A study of the impact of language of instruction in schools on the divergent thinking, self-esteem, and locus of control of expatriate and Hong Kong native Chinese adolescents is reported and some of the cognitive and affective costs of the immersion method of bilingual education are examined. Hong Kong children in most schools must change abruptly from Cantonese to English instruction in secondary school. In this study, four groups of students aged 13-15 were identified based on school type and language of response to the study instrument: (1) an expatriate school, English response; (2) an Anglo-Chinese school, responses in language of preference; (3) a Chinese middle school, Chinese response; and (4) an Anglo-Chinese school, forced English responses. Standard measures of divergent thinking, self-esteem, and locus of control were administered to each group and compared. A significant negative effect of the shift of language of instruction on divergent thinking of Chinese students required to respond in English was found. Expatriate adolescents long instructed in English were found to be significantly higher in self-esteem, internal locus of control, and willingness to accept personal responsibility for negative outcomes than the three groups of Hong Kong Chinese. It is suggested that this immersion method of bilingual education may contribute to a decrease in creative contributions in adulthood even when the ability to make such contributions exists. Serious reconsideration of the use of immersion in such circumstances is recommended. (MSE)