A Strength-based Framework of College Student Persistence: The Relationships between Campus Racial Climate, Racial Ethnic Identity, Sense of Belonging and Intentions to Persist among Black and Latinx Students Attending Predominantly White Institutions

Abstract

In alignment with strengths-based role strain adaptation models (Bowman, 2013), my dissertation investigates how social psychological strengths that Black and Latinx students bring to predominantly White higher education environments influence their perceptions and behavior in college. Strength-based models (SBM) highlight the importance of considering an individual’s strengths in counseling interventions and cross-cultural research (Bowman, 2013; 2006). In contrast to widely used deficit frameworks, this study employs a strengths-based approach to understand Black and Latinx college student experiences by focusing on individual and group level strengths that facilitate student adaptation. Utilizing structural equation modeling, I examine how racial ethnic identity along with perceptions of the campus racial climate relate to students’ sense of belonging and intentions to persist. More specifically, I analyze longitudinal survey data from 588 Black and Latinx students in five predominantly white institutions to investigate the direct and indirect influences of campus racial climate (racial ethnic stigma) and three dimensions of racial ethnic identity (centrality, private regard and public regard) on students’ sense of belonging and intentions to persist one academic year later. In addition, this study examines whether dimensions of racial ethnic identity moderate the influence the campus racial climate (racial ethnic stigma) on sense of belonging and intentions to persist. Findings indicate that sense of belonging operated as a mediator and had a consistent and direct relationship to student’s intentions to persist in college. While contextual dimensions of the campus racial climate were important, interpersonal dimensions had a significant relationship to sense of belonging and intentions to persist. More specifically, perceptions of stigma consciousness was negatively associated with belonging and intentions to persist. Surprisingly, only public regard was related to sense of belonging and intentions to persist in college. Also, there were no moderating relationships found between those with different racial ethnic identity beliefs and attitudes and those with different perceptions of the campus racial climate on sense of belonging and intentions to persist. However, when Black and Latinx student were examined separately, perceptions of the classroom inferiorization and stigma consciousness and different beliefs about centrality, private and public regards were considered, the multiplicative effect exacerbated the negative relationship to belonging and intentions to persist. The strength-based model of college student persistence and related study findings have important implications for theory, research and practice. First, the strength-based conceptual model of college student persistence offers an alternative to the deficit lens used to understand Black and Latinx student experiences. Second, the findings have important implications for future research to further clarify the multiples social psychological dimensions of the campus and racial climate ethnic identity in order to understand how lived experiences influence stigmatized students’ persistence in college. Finally, the findings have policy relevance for informing strengths-based strategies that promote persistence among stigmatized student groups and specifically Black and Latinx students by reinforcing the cultural strengths that they bring to their experiences at predominantly White institutions.