No human being is free from culture. We are the product of the many different cultures that surround us. Our values, our worldview and our experiences are structured by society and culture that influence our lives every day. It is therefore important to be a multicultural person by first forming a positive cultural identity. Manning and Baruth (2009, p.24) define culture as “people's values, languages, religions, ideals, artistic expressions, patterns of social and interpersonal relationships, and ways of perceiving, behaving, and thinking”. However, in this article, cultural identity also refers to race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, social class, and everything else that defines the self. Therefore to have a positive cultural identity (PCI), it is necessary to be able to identify and integrate those identities that determine a healthy and well-constructed self-perception and a sense of well-being. PCI would also be rooted in a person's self-concept as culture influences how a person thinks, understands, and perceives themselves. "I'm a psychology student, I'm my mother's daughter and I'm gay." The phrase used to describe myself illustrates how culture shapes the structure of the self-concept with the use of more social self-descriptions that indicate an interdependent self, typical in collectivistic cultures (Franzoi, 2009). In addition to shaping the self-concept, it is important to form a positive cultural identity because PCI regulates our beliefs about how personal development should proceed (Greenfield, 1994; as cited in Franzoi, 2009). By having PCI, one is able to determine how to act in a society that emphasizes individualism or collectivism. For example, Malay culture is one of the high-context societies in which family and inter...... middle of paper ......tice, 2(3), 1-12. Retrieved from: http://www.gjcpp.org/Irving, M. A. & Hudley, C. (2008). Oppositional identity and academic achievement among African American males. In J. Ogbu (ed.), Minority Status, Oppositional Culture, and Schooling, pp. 374-394. New York: Routledge.Manning, L.M. & Barruth, L.G. (2009). Multicultural education of children and adolescents (5th edition). Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Nigergall, A. J. (2010). Promoting positive identity among children in the school curriculum. United States: University of Kansas, Santrock, J.W. (2010). Adolescence, thirteenth edition. NY: McGraw Hill.Schultz, D. P. & Schultz, S. E. (2009). Personality Theories, Ninth Edition. United States: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.Tong, V.M., Huang, C.W., & Mclyntyre, T. (2006). Promoting a positive intercultural identity: Reaching immigrant students. Reclaiming children and young people, 14(4), 203-208.