Journal article
Precollege Exposure to Racial/Ethnic Difference and First-Year College Students' Racial Attitudes
Teachers College record (1970), Vol.116(10), pp.1-20
10/01/2014
DOI: 10.1177/016146811411601003
Abstract
Background/Context: Despite burgeoning racial and ethnic heterogeneity within the United States, many students grow up in racially homogeneous schools and neighborhoods. This lack of interracial interaction appears to play a substantial role in shaping students' racial attitudes and world views upon entering college.
Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: The aim of the study was to examine the relationships among multiple forms of precollege exposure to racial/ethnic diversity and racial attitudes (e.g., perceptions of workplace discrimination) upon entering college.
Research Design: A quantitative survey examined attitudes, precollege environments, and other indicators among 3,924 entering first-year college students (with approximately equal numbers of Asian Americans, Blacks, Hispanics, and Whites) at 28 U.S. colleges and universities. Structural equation modeling analyses were conducted on the full sample as well as several racial/ethnic groups separately.
Conclusions/Recommendations: Findings indicated that exposure to racial/ethnic difference in students' precollege neighborhoods and schools predict high school interracial friendships, which in turn predict their complex racial attitudes. The multigroup analyses further demonstrate that the relationships between interracial friendships and multiple racial attitudes are nonsignificant among White students, but significant for all other groups. These findings have implications for the promotion of meaningful curricular and cocurricular diversity interventions both before and during college.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Precollege Exposure to Racial/Ethnic Difference and First-Year College Students' Racial Attitudes
- Creators
- Nicholas A. Bowman - Bowling Green State UniversityDafina-Lazarus Stewart - Bowling Green State University
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Teachers College record (1970), Vol.116(10), pp.1-20
- Publisher
- Teachers Coll Of Columbia Univ
- DOI
- 10.1177/016146811411601003
- ISSN
- 0161-4681
- eISSN
- 1467-9620
- Number of pages
- 20
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 10/01/2014
- Academic Unit
- Educational Policy and Leadership Studies; Public Policy Center (Archive); Center for Social Science Innovation
- Record Identifier
- 9984283571702771
Metrics
11 Record Views