Predominantly white institution or historically black college/university: Racial composition of school environment and perceived racism on African American students’ college experiences

<p>The current study explored perceived racism, mental health, and coping to see how those concepts might influence how African American students evaluate their college experiences. Additionally, this study explored how school environment (i.e., predominantly White institution [PWI] vs. historically Black college/university [HBCU]) impacted the hypotheses. All participants completed an online questionnaire. Findings for the key hypotheses of this study were mixed. For example, regardless if African American students attended a PWI or HBCU, they were both likely to report similar experiences of perceived racism and negative affect. Despite these and a few other relevant hypotheses not being supported, two significant findings were uncovered. Specifically, African American students at the HBCU were found to utilize more Africultural-based coping behaviors compared to African American students at the PWI. Also, contrary to my hypothesis, endorsement of public regard attitudes was higher at the HBCU compared to the PWI. Implications and future directions are discussed.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science (MS)

Level thesis:degree_level

Open Access Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2021

Author dc:creator

• Garland, Taylor

Contributors dc:contributor

• Stephen Jefferson, Ph.D.
• Carol Freedman-Doan, Ph.D.
• Heather C. Janisse, Ph.D.

• racism
• mental health
• coping
• PWI
• HBCU
• African American Studies
• Clinical Psychology
• Psychology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.emich.edu/theses/1070

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.emich.edu:theses-2441