MEASUREMENT AND CULTURALLY COMPETENT RESEARCH ISSUES

MEASUREMENT AND CULTURALLY
COMPETENT RESEARCH ISSUES
Culturally competent and responsive measures
with validity research studies must be conducted on
minority and limited-English-speaking populations.
Important explanatory research variables include life-
long impact of discrimination and socioeconomic sta-
tus, culture, immigration, and acculturation. We need
to move beyond the science of ethnic minorities that
is based on the experiences of college students and
English-speaking research populations to ensure
the validity of our scientific findings and resulting
interventions.
—Barbara W. K. Yee
FURTHER READING
Anderson, N. B., Bulatao, R. A., & Cohen, B. (Eds.). (2004).
Critical perspectives on racial and ethnic differences in
health in late life.  Washington, DC: National Research
Council, the National Academies Press.
Skinner, J. H., Teresi, J. A., Holmes, D., Stahl, S. M., &
Stewart, A. L. (2002). Multicultural measurement in older
populations. New York: Springer.
Whitfield, K. E. (2004). Closing the gap: Improving the health
of minority elders in the new millennium. Washington, DC:
The Gerontological Society of America.
ETHNIC MINORITY YOUTH
DEFINING ETHNIC MINORITY YOUTH
The term  ethnic minority youth is used to describe
children or adolescents who are members of a
U.S. racial or ethnic minority group.  Childhood is
defined as the time between birth and puberty when
rapid physical and cognitive developments occur.
Adolescence is the period of time between childhood
and adulthood, typically around ages 11 to 19, char-
acterized by the transition to physical, sexual, and
psychological maturity, with an emphasis on the
development of independence from family and a
reliance on peers. Youth encompasses both terms and
indicates a variety of developmental issues that differ
from those of adults.
Ethnicity refers to a collective cultural heritage
shared by a group of people who have a common
ancestry. In the United States, the term ethnic minor-
ity typically refers to four major groups: African
Americans, Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and
Native Americans. However, these classifications are
also based on racial categories historically used to
stratify people based on physical differences such as
skin color, facial structure, and hair texture. Although
race is often discussed as a biological category and
ethnicity as a cultural one, both can be considered
social constructions and are labels used to classify the
roles and expectations of each group