E-ISSN : 2733-4538
Korean-American adolescents of today are different from adolescents of past generations and from adolescents in their motherland. This is not due to mutuation in their hereditary endowment but to cultural factors which did not exist in past generations in Korea and America. From the moment the Korean-American adolescent steps on the doorstep of first grade until he graduates from high school, college, or graduate school, he is exposed to taching which lauds the advantages of a democracy and stresses the evils of autocracy. He is not only permitted to think independently and to express these thoughts freely, but is encourged to do so. To parents of adolescents who were brought up to "respect their elders," this comes as a shock and after causes a real trauma. From the above outline it should be apparent that the patterns of development on their personalities and ego-identities can be grouped into three categories traditionalist(parent conformity), anti-traditional and American culture-oriented adolescents who are betwixt and between reference groups, much like a "marginal man," and Korean(or Asian) American who has a feeling of conficence that he can achieve success within his capacities but he must retain a sense of individuality and ego-identity.