak cultural identity). Two ndings were discovered: (1) bicultural,
assimilated, and traditional-oriented groups use integrating conict style more
than the marginal group and the marginal group uses third party help more than
the other three groups; (2) assimilated, bicultural, and traditional-oriented
individuals prefer compromising conict style more than the marginal group, and,
the assimilated and bicultural groups prefer compromising style more than the
traditional-oriented group.
It appears that individuals with strong bicultural, assimilated, and ethnicoriented identities tend to work harder in incorporating self-interest and other-
76
77
groups also prefer the compromising conict style more than the marginal group.
Lastly, the assimilated and bicultural groups prefer the compromising style more
than the traditional-oriented group.
One interesting and surprising nding was that a clear relationship was not
established for the dominating conict style. This may be because ethnic identity
and cultural identity do not directly inuence dominating conict mode. Instead,
personality may be a more important factor. Specically, self-construal, or one's
conception of oneself as either independent or interdependent (Markus &
Kitayama, 1991) may be more important for dominating style. Oetzel (1998)
found that independent self-construal is positively associated with the dominating
conict style. Thus, future research should investigate the role of self-construal as
an important factor for conict styles among dierent ethnic groups.
In addition, there are several conceptual and methodological limitations in this
study. First, the concept of ethnic/cultural identity salience is such a complex
phenomenon that it is dicult to try and capture the essence of it by way of a few
dimensions. For example, ethnic identity salience has probably both stable and
situational characteristics. While this study attempts to examine ethnic/cultural
identity salience as manifested via stable attitudes and practices, ethnic identity
salience may also take on situational characteristics. For example, for some
individuals, ethnic identity only becomes salient when they are forced to confront
interpersonal issues of ``being dierent'' like stereotypes, prejudice, and
discrimination. While the present study focuses on situation-general tendencies of
ethnic identity salience, perhaps a situation-specic probe would provide more
insight into such issues as salience of ethnic/cultural identity. Second, in terms of
conict styles, seven conict styles have been uncovered in this study. Like the
examination of ethnic identity salience, conict styles have been dened as
situational-general tendencies of conict responses. While this study obtained
some meaningful results concerning the eect of ethnic/cultural identity salience
on the seven conict styles, there may be other conict factors that are not tapped
by this study. Future research needs to work on developing etic-derived conict
styles and delineate specic high-context modes (e.g., via subtle nonverbal and
relational-oriented strategies) of conict management. Stronger attention should
also be paid to link the relationship among facework identity, conict style,
conict topic salience, and conict competence issues. Third, this study examines
the inuence of ethnic/cultural identity salience on conict styles in four ethnic
groups. Within each group, however, there exists ethnic variations (such as
between Chinese American and Vietnamese American) within each broad category
of ``Asian Americans'', ``Latino(a) Americans'', ``African Americans'', or
``European Americans''. While panethnic factor analysis yielded common
dimensions of ethnicity that enable us to maintain conceptual consistency in
interpreting the comparative ndings, the study does not capture the ethnicspecic elements of ethnic/cultural identity.
Although conceptual limitations are important to consider, there are also some
methodological limitations to the present study. First, this study's ndings are
based more on the responses of female respondents than male respondents. For
78
every male respondent in this study, we have two female respondents. Thus, the
results may not represent ethnic/cultural identity salience and conict style issues
in the larger population. Second, no specic conict scenarios were provided for
the respondents. The recall method of conict styles may not tap the actual
strategies of conict in real-life situations. Finally, participants were asked to
think of acquaintances when completing the conict portion of the questionnaire.
However, it is dicult to assess who exactly the participants had in mind when
completing the survey.
Despite these limitations, this study makes several contributions. First, this
study has identied two clear dimensions of ethnicity in a pluralistic society,
namely, ethnic identity salience and cultural identity salience, across four ethnic
groups. In addition, conict styles such as neglect, third party, and emotional
expression in conjunction with integrating, compromising, dominating, and
avoiding have been uncovered as important conict style factors across four
ethnic groups. Third, ethnic/cultural identity variations of conict management
styles have been identied. Finally, this study lends additional support to TingToomey's (1988) theory of conict face-negotiation theory in which individuals
who subscribe to the larger US culture (i.e., with emphasis on individualistic
values) are posited to use upfront, confrontive modes of conict. Individuals who
subscribe to collectivistic ethnic memberships tend to prefer the use of indirect,
high-context modes (e.g., avoidance and third party) of conict.
This study serves as an exploratory step in uncovering ethnic/cultural identity
dimensions and conict management style factors across four ethnic groups in the
US. The results of this study point to some consistent patterns of conict styles in
relation to strong/weak ethnic identity and strong/weak cultural identity.
Methodologically, this study contributes two new scales that maybe useful to
measure ethnic and cultural identity issues, and conict management styles across
four ethnic groups within the US. Two panethnic scales, the Ethnic/Cultural
Identity Dimensions (EID) Scale and the Conict Style Dimensions (CSD) Scale
appeared to have reasonably high reliability coecients. They can be further
tested and rened by researchers interested in other identity-related or conictrelated phenomenon. This study paves the groundwork for future research in the
area of interethnic conict negotiation competence.
References
Alba, R. (1990). Ethnic identity: transformation of White America. New Haven, CT: Yale University
Press.
Asante, M., & Asante, K. (1990). African culture: the rhythms of unity. Trenton, NJ: African World
Press.
Bellah, R., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W., Swidler, A., & Tipton, S. (1985). Habits of the heart: individualism
and commitment in American life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Bennett, J. (1993). Cultural marginality: identity issues in intercultural training. In R. M. Paige (Ed.),
Education for the intercultural experience. Yarmouth, Maine: Intercultural Press.
79
Berry, J. W., Kim, U., & Boski, P. (1987). Psychological acculturation of immigrants. In Y. Y. Kim &
W. Gudykunst (Eds.), Cross-cultural adaptation: current approaches. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Berry, J., Kim, U., Power, S., Young, M., & Bujaki, M. (1989). Acculturation attitudes in plural societies. Applied Psychology, 38, 185206.
Boadu, S. O. (1990). African oral artistry and the new social order. In M. Asante & K. Asante (Eds.),
African culture: the rhythms of unity. Trenton, NJ: African World Press.
Bond, M. (1991). Beyond the Chinese face. Hong Kong: Oxford University Press.
Booth-Buttereld, M., & Booth-Buttereld, S. (1990). Conceptualization aect as information in communication production. Human Communication Research, 16, 451476.
Brewer, M. (1991). The social self: on being same and dierent at the same time. Personality and Social
Psychology Bulletin, 17, 475482.
Brewer, M. (1996). When contact is not enough: social identity and intergroup cooperation.
International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 20, 291303.
Cahn, D. (1992). Conict in intimate relationships. New York: The Guilford Press.
Cahn, D. (Ed.) (1994). Intimate conict in personal relationships. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Casas, J. M., & Pytluk, S. (1995). Hispanic identity development: Implications for research and practice. In J. Ponterotto, J. Casas, L. Suzuki & C. Alexander (Eds.), Handbook of multicultural counseling. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Chung, L. C., & Ting-Toomey, S. (1994). Ethnic identity and relational expectations among Asian
Americans. Paper presented at the International Communication Association Convention, Sydney,
Australia.
Collier, M. J. (1991). Conict competence within African, Mexican, and Anglo American friendships.
In S. Ting-Toomey & F. Korzenny (Eds.), Cross-cultural interpersonal communication. Newbury
Park, CA: Sage.
Cox, T. (1994). Cultural diversity in organizations: theory, research, and practice. San Francisco: BerrettKoehler.
Davis, M. (1990). Mexican voices/American dream. New York: Henry Holt & Company.
De Vos, G., & Suarez-Orozco, M. (1990). Status inequality: the self in culture. Newbury Park, CA:
Sage.
Espiritu, Y. (1992). Asian American panethnicity. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
Garcia, W. R. (1996). Respeto: a Mexican base for interpersonal relationships. In W. Gudykunst, S.
Ting-Toomey & T. Nishida (Eds.), Communication in personal relationships across cultures.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Gudykunst, W., & Ting-Toomey, S. (1988). Culture and interpersonal communication. Newbury Park,
CA: Sage.
Healey, J., & Bell, R. (1990). Assessing alternative responses to conicts in friendship. In D. Cahn
(Ed.), Intimates in conict: a communication perspective. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Hecht, M., Collier, M. J., & Ribeau, S. (1993). African American communication: ethnic identity and cultural interpretation. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Hecht, M., Sedano, M., & Ribeau, S. (1993). Understanding culture, communication, and research: applications to Chicanos and Mexican Americans. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 17,
157165.
Helms, J., & Parham, T. A. (1993). Black racial identity attitude scale (Form RIAS-B). In J. Helms
(Ed.), Black and white racial identity: theory, research, and practice. New York: Greenwood Press.
Hofstede, G. (1991). Cultures and organizations: software of the mind. London: McGraw-Hill.
Kagan, S., Knight, G. P., & Martinez-Romero, S. (1982). Culture and the development of conict resolution style. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 13, 4358.
Keefe, S. E. (1992). Ethnic identity: the domain of perceptions and attachment to ethnic groups and
cultures. Human Organization, 51, 3541.
Kochman, T. (1981). Black and white styles in conict. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Kochman, T. (1986). Black verbal dueling strategies in interethnic communication. In Y. Y. Kim (Ed.),
Interethnic communication: current research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Leung, K., Au, Y-F., Fernandez-Dols, J. M., & Iwawaki, S. (1992). Preference for methods of conict
processing in two collectivistic cultures. International Journal of Psychology, 27, 195209.
80
Locke, D. (1992). Increasing multicultural understanding: a comprehensive model. Newbury Park, CA:
Sage.
Luhtanen, R., & Crocker, J. (1992). A collective self-esteem scale: self-evaluation of one's social identity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18, 302318.
Marin, G., & Marin, B. (1991). Research with Hispanic populations. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Markus, H., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 2, 224253.
Mirande, A., & Tanno, D. V. (1993). Labels, researcher perspective, and contextual validation: a commentary. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 17, 149155.
Morrill, C., & Thomas, C. K. (1992). Organizational conict management as disputing process: the problem of social escalation. Human Communication Research, 18, 400428.
Oetzel, J. G. (1998). The eects of self-construals and ethnicity on self-reported conict styles.
Communication Reports, 11, 133144.
Padilla, A. (1981). Pluralistic counseling and psychotherapy for Hispanic Americans. In A. Marsella &
P. Pedersen (Eds.), Cross-cultural counseling and psychotherapy. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Phinney, J. (1989). Stages of ethnic identity development in minority group adolescents. Journal of
Adolescence, 9, 3449.
Phinney, J. (1990). Ethnic identity in adolescence and adulthood: a review. Psychological Bulletin, 108,
499514.
Phinney, J. (1991). Ethnic identity and self-esteem: a review and integration. Hispanic Journal of
Behavioral Sciences, 13, 193208.
Phinney, J. S. (1992). The multigroup ethnic identity measure: a new scale for use with diverse groups.
Journal of Adolescent Research, 7, 156176.
Phinney, J., & Chavira, V. (1995). Parental ethnic socialization and adolescent coping with problems related to ethnicity. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 5, 3154.
Rahim, M. A. (1983). A measure of styles of handling interpersonal conict. Academy of Management
Journal, 26, 368376.
Rahim, M. A. (1992). Managing conict in organizations (2nd ed.). Westport, CT: Praeger.
Roosen, J. (1989). Creating ethnicity. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Schwartz, S., & Bilsky, W. (1990). Toward a theory of the universal content and structure of values.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 878891.
Sodowsky, G., Kwan, K-L., & Pannu, R. (1995). Ethnic identity of Asians in the United States. In J.
Ponterotto, J. Casas, L. Suzuki & C. Alexander (Eds.), Handbook of multicultural counseling.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Sternberg, R. J., & Soriano, L. J. (1984). Styles of conict resolution. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 47, 115126.
Sternberg, R. J., & Dobson, D. M. (1987). Resolving interpersonal conicts: an analysis of stylistic consistency. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 794812.
Tajfel, H. (Ed.) (1978). Dierentiation between social groups. London: Academic Press.
Tajfel, H., & Turner, J. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conict. In W. Austin & S. Worchel
(Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations. Monterey, CA: Brooks/Cole.
Thornton, M. (1992). The quiet immigration: foreign spouses of US citizens, 19451985. In M. Root
(Ed.), Racially-mixed people in America. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Ting-Toomey, S. (1985). Toward a theory of conict and culture. In W. Gudykunst, L. Stewart & S.
Ting-Toomey (Eds.), Communication, culture, and organizational processes. Beverly Hills, CA:
Sage.
Ting-Toomey, S. (1986). Conict communication styles in Black and White subjective cultures. In Y.
Y. Kim (Ed.), Interethnic communication: current research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Ting-Toomey, S. (1988). Intercultural conict styles: a face-negotiation theory. In Y. Kim & W.
Gudykunst (Eds.), Theories in intercultural communication. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Ting-Toomey, S. (1993). Communicative resourcefulness: an identity negotiation perspective. In R.
Wiseman & J. Koester (Eds.), Intercultural communication competence. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
Ting-Toomey, S. (1994a). Managing intercultural conicts eectively. In L. Samovar & R. Porter
(Eds.), Intercultural communication: a reader (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
81