Many American parents who have adopted Chinese children are concerned that their children
will incorporate derogatory beliefs from the dominant culture into their developing ethnic minority
identities, and consequently come to view themselves as inferior to the white majority. One
way to test whether American culture is causing adoptees to incorporate derogatory beliefs into
their identities is to compare them with Chinese children for whom being Chinese puts them in
the ethnic majority. The current study used a photo preference task to compare the racial and
ethnic attitudes of 84 adopted Chinese girls in America, ages 8-11, with the attitudes of 73 of
their age and gender peers in China. The results indicate that Chinese adoptees in America are
just as comfortable in their ethnic minority identities as children in China are in their ethnic majority
identities. In addition, the adoptees are more comfortable with members of other ethnic
minority groups. The only point of concern came from within-group analyses indicating that the
frequency of Chinese preferences declined as a function of child age. A more critical test of the
idea that Chinese adoptees in America will incorporate derogatory beliefs into their ethnic minority
identities will come in adolescence, when peer influence and self-identity are paramount.