Korean and other Asian adoptees are increasingly becoming a part of the racial landscape in the United States, although their presence is omitted or minimally addressed in Asian diasporic studies. In 1999, after 45 years of "feeling shame and a sense of guilt" (Lee, 1999, para. 3) First Lady Hee-Ho Lee marked the South Korean government's official recognition of adoptees as overseas Koreans. As involuntary immigrants, this population has both shared and unique experiences with other Korean immigrants. Current literature on Asian American acculturation, assimilation, and identity does not capture the experiences of Asian adoptees (McDonald and Balgopal, 1998; Min and Kim, 2000; Oyserman and Sakamoto, 1997; Phinney et al., 2000; Tse, 1999). This article presents quantitative research that considered the constructs of ethnic and racial identity for Korean adoptees, their relationship to each other, and to the process of acculturation. This study of adoptees (N = 69), ranging in age from early-adolescence to young adulthood, explored the relationships between racial identity, ethnic identity, and acculturation in transracial Korean adoptees. The research was exploratory in nature and entailed a quantitative design comprised of three objective instruments measuring racial identity, ethnic identity, and acculturation. Findings indicated that the group was characterized as embracing both their Korean heritage and white middle-class upbringing with a somewhat greater need for assimilation or inclusion into the Korean community than differentiation from it. While adoptees are highly acculturated into the mainstream, they seem to journey, as do other immigrants, through a process of defining what ethnicity and race means to them. © 2003 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

intercountry adoption Ethnicity race Korean adoption Racial identity Transracial adoption Ethnic identity

racial identity World Acculturation ethnicity Western Hemisphere United States North America immigrant population