Journal Article — Socialization of Transracially Adopted Korean Americans: A Self Analysis — by Lee Kang Woon

At the beginning of this paper, I posed the question how has adoption affected my socialization into American society. I can now say that it has affected my socialization in many ways. To say that it hasn’t affected my socialization would be a failure of critical self analysis. The main aspect of my socialization that adoption has affected has been in my identity formation and sense of self. It has been and continues to be a confusing and emotional process. Despite all the changes, I still feel like I’m “white” on the inside and “yellow” on the outside, a Twinkie, to use the term common among Asians. Socialization is a life-long process, and I doubt if I will ever completely come to terms and accept who I am. I can only deal with what I have.