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DISSERTATION ABSTRACTS

Sharon Yvette Jenkins
(1997)

Ethnic identification, racial climate, and African American undergraduate educational outcomes at a predominantly white university.

Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, School of Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

ABSTRACT: This study examines how African American students' academic performance, general satisfaction, and academic satisfaction are affected by the campus racial environment and by ethnic identity. It analyzes data from the Michigan Student Study of the Undergraduate Experience, based on surveys of 96 African American students at the time they entered the University in fall 1990, and again at the end of four years in winter 1994.

Significant predictors differed for the three outcomes. After controlling for entering student characteristics, significant predictors of cumulative grade point average include pre-college interracial experiences both at home and in high school, the student's ethnic identity when entering the University, and having a significant relationship with a Michigan faculty member (Black faculty).

Factors that affect a student's general satisfaction with the college experience are those associated with the experience itself rather than predispositions that students bring to Michigan. Perception of discrimination at the University, combined with their perceptions of racial tension and lack of institutional support, form a set of experiences and attitudes that result in a college experience that is generally less satisfying. Academic satisfaction is also affected by the student's perception of institutional support.

It is clear from the study results that the consequences of the campus racial environment are context-bound, with a negative environment having a negative effect on African American student satisfaction but not necessarily on academic performance. It also appears that ethnic identity is a strength which enhances the academic performance of African American students, rather than a factor that, as some scholars have posited, serves to deflect African American students from investment in the academic endeavor.