A Comparison of Traditional and Nontraditional Students Attending Historically Black or Predominantly White Institutions

<p>Previous studies have demonstrated that there are benefits for some African American students in attending an Historically Black College or University (HBCU) over a Predominantly White Institution (PWI); however, studies have not considered how results might be impacted by student status, traditional vs. nontraditional, or the degree to which a student is considered to be nontraditional (minimally, moderately, or highly nontraditional). The current study addressed this gap in research by examining differences between the HBCU and PWI environments for 336 African American traditional and nontraditional students for the following variables: social support, academic self-concept, self-esteem, self-efficacy, role strain, ethnic identity, perception of faculty support, and satisfaction with college experience. The classification of student status was addressed using several pathways, including a categorical definition for nontraditional status (i.e., minimally, moderately, or highly nontraditional). The study yielded several important findings. First, the benefits reported by HBCU students compared to PWI students for self-esteem, increased faculty support, and positive academic self-concept were also found within the nontraditional population. Second, using different pathways for the classification of nontraditional students yielded significant changes in group membership and speaks to the need to further explore differences in the types of nontraditional students attending a PWI vs. an HBCU. Results between schools remained fairly consistent despite the different pathways for defining nontraditional status suggesting that differences between the HBCU and the PWI are independent of student status. However, results differed between nontraditional groups (i.e., minimally, moderately, or highly nontraditional) between schools for faculty support and self-esteem. The combination of school type and student status using a categorical approach has not been considered before and the results, although useful for better understanding the modern college population and differences between an HBCU and a PWI, are best viewed as a foundation for further research.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Psychology

Year dc:date.available

2009

Author dc:creator

• Podesta, Courtney H.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Desideria Hacker
• Darlene Colson
• Joy Cooley
• Richard W. Handel
• Robin Lewis

• African-Americans
• Historically black colleges and universities
• Nontraditional students
• Predominantly white institutions
• African American Studies
• Higher Education
• Social Psychology

Statement dc:rights

• <p>In Copyright. URI: <a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/</a> This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).</p>

Identifier

9781109368734

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digitalcommons.odu.edu:psychology_etds-1218