This study examined the psychosocial adaptive process of adolescents of Korean descent in the United States. The locally identified Korean ethnicity pattern of “flee and return” generally corresponded to the ethnicity pattern of European immigrants, which was formulated during the early 20th century. According to the European experience, the second immigrant generation were eager to evade their ethnic background and cultural heritage, while the third generation cherished it. These generational behaviors were conceptualized by Hansen as “what the son wishes to forget, the grandson wishes to remember,” or as “third generation return.” In contrast, Korean immigrants showed an accelerated return within the second generation. Beside the chronological difference between the early and late twentieth century, the different social environments which the two ethnic groups encountered in the U.S. were interpreted as being attributable to this discrepancy.