Negotiating Identities and Re-acculturation of Second-Generation Korean Americans: The Role of Ethnic Media and Peer Group Dynamics

This study explores the relationship between the identity building process of second-generation Korean Americans, peer group dynamics and the mass media. Second generations are different from their parents in the sense that they have several stages of development in their identities as Americans, Korean Americans, and Asian Americans. In-depth interviews with Korean-American teenagers living in the Boston area revealed that not until later in their teens when they meet with Koreans who come directly from Korea, do they think of their dual identities. But once they encounter Koreans, they feel that they are different from their peer Americans but even more so from Koreans. Identity formation at this stage goes through a complicated process that 1 termed "re-acculturation" and, at this stage, the Korean-American peer group serves as a social support mechanism, whereas the Korean media helps them to bond with their peers and family.