An individual's feeling of belonging to a particular ethnic group.

The adjective ethnic is derived from the Greek noun ethnos, which means race, people, nation, and tribe. Although the modern term has a narrower connotation, denoting primarily people, vestiges of the older, more inclusive meaning still remain, particularly in types of discourse where the concepts of race and nationality are used interchangeably. Matters get even more complicated when the concept of identity is introduced, because, strictly speaking, a person's identity is a sum of essential attributes, and ethnicity, as researchers have asserted, is not necessarily an essential attribute of personal identity.

Students of children's ethnic identity have to work in the context of the child's developing, evolving self. Because of this fact, insights provided by studies of adult feelings of ethnic identity are not very helpful. As children mature, their perception of ethnicity undergoes profound transformation...