Two hundred sixty African American college students attending predominantly White institutions completed the Black Student Stress Inventory (BSSI) and a measure of psychological adjustment; academic performance indices on a subsample were obtained via archival records. Principal components analysis of the BSSI yielded a three-factor solution: race-related stress, psychological/interpersonal stress, and academic stress. As predicted, general and race-related perceived stressors as measured by the BSSI were related to psychological distress; academic stress was specifically related to overall GPA. In fact, perceived academic stress accounted for more variance in 1st-year GPAthan did ACT scores. Implications of the findings as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.
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