ABSTRACT
Social scientists have commented on the social construction of youth culture and identity. Once in the host country, different forms of social structures influence how immigrant youth form their identities. The individual stories of the second generation immigrant youth provide us with a lens through which to observe the imagination and the values behind the identities that the youth create to express their personalities. The cultural identities of youth are shaped by the community at large. As cultural producers, the identities that youth develop and the roles they play in cultural development have become an important aspect of social reality. The first generation immigrant parents have successfully replicated and preserved the Ghanaian and African cultural values that they brought with them to the United States. The social construction of identity among the second generation Ghanaian immigrant youth is complicated by the intersections of race, ethnicity, and class. The immigrant children will continue to face questions about how they express identity.
