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ABSTRACT

Racial Identity Attitudes of African-American College Students at an Historically Black College and an Historically White University

The purpose of this study was to examine how racial identity attitudes differed in African-American college students attending an Historically Black College and University (HBCU) and an Historically White College and University (HWCU). More specifically, the study was an attempt to determine the differences in levels of racial identity, as measured by the Racial Identity Attitude Scale (RIAS), of African-American college students at Paul Quinn College (the HBCU) and The University of Texas at Arlington (the HWCU). The sample for this study consisted of four-hundred African-American undergraduate college students from these two schools in North Texas. One hundred males and one hundred females from each college were included in the study. Thirty-three percent of the sample were freshman, 24% were sophomore, 25% were junior, and 18% were senior in classification. Twenty-four percent of the students came from families whose earned income was between $0 and $25,000 per year, 48% had family incomes between $25,000 and $55,000 per year, and 28% had family incomes of $55,000 or over. The majority of the students sampled (68%) were between the ages of 19 and 24. Six percent of the students had GPAs between 1 and 1.99, 60% had GPAs between 2 and 2.99, 30% had GPAs between 3 and 3.49, and 5% had GPAs between 3.50 and 4.00. The dependent variables for this study were the four sub-scales of the RIAS: Pre-Encounter, Encounter, Immersion-Emersion, and Internalization. The independent variables were: Type of School (HBCU or HWCU), Gender, Age, Grade Point Average (GPA), and Income Level. Chi Square analysis was used to assess the statistical relationships between dependent and independent variables and Cramer’s V was used to show the strength of any significant Chi-Square relationship. The results of this study revealed four significant relationships with respect to racial identity of African-American college students attending a HBCU and a HWCU. In descending order, the strongest relationship was found between the Immersion-Emersion sub-scale of the RIAS and Type of School (p=.001. and Cramer’s V=-.165). Next, was the relationship found between the Pre-Encounter sub-scale of the RIAS and GPA (p=.03, and Cramer’s V=.150). The third most important relationship found was between the Internalization sub-scale of the RIAS and Income Level (p=.01, and Cramer’s V=.147). The last significant relationship was found between the RIAS sub-scale Encounter and Income Level (p=.04, Cramer’s V=.127). Overall, this study lends support to the notion that choice of college (HBCU or HWCU), family income level, and college GPA has statistically significant influence in shaping the African-American student’s racial identity attitude.

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