Comparing racial identity, acculturative stress, and feelings of alienation in African-American college students and non-attendees

The intent of the present study is to compare the experiences of racial identity development, acculturative stress, and feelings of alienation between non-college student African-Americans living in predominantly Black communities and African-American college students. Though this topic has been well-researched within the undergraduate college population attending predominantly White institutions, there has been little research conducted sampling African Americans who have not attended college. This facilitates comparisons to determine consistency and differences in reports of experiences of these variables between the two groups and comparison to existing research based primarily on college student samples. 32 student and 24 non student participants were sampled (33 female, 24 male). Mean age for college students was 22.6 years old, the non-college student group's mean age was 23.9 years old. College student reported significantly higher levels of Internalization Multiculturalist-Inclusive racial identity attitudes and acculturative stress, with no statistically significant difference found on the alienation variable. Racial Identity ratings (specifically, Pre-Encounter Self-Hatred) was also a significant predictor of acculturative stress in all participants.;Keywords: racial identity, acculturative stress, alienation, African-Americans...