A Tale of Two Groups Differences Between Minority

Authors: Wendell D Hall Alberto F Cabrera Jeffrey F Milem

Publish Date: 2010/11/02

Volume: 52, Issue: 4, Pages: 420-439

PDF Link

Abstract

Using a revised version of the Transition to College Model Locks et al 2008 Rev High Educ 313 257–285 this study examined the extent to which minority students and nonminority students differ in their predispositions to engage in campusbased diversity activities as well as in their engagement with ethnically diverse college peers at a predominantly White college Findings indicate that engagement with diverse peers is a learned behavior one that was shaped long before a student stepped into college The importance of past interactions with diverse peers extends beyond freshman year predispositions to engage students who interacted with diverse students prior to college were also more prone to report engagement with diverse peers at the end of their sophomore year Notably freshmen minority students were more predisposed to engage diverse peers next to their White peers these ethnicbased differences however dissipated by the end of the sophomore year of college

Keywords: