A vital step in the development of an equal partnership for minorities in the academic, social, and economic life of the United States involves moving away from assumptions of the linear model of cultural acquisition. In this article we review the literature on the psychological impact of being bicultural. Assimilation, acculturation, alternation, multicultural, and fusion models that have been used to describe the psychological processes, social experiences, and individual challenges and obstacles of being bicultural are reviewed and summarized for their contributions and implications for investigations of the psychological impact of biculturalism. Emphasis is given to the alternation model, which posits that an individual is able to gain competence within 2 cultures without losing his or her cultural identity or having to choose one culture over the other. Finally, a hypothetical model outlining the dimensions of bicultural competence is presented.

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This study examines resilience among a sample of American Indian adolescents living on or near reservations in the upper Midwest. Data are from a baseline survey of 212 youth (115 boys and 97 girls) who were enrolled in the fifth through eighth grades. Based upon the definition of resilience, latent class analyses were conducted to identify youth who displayed pro‐social outcomes (60.5%) as opposed to problem behavior outcomes. A measure of family adversity was also developed that indicated only 38.4% of the youth lived in low‐adversity households. Defining resilience in the context of positive outcomes in the face of adversity, logistic regression was used to examine the predictors of pro‐social outcomes among youth who lived in moderate‐ to high‐adversity households. The analyses identified key risk and protective factors. A primary risk factor appeared to be perceived discrimination. Protective factors were from multiple contexts: family, community, and culture. Having a warm and supportive mother, perceiving community support, and exhibiting higher levels of enculturation were each associated with increased likelihood of pro‐social outcomes. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

This article presents the development and preliminary validation of the Cross-Cultural Counseling Inventory (CCCI), a measure based on the American Psychological Association Division 17 Educa-) tion and Training Committee's tridimensional characteristics of cross-cultural counseling competence-beliefs/attitudes, knowledge, and skills (Sue et al, 1982). Three studies investigated the instrument's content validity, interrater reliability, and factor structure. The first study established substantial agreement among judges when classifying items according to the tridimensional characteristics. In the second study, judges reached adequate levels of interrater reliability after viewing cross-cultural counseling vignettes. The third study found a 3-factor orthogonal solution of crosscultural counseling skill, sociopolitical awareness, and cultural sensitivity. The authors discuss the utility of the instrument in counseling supervision and research.

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