Black racial identity attitude development: An assessment of nigrescence among African American college students

This study endeavored to investigate the complexities that influence African American students' racial attitudes by analyzing the degree to which acculturation impacts their development of racial identity in a sample of African American students attending predominately Black postsecondary institutions and predominately White postsecondary institutions. The dependent variable in this investigation was racial identity. The independent variable in this investigation was university affiliation (acculturation), defined as either a predominately Black postsecondary institution or a predominantly White postsecondary institution. This descriptive study used a quantitative research design that employed casual-comparative and correlation research methods to determine the presence or absence of relationships between the dependent and independent variables. It was expected that there would be no significant difference in the mean Black Racial Identity Attitude Scale (RAIS-B) scores between African American students attending predominately Black postsecondary institutions as compared to those African American students attending predominately White postsecondary institutions. Findings did not support this expectation and that African Americans tend to progress through racial identity development variously due to differences between the significance and meaning that African Americans ascribe to race and how they perceived racial encounters. Additionally, it was expected that there would be no significant difference in the mean African American Acculturation Scale (AAAS-33) scores between African American students attending predominately Black postsecondary institutions as compared to those African American students attending predominately White postsecondary institutions. This expectation was supported and findings indicated that both groups tend to, basically, share the same cultural orientation (traditional) regarding African American culture. Finally, it was expected that there would be no significant association between acculturation and racial identity among African American students attending predominately Black postsecondary institutions as compared to those African American students attending predominately White postsecondary institutions. Findings relative to this expectation indicated that acculturation has no bearing on racial identity development.