A cross-sectional study of optimism and self-actualization among African-American and Latino-American college students

This study investigated optimism and self-actualization in ethnic minority community college students between the ages of 18 and 24. Optimism was measured directly using the life orientation test (LOT). Self-actualization was assessed with the Short-Index of Self-Actualization. 100 Latino-American and African-American males and females between the ages of 18 to 24 from Southern California community colleges were chosen for the study. The final sample consisted of 100 students between the ages of 18 to 24. The ethnic composition of the sample was (25% Latino-American males, 25% Latino-American females, 25% African-American Males and 25% African-American females). It was hypothesized that a statistically significant relationship would exist between optimism and self-actualization in Latino-American and African-American students. It was hypothesized that a statistically significant difference between Latino-American and African-American students in optimism would exist. Further, it was hypothesized that a statistically significant differences between Latino-Americans and African-Americans students in self-actualization would exist. Results did not support these hypotheses. The information yielded from this study did, however, provide a data set for Latino-American and African-American community college students, which provides levels of optimism and self-actualization of community college students within a discrete developmental period. The information yielded from this study expands our understanding of ethnic minority community college students within a discrete developmental period as it relates to levels of optimism and self-actualization.