The Diversity Challenge: Social Identity and Intergroup Relations on the College Campus

11. Minority Ethnic Groups and the University Experience

Chapter 11 Minority Ethnic Groups and the University Experience I n the last few decades, social science researchers have obtained a much better understanding of the social and psychological factors impinging on the achievements of ethnic minority students. Students from some ethnic minority groups are still underrepresented in higher education and show lower academic achievement than their white counterparts. Much of the literature on minority achievement has addressed why these gaps in achievement between white and minority students remain. In this chapter, we take a more focused look at the social -psychological experiences of members of traditionally underrepresented ethnic groups on the university campus, and we examine how these experiences may affect their academic performance. The literature on the college experiences and outcomes of underrepresented minority students is substantial (see, for example, Allen, Epps, and Haniff 1991; American Council on Education 2002; Bowen and Bok 1998; Massey et al. 2002; Nettles 1988). Much of the literature focuses on the experiences of the most prototypical underrepresented minority groups, African American and Latino students. Research has examined the barriers at college entry for minority students, the extra challenges faced by minority students during college, and the higher attrition rates of minority students in college. A large proportion of this literature is devoted to a discussion of the campus climate for underrepresented mi- nority students (see Hurtado et al. 1999). In general, this research indicates that, in addition to the academic, social, and economic stresses faced by all students, students from underrepresented minority groups face an extra category of stressors known as minority status stressors, which include achievement stresses, social stresses, within-group stresses, and interracial stresses (Smedley, Myers, and Harrell 1993). Minority students may face negative expectations from other students and staff, lower feelings of belonging and exclusion on campus, and experiences with prejudice and discrimination. These stresses exert their influences on well-being and academic outcomes directly as well as indirectly by exacerbating the effects of the academic, social, and economic stresses faced by students in general (Sedlacek 1989; Tracey and Sedlacek 1984, 1985). Differences in educational outcomes between white and minority individuals are most apparent in college education. While the gap in the rates at which blacks and whites completed at least high school began to close from 1971 to 2000, the gap between white and black high school graduates with at least some college remained similar, and the gap between blacks and whites who completed college widened (National Center for Education Statistics 2001). Similarly, while among Latinos there were increases in completion rates across all levels of education between 1971 and 2000, the differences in educational attainment between Latinos and whites remained about the same at every educational level. However, Asian Americans are an exception. In 1995 Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders constituted the largest proportion of minority students at top research universities, accounting for 11 percent of the undergraduate enrollment (as compared to 2 percent of national undergraduate enrollment). On many campuses, Asian American students are considered a model minority—an immigrant group who came from a relatively disadvantaged background to achieve high levels of college participation and achievement. However, Asian students do not form a monolithic group. Within the Asian American superordinate group there are smaller subgroups, such as Filipino and Southeast Asian students (most of whom are Vietnamese in our sample), whose college experiences and precollege disadvantaged backgrounds are more similar to those of black and Latino students. The purpose of this chapter, then, is to highlight the experiences of the minority groups in the sample who came from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds: African American, Latino, Southeast Asian, and FilMinority Ethnic Groups and the University Experience 251 ipino students. Using white students as a comparison group, we conduct four main sets of analyses.1 First, we examine differences in the academic backgrounds and academic preparation of the white and minority students. Second, we examine changes in academic performance and related variables among these ethnic subgroups over the college years. Third, we examine the degree to which noncognitive factors predict the academic performance of students within these ethnic groups. Fourth and finally, we explore the degree to which minority students’ academic achievement is related to their belief that they were admitted to UCLA under affirmative action. Students’ Academic Backgrounds and Academic Preparation There are likely to be important differences between the white and minority students in the anticipatory socialization for college that they...