THE SUINN-LEW ASIAN SELF-IDENTITY ACCULTURATION SCALE: TEST WITH A NON-STUDENT, ASIAN-AMERICAN SAMPLE

Ethnic diversity is a major trend in the United States with Asian Americans constituting a rapidly growing percentage of the population. Consequently, acculturation among Asian-Americans is an important issue since ethnic diversity both offers cultural richness and contributes to challenges for educational systems, public health services, and entities concerned with consumer practices. The Suinn-Lew Asian Self-Identity Acculturation (SL-ASIA) Scale was tested with a non-student, random sample (N = 124) comprised of Chinese- and Filipino-Americans 18 years old and older who lived in San Francisco. Resulting data confirmed results of an initial study of the SL-ASIA; the test scores resulted in acceptable reliability measures and the instrument contains items which are promising for accurate measurement of acculturation level among Asian-American populations.