MIDI - Asian People

Asian Identity Development Scale

This scale is a modified version of Helms and Cross' Black Racial Identity Attitudes Scale* (BRIAS). It is a personal assessment tool developed to assist you in the process of identifying which stage you are at in the Cross model of Minority Identity Development (MID). The inventory consists of 44 statements. Some of these statements communicate concrete action, some are descriptive terms, and others are statements of personal values and beliefs.

Directions

As you read each statement, decide to what degree that statement is characteristic or descriptive of you. Use the following scale to make your assessment:

5 - Highly Characteristic of Me
4 - Very Characteristic of Me
3 - Frequently Characteristic of Me
2 - Somewhat Characteristic of Me
1 - Not at all Characteristic of Me

Select the appropriate numerical response for each item. Record the response in the blank space provided. Reflect on each statement, but do not spend too much time on any one item. In general, your immediate response is the best one. Please give a response for each item.

1.		When I am with Asian people, I pretend to enjoy the things they enjoy.
2.		Asian people who have any White people's blood should feel ashamed of it.
3.		I believe that everything Asian is good, and consequently, I limit myself to Asian activities.
4.		The people I respect most are White.
5.		I believe that White people are intellectually superior to Asians.
6.		I feel excitement and joy in Asian surroundings.
7.		I feel an overwhelming attachment to Asian people.
8.		I feel that Asian people do not have as much to be proud of as White people do.
9.		I believe that a Asian person can be close friends with a White person.
10.		I constantly involve myself in Asian political and social activities (greek letter organizations, clubs, student government, parties).
11.		I feel very uncomfortable around Asian people.
12.		I feel anxious when White people compare me to other members of my race.
13.		I believe that certain aspects of the Asian experience apply to ma and others do not.
14.		I involve myself in causes that will help all oppressed people.
15.		Most Asian people I know are failures.
16.		I believe that because I am Asian, I have many strengths.
17.		I feel good about being Asian, but do not limit myself to Asian activities.
18.		When a stranger who is Asian does something embarrassing in public, I get embarrassed.
19.		Being Asian just feels natural to me.
20.		I believe that the world should be interpreted from a Asian perspective.
21.		I find myself reading a lot of Asian literature and thinking about being Asian.
22.		I have a positive attitude about myself because I am Asian.
23.		I can't feel comfortable with either Asian people or White people
24.		I believe that large numbers of Asians are untrustworthy.
25.		People, regardless of their race, have strengths and limitations.
26.		I believe that Asian people should learn to think and experience life in ways which are similar to White people.
27.		The most important thing about me is that I am Asian.
28.		Other Asian people have trouble accepting me because my life experiences have been so different from their experiences.
29.		I speak my mind regardless of the consequences (e.g., being kicked out of school, being imprisoned, being exposed to danger).
30.		I feel guilty and/or anxious about some of the things I believe about Asian people.
31.		I have changed my style of life to fit my beliefs about Asian people.
32.		In today's society, if Asian people don't achieve, they have only themselves to blame.
33.		I believe that being Asian is a positive experience.
34.		Sometimes, I wish I belonged to the White race.
35.		I know through experience what being Asian in America means.
36.		I believe that to be Asian is not necessarily good.
37.		I frequently confront the system and "the man".
38.		I feel unable to involve myself in White experiences and am increasing my involvement in Asian experiences.
39.		I believe that White people should feel guilty about the way they have treated Asians in the past.
40.		I believe that White people look and express themselves better than Asians.
41.		White people can't be trusted.
42.		I am determined to find my Asian identity.
43.		I often find myself referring to White people as "gwai-lo", crackers, racists, etc..
44.		A person's race has little to do with whether or not he or she is a good person.

Scoring the Inventory

Your responses have been totaled and transferred into the table below. The question numbers are listed in parenthesis below the Identity Development Stage.

Identity Development Stage (question #'s)	Description of The Stage	Score
Pre-Encounter (4, 5, 8, 11, 12, 15, 18, 24, 26, 34, 40)	Identifies with White culture, rejects or denies membership in Asian culture. Atkinson's version is called "Conformity".
Encounter (1, 13, 21, 23, 25, 28, 30, 32, 36, 38, 42)	Rejects previous identification with White culture, seeks identification with Asian culture. Atkinson's version is called "Dissonance".
Immersion/Emersion (2, 3, 10, 20, 27, 29, 31, 37, 39, 41, 43)	Completely identifies with Asian culture and denigrates White culture. Atkinson's version is called "Resistance".
Integration/Commitment (6, 7, 9, 14, 16, 17, 19, 22, 33, 35, 44)	Internalizes Asian culture, transcends racism, fights general cultural oppression. Atkinson's version is called "Synergetic Articulation and Awareness".

Each of the four stages we discussed in class is listed in this table. Based on the information that you provided about yourself in the inventory, the total scores recorded are an indicator of which stage you might be in. A high score (between 45 and 55) in one or more of the four stages means that you have described yourself as having characteristics highly consistent with that stage. These scores, however, are only intended to help you think about your own minority identity development and help you write about it for this class' mini-project. As you write your two-page response paper, please feel free to challenge, to disagree with, or to affirm the results of the inventory as appropriate.

* Helms, J.E. and Parham, T.A. (1990). Black racial identity attitude scale (Form RIAS-B). In J.E. Helms (Ed.), Black and White Racial Identity (pp. 245-247). New York: Greenwood.