This study examined the academic self-concept construct in a sample of 206 African American students attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and predominantly White colleges and universities (PWCUs). Institutional, gender, and class status (i.e., year in college) differences in academic self-concept were investigated as well as factors that predict academic self-concept. Participants completed the Academic Self-Concept Scale. Findings indicated that the best predictor of academic self-concept for students attending PWCUs was grade point average, whereas the best predictor of academic self-concept for students attending HBCUs was quality of student-faculty interactions. Additional analyses indicated that grade point average is significantly more important for the academic self-concept of African American students attending PWCUs than African American students attending HBCUs. Implications for psychologists are discussed.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Allen, W. R.
(1992). The color of success: African-American college student outcomes at predominantly White and historically Black public colleges and universities. Harvard Educational Review, 62, 26-44.
2.
Allen, W. R.
, & Strong, B. M. (1996). National study of Black college students. In R. Jones (Ed.), Handbook of tests and measurements for Black populations (pp. 327-349). Berkeley, CA: Cobb & Henry.
3.
Astin, A.
(1977). Four critical years: Effects of college on beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
4.
Boykin, A. W.
(1986). The triple quandary and the schooling of Afro-American children. In U. Neisser (Ed.), The school achievement of minority children (pp. 57-92). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
5.
Byrne, B. M.
(1988). Measuring adolescent self-concept: Factorial validity and equivalency of the SDQ III across gender. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 23, 361-375.
6.
Byrne, B. M.
, & Shavelson, R. J. (1986). On the structure of the adolescent self-concept. Journal of Educational Psychology, 78, 474-481.
7.
Davis, J. E.
(1994). College in Black and White: Campus environment and academic achievement of African American males. Journal of Negro Education, 63, 620-633.
8.
Fleming, J.
(1984). Blacks in college. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
9.
Ford, D. Y.
(1993). An investigation into the paradox of underachievement among gifted Black students. Roeper Review, 16(2), 78-84.
10.
Ford, D. Y.
(1996). Reversing underachievement among gifted Black students: Promising practices and programs. New York: Teachers College Press.
11.
Fries-Britt, S.
(1998). Moving beyond Black achiever isolation: Experiences of gifted Black collegians. Journal of Higher Education, 69(5), 556-576.
12.
Gerardi, S.
(1990). Academic self-concept as a predictor of academic success among minority and low-socioeconomic status students. Journal of College Student Development, 31, 402-407.
13.
Lent, R. W.
, Brown, S. D., & Gore, P. A. (1997). Discriminant and predictive validity of academic self-concept, academic self-efficacy, and mathematics-specific self-efficacy. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 44, 307-315.
14.
Mboya, M. M.
(1989). The relative importance of global self-concept and self-concept of academic ability in predicting academic achievement. Adolescence, 24, 39-45.
15.
Nettles, M. T.
, & Johnson, J. R. (1987). Race, sex, and other factors as determinants of college students’ socialization. Journal of College Student Personnel, 28, 512-524.
16.
Pascarella, E.
, Smart, E., & Nettles, C. (1987). The influence of college on self-concept: A consideration of race and gender differences. American Educational Research Journal, 24, 49-77.
17.
Pascarella, E.
, & Terenzini, P. (1991). How college affects students. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
18.
Reynolds, W. M.
(1988). Measurement of academic self-concept in college students. Journal of Personality Assessment, 52, 223-240.
19.
Reynolds, W. M.
, Ramirez, M. P., Magrina, A., & Allen, J. E. (1980). Initial development and validation of the academic self-concept scale. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 40, 1013-1016.
20.
Sellers, R. M.
, Chavous, T. M., & Cooke, D. Y. (1998). Racial ideology and racial centrality as predictors of African American college students’ academic performance. Journal of Black Psychology, 24, 8-27.
21.
Strein, W.
(1993). Structural validity of an academic self-concept scale: An illustrative case study of large-scale archival data set use. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 26, 125-136.
22.
Terenzini, P. T.
, Pascarella, E. T., & Blimling, G. S. (1996). Students’ out-of-class experiences and their influence on learning and cognitive development: A literature review. Journal of College Student Development, 37, 149-162.
23.
Tinto, V.
(1975). Dropout from higher education: A theoretical synthesis of recent research. Review of Educational Research, 45, 89-125.
24.
Witherspoon, K. M.
, Speight, S. L., & Thomas, A. J. (1997). Racial identity attitudes, school achievement, and academic self-efficacy among African American high school students. Journal of Black Psychology, 23, 344-357.
