Racial Attitudes and Asian Pacific Americans: Demystifying the Model Minority (Studies in Asian Americans: Reconceptualizing Culture, History, Politics)

96866_Inkelas_04 28.qxp 4/28/2006 2:00 PM Page i STUDIES IN ASIAN AMERICANS RECONCEPTUALIZING CULTURE, HISTORY, AN...

Author: Karen K. Inkelas

9 downloads 679 Views 1MB Size Report

This content was uploaded by our users and we assume good faith they have the permission to share this book. If you own the copyright to this book and it is wrongfully on our website, we offer a simple DMCA procedure to remove your content from our site. Start by pressing the button below!
Report copyright / DMCA form

DOWNLOAD PDF

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page i

STUDIES IN ASIAN AMERICANS RECONCEPTUALIZING CULTURE, HISTORY, AND POLITICS

Edited by

Franklin Ng California State University, Fresno

A ROUTLEDGE SERIES

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page ii

STUDIES IN ASIAN AMERICANS RECONCEPTUALIZING CULTURE, HISTORY, AND POLITICS

FRANKLIN NG, General Editor HOMETOWN CHINATOWN The History of Oakland’s Chinese Community L. Eve Armentrout Ma

TAIWANESE AMERICAN TRANSNATIONAL FAMILIES Women and Kin Work Maria W. L. Chee

CHINESE AMERICAN MASCULINITIES From Fu Manchu to Bruce Lee Jachinson Chan

MODELING MINORITY WOMEN Heroines in African and Asian American Fiction Reshmi J. Hebbar

PRESS IMAGES, NATIONAL IDENTITY, AND FOREIGN POLICY A Case Study of U.S.-Japan Relations from 1955–1995 Catherine A. Luther STRANGERS IN THE CITY The Atlanta Chinese, Their Community, and Stories of Their Lives Jianli Zhao BETWEEN THE HOMELAND AND THE DIASPORA The Politics of Theorizing Filipino and Filipino American Identities S. Lily Mendoza HMONG AMERICAN CONCEPTS OF HEALTH, HEALING, AND CONVENTIONAL MEDICINE Dia Cha CONSUMPTION AND IDENTITY IN ASIAN AMERICAN COMING-OF-AGE NOVELS Jennifer Ann Ho CULTURAL IDENTITY IN KINDERGARTEN A Study of Asian Indian Children in New Jersey Susan Laird Mody

THE EVANGELICAL CHURCH IN BOSTON’S CHINATOWN A Discourse of Language, Gender, and Identity Erika A. Muse MOBILE HOMES Spatial and Cultural Negotiation in Asian American Literature Su-ching Huang US, HAWAI’I-BORN JAPANESE Storied Identities of Japanese American Elderly from a Sugar Plantation Community Gaku Kinoshita KOREAN AMERICAN WOMEN Stories of Acculturation and Changing Selves Jenny Hyun Chung Pak RACIAL ATTITUDES AND ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICANS Demystifying the Model Minority Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page iii

RACIAL ATTITUDES AND ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICANS Demystifying the Model Minority

Karen Kurotsuchi Inkelas

Routledge New York & London

RT663X_Discl Page 1 Thursday, April 20, 2006 9:27 AM

Published in 2006 by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 270 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10016

Published in Great Britain by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group 2 Park Square Milton Park, Abingdon Oxon OX14 4RN

© 2006 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number-10: 0-415-97936-6 (Hardcover) International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-415-97936-6 (Hardcover) No part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. Trademark Notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com Taylor & Francis Group is the Academic Division of Informa plc.

and the Routledge Web site at http://www.routledge-ny.com

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page v

To my parents, Roy and Nancy Kurotsuchi

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page vi

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page vii

Contents

List of Figures

ix

List of Tables

xi

Acknowledgments Chapter One Problem and Context

xiii

1

Chapter Two Overview of Literature

21

Chapter Three Analytical Methods and Conceptual Framework

45

Chapter Four Results

75

Chapter Five Results Utilizing the Comprehensive Conceptual Model

129

Chapter Six Discussion

169

Appendix A Summary of Individual Items within Indices

195

vii

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page viii

viii

Contents

Appendix B Means and Standard Deviations of the Variables in the Study

199

Bibliography

203

Index

215

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page ix

List of Figures

3.1

4.1

4.2

4.3.

4.4

5.1

5.2

5.3

5.4

Comprehensive conceptual model to study the impact of personal and collegiate influences on Asian Pacific American students’ racial attitudes

52

APA background characteristics that predict their racial attitudes in 1994 (T4)

123

APA personal beliefs that predict their racial attitudes in 1994 (T4)

123

APA racial/ethnic identification measures that predict their racial attitudes in 1994 (T4)

124

APA college environment measures thatpredict their racial attitudes in 1994 (T4)

125

Revised path model of Asian Pacific American students’ support for Affirmative Action principles

152

Revised path model of Asian Pacific American students’ support for Affirmative Action practices

155

Revised path model of Asian Pacific American students’ beliefs in the existence of discrimination/inequality in American society

159

Revised path model of Asian Pacific American students’ perceived gains in racial/ethnic commitment

164 ix

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page x

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page xi

List of Tables

4.1

4.2

4.3

4.4

4.5

4.6

4.7

4.8

Views on Racial/Ethnic Diversity Issues among Students of Varying Racial/Ethnic Backgrounds in Their Fourth Year (1994) of College (in Percentages)

77

Asian Pacific American Students’ Views on Selected Racial/Ethnic Diversity Issues in Their Fourth Year (1994) of College (in Percentages)

79

Background Characteristics of the Asian Pacific American Base Year (1990) and Matched (1990 & 1994) Samples for This Study (in Percentages)

82

Personal Beliefs among Students of Varying Racial/Ethnic Backgrounds at College Entry (1990) (in Percentages)

88

Racial/Ethnic Identification among Entering Freshmen of Varying Racial/Ethnic Backgrounds in 1990 (T1) (in Percentages)

92

Differences in College Experiences among Students of Varying Racial/Ethnic Backgrounds in 1994 (in Percentages)

96

Differences in Asian Pacific American Students’ Dominant Ideology Beliefs from 1990 (T1) to 1994 (T4)

106

Differences in Asian Pacific American Students’ Racial/Ethnic Identification from 1990 (T1) to 1994 (T4)

114 xi

96866_Inkelas_04

xii 5.1

5.2

5.3

5.4

5.5

5.6

5.7

5.8

5.9

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page xii

List of Tables Predictors of Asian Pacific American Students’ Support for Affirmative Action Principles from the Comprehensive Conceptual Model

131

Predictors of Asian Pacific American Students’ Support for Affirmative Action Practices from the Comprehensive Conceptual Model

134

Predictors of Asian Pacific American Students’ Beliefs That Discrimination/Inequality Still Exists from the Comprehensive Conceptual Model

139

Predictors of Asian Pacific American Students’ Gains in Racial/Ethnic Commitment from the Comprehensive Conceptual Model

143

Descriptions of the Variables Utilized in Path Models 5.1 through 5.4

150

Direct and Indirect Effects of the Path Estimates in the Support for Affirmative Action Principles Model

153

Direct and Indirect Effects of the Path Estimates in the Support for Affirmative Action Practices Model

156

Direct and Indirect Effects of the Path Estimates in the Existence of Discrimination/Inequality Model

160

Direct and Indirect Effects of the Path Estimates in the Gains in Racial/Ethnic Commitment Model

165

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page xiii

Acknowledgments

The evolution of this study has spanned almost ten years; accordingly, I have many people to thank who have helped me along the way. First, however, I must thank Benjamin Holtzman for recommending that I submit this work for review with Routledge. I remain extremely humbled that I am publishing this manuscript with such an exceptional firm. I would next like to thank my professors and mentors at the University of Michigan for their support and guidance. In particular, I would like to thank my doctoral program advisor, Sylvia Hurtado, for her careful and incisive feedback on this work, as well as for the immeasurable opportunities I was afforded while serving as her research assistant. I had incomparable training for my current faculty role. I would also like to thank Jerry Gurin and John Matlock in the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives at Michigan for giving me access to the Michigan Study data for this study. I was very fortunate to have had the use of such a rich and robust longitudinal study on diversity—something I could never have accomplished with my limited resources. I would like to state unequivocally, though, that all of the opinions expressed and unintentional mistakes made in this work are my own and do not represent the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiatives or the creators and managers of the Michigan Study. To my colleagues at the University of Maryland, thank you for making the transition to College Park as painless as possible by welcoming me to your department and program. To Marylu McEwen, whose guidance and friendship has meant more to me than I can convey: I hope that I can, one day, be able to proudly state that I conducted my academic career with the same level of integrity as you have. To my parents, who have lived through the depression and internment and gone on to lead successful and fulfilling lives, yet speak humbly xiii

96866_Inkelas_04

xiv

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page xiv

Acknowledgments

about all that you have accomplished. You both, in your separate ways, have instilled in me a reverence for an education and the responsibility to use that education to better the world I was privileged to inherit through finding a vocation that not only contributes to society, but nourishes the soul. And finally, to my husband, Dan—whom I affectionately call my intellectual and emotional sparring partner—thank you for always forcing me to question my assumptions and defend my views. But most of all, thank you for all of the sacrifices you have made in your life in order to champion mine. Although I do not speak of it often, I know that I would not be where I am now without you. And, now, as we begin our most exciting adventure together yet, I can’t wait to see what awaits us just around the corner. College Park, Maryland

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 1

Chapter One

Problem and Context

At the beginning of the 21st century, race continues to be one of the most explosive issues in American higher education. Over the past four decades, college students’ racial attitudes regarding multiculturalism and/or diversity have attracted widespread attention in both the popular media and scholarly exchange (Altbach, 1991). Yet, the voices of Asian Pacific Americans, one of the fastest growing minority groups in American colleges and universities (Escueta & O’Brien, 1995), have been relatively absent from these conversations in both the public and academic realms—even among those parties who seek to promote diversity in higher education. Instead, Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) are often overlooked in research and dialogue concerning students’ racial attitudes. Largely due to the legacy of institutionalized discrimination against African Americans, naturally, much of the focus on racial attitudes in higher education was given to Black/White student relations. Until recently (e.g., Astin, 1993; Cabrera & Nora, 1994; Hurtado, 1992; Schaefer, 1987; White & Sedlacek, 1987), the views of students from other racial/ethnic groups—namely Asian, Latino, and Native American students—have been conspicuously absent from research on race in higher education. The results from these ground breaking empirical studies, however, have shown that the racial attitudes of students from non-Black minority groups are dissimilar to those of White or African American students, and that the factors that influence students’ opinions vary by race/ethnicity as well. Despite the ascendancy of recent research that examines the college experiences of racial/ethnic groups other than White and Black Americans, Asian Pacific Americans (APAs) still remain an understudied minority group in higher education. The views and experiences of Asian Pacific Americans are seldom studied in-depth and often discussed only in comparison to findings regarding other racial/ethnic groups (Yonezawa & Antonio, 1996; 1

96866_Inkelas_04

2

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 2

Racial Attitudes and Asian Pacific Americans

Osajima, 1991). This omission has prompted several Asian American scholars (e.g., Hune & Chan, 1997; Osajima, 1995) to advance that Asian Americans are the “invisible” population in American higher education. Therefore, in order to fill the relative void of research on Asian Americans in higher education and strengthen their visibility in the discourse on race, this study seeks to examine the racial attitudes of Asian Pacific American college students and the personal characteristics and facets of the college experience that influence their attitudes. From an analysis of a four-year longitudinal study of college students, this study will explore the intersection of three bodies of research—racial attitude, racial/ethnic identity, and college impact theory—and seeks to advance knowledge on Asian Americans in each of these three domains.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The influence of social and collegiate factors on Asian Pacific American (APA) students’ racial attitudes will not only be beneficial to higher education research and policy, but it will make a significant contribution to racial relations scholarship as well. Higher education institutions would be able to learn about APA students’ racial attitudes, as well as the aspects of campus environments that seem to have an impact on shaping their attitudes. Institutions can use this knowledge to create useful and appropriate curricular and co-curricular programming designed to address their diversity goals and missions. The larger society would be better able to understand this somewhat “invisible” portion of the population and the special contributions that a college education and environment have on students’ values and beliefs. Demographic forecasters predict that in the 21st century, one-third of the American workforce will be composed of racial/ethnic minorities, and most jobs in the new century will require an education beyond a high school diploma (Justiz, 1994). In this increasingly multicultural workplace and society, the roles of colleges and universities will become even more pivotal in shaping the economic health of the American economy. Given the demographic and forecasts for the future, it becomes even more vital that the values, experiences, and influences of all racial/ethnic groups in the United States be better understood so that the issues that divide the races today will not adversely affect the economic necessities of tomorrow. Yet, even in the present, higher education can ill afford to overlook its Asian Pacific American student population, since APA students represent a growing enrollment in U.S. colleges and universities and thus a growing significance in institutional diversity goals and practices. Although Asian

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

Problem and Context

2:00 PM

Page 3

3

Americans comprise less than 3 percent of the total U.S. population, Asian American college students represent 5.6 percent of higher education enrollment, and this figure continues to rise each year (Hune & Chan, 1997). From 1976 to 1996, the number of Asian Americans in higher education increased by over 400 percent to over 823,000 in 1996 (Escueta & O’Brien, 1995; Academe Today, Chronicle of Higher Education, 1998). In addition, APA students currently represent a sizable portion of several college campuses: for example, they comprise 51 percent of the undergraduate population at UC Irvine, 35 percent at UC Berkeley, 29 percent at MIT, and 27 percent at the University of Chicago (Academe Today, Chronicle of Higher Education, 1998). Moreover, Asian Pacific Americans are now the country’s fastest growing racial/ethnic group, and, when this fact is coupled with Current Population Survey data revealing that APAs are more likely than any other racial/ethnic group to have attended at least 4 years of college by the age of 25 (Escueta & O’Brien, 1995), one can fairly assume that high APA college enrollment trends will continue in the 21st century. Asian Americans are not the only minority group that has increased in representation on U.S. college campuses. Since the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, several higher education institutions have sought to increase access to higher education for previously under-represented minority groups, which in turn, has produced greater African American, Hispanic, and Native American enrollments. However, the growth of minority enrollments in predominantly White institutions is also meant to serve as a value-explicit educational component: the existence of a multi-racial student body serves as a foundation for cross-racial interactions and experiences that foster racial tolerance and acceptance. The notion that increased inter-racial contact will lessen racial animosity dates back almost a halfcentury to Gordon Allport’s 1954 classic, The Nature of Prejudice. In this influential work, Allport linked racial prejudice to the negative stereotypes individuals use to characterize people from other racial/ethnic groups. Allport reasoned that these negative stereotypes—formed by an ignorance of people of other races and ethnicities—could be invalidated and instead reconstructed in a positive light if individuals of different races could interact and learn about each other. Yet, previous research has proven that mere increases in the likelihood of cross-racial interaction will not necessarily lead to improved racial relations (e.g., Stephan & Brigham, 1985). Indeed, Allport himself warned that in order for inter-racial contact to work in dispelling the negative stereotypes that drive racial prejudice, the contact must be made under certain conditions. Some of these conditions include but are not limited to: the willingness of all participants to engage in inter-racial contact, the assurance

96866_Inkelas_04

4

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 4


that the opinions of all the participants must be considered of equal merit, and the provision that the participants share similar values and beliefs. Thus, in order for higher education institutions to be successful in fostering a heightened racial awareness and acceptance of diversity in their students, they must address, understand, and value the basis for all their students’ views. Colleges cannot be effective in institutional planning, policy, and programming with regard to diversity until the perspectives of a diverse set of constituencies are examined, understood, and not assumed. Since Asian Pacific Americans are becoming an increasingly larger portion of enrollment in higher education, their views are pivotal in this process. This study will not only articulate Asian Pacific American students’ opinions on racial/ethnic diversity issues, but will also help higher education institutions provide a suitable environment in which APA students may maintain or possibly develop positive attitudes toward diversity.

THE HIGHER EDUCATION CONTEXT Granted, a study on Asian Americans’ racial attitudes and/or racial/ethnic identity could be executed irrespective of a college setting. However, there are several reasons why the college years are an ideal time to study racial attitudes. The topic of race in higher education continues to be one of the most contentious and omnipresent issues on many college campuses today. This may be due in no small part to the fact that many colleges and universities have become explicitly committed to fostering students’ tolerance for or acceptance of racial/ethnic diversity, as evident in their mission, goal, and philosophy statements (Hurtado & Dey, 1997; Milem, 1992). Indeed, higher education has long considered itself to have an influence on a wide range of students’ beliefs and values (Jacob, 1957; Hyman, Wright & Reed, 1975), including racial issues. Pascarella & Terenzini (1991) concur: “There is little doubt that American colleges and universities are and have been deeply concerned with shaping the attitudes, values, and beliefs of their students” (p. 269). Yet, there is neither a consensus of opinion that higher education should be influencing its students’ social values through multicultural or diversity initiatives, nor an unequivocal belief that a college education actually does shape students’ values. Outspoken critics in the late 1980s and early 1990s contended that American liberal education was declining in quality due to “politically correct” changes in the curriculum that had little to do with higher learning and more with politicized racial agendas and the inculcation of leftist racial values (e.g., D’Souza, 1991; Kimball, 1990; Bloom, 1987). Yet, findings from a study sponsored by the Ford

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

Problem and Context

2:00 PM

Page 5

5

Foundation’s Campus Diversity Initiative concluded that contemporary Americans find diversity education on college and university campuses to be beneficial. The study found that two in three Americans thought it important that colleges and universities “prepare people to function in a diverse society.” In addition, 71 percent felt that diversity education on college and university campuses helped to bring society together, and 69 percent thought that courses and campus activities that emphasized diversity and diverse perspectives had more of a positive than negative effect on the education of students (Association of American Colleges & Universities, 1998). According to some researchers, however, the debate over the function of diversity in higher education is moot since the college environment has little impact on students’ attitudes and values. Several studies maintain that decreases in students’ ethnocentrism and prejudice during and after college were due more to a successful socialization or sophistication process (i.e., “political correctness”) than an actual change in personality (Jacob, 1957; Feldman & Newcomb, 1973). Similarly, in an often cited study, Jackman (1978) argued that a college education does not make individuals more likely to support racial integration, but instead “teaches” students to publicly support abstract democratic principles in order to appear enlightened. However, the bulk of research studying the impact of college on students’ racial attitudes has concluded that facets of the college environment do indeed have an effect on students’ views on race and that, in some cases, the effect can be long-term (see, for example, Astin, 1993; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991; Hyman, Wright, & Reed, 1975). Findings from recent studies have concluded that all of the following components of the college environment can exert an impact on students’ racial attitudes: a) structural properties, such as percentages of minority enrollments (Allen, 1986), institutional selectivity, size, and student services expenditures (Hurtado, 1992); b) perceptions of the campus climate (Nora & Cabrera, 1996; Pascarella, Edison, Nora, Hagedorn, & Terenzini, 1996; Hurtado, 1992); c) curricular influences (Milem, 1992; Molla & Westbrook, 1990); d) racial/cultural workshops (Pascarella et al., 1996; Springer, Palmer, Terenzini, Pascarella & Nora, 1996; Neville & Furlong, 1994); e) faculty contact outside the classroom (Milem, 1992; Astin, 1993); and f) co-curricular factors, such as residence halls (Blimling, 1993) and extra-curricular activities (Pascarella et al., 1996; Glisan, 1992; Muir, 1991). In addition to the fact that numerous studies have shown that the college experience can help shape students’ racial attitudes, there are other reasons why the college context provides an excellent backdrop in the study of influences on individuals’ racial attitudes. For example,

96866_Inkelas_04

6

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 6


developmental theorists and psychologists consider the periods of lateadolescence to early adulthood as pivotal in the shaping of individuals’ personal identities and worldviews (Erikson, 1963; Chickering & Reisser, 1993; Alwin, Cohen, & Newcomb, 1991). Erik Erikson (1963), in his “epigenetic principle,” describes eight stages of psychosocial development in which individuals are presented with a “crisis” that needs to be resolved. Successful resolution of the crisis enables the individual to move forward and face new challenges. The crisis generally associated with traditionally-aged college students is stage five, or “identity versus identity confusion.” In this phase, students struggle to find their own identities, and as they break free from the once strong pressure to conform, they begin to experiment. In this moment of their lives, they become much more open to change and different perspectives, perhaps more so than in any other period in their lives. Chickering & Reisser (1993) take Erikson’s stage five one step further by dividing the strive toward identity consciousness into seven different tasks or vectors. As students move through the vectors, they become more aware of their own identity—including but not limited to their racial identity—and in turn more understanding of how their identity relates to other people’s identities and cultures. Although the focus of their study was on political and not racial attitudes, Alwin, Cohen, & Newcomb (1991), in their generational/persistence model, similarly argued that late adolescents and young adults go through a period of “vulnerability” in which their attitudes and orientations are subject to change, but that later in life these attitudes become more stable. As summarized in Alwin et al., Theodore Newcomb demonstrated this point when he studied the political orientations and social attitudes of a group of women who attended Bennington College in the 1930s and 1940s. His instrumental work demonstrated the significance of the college environment and the importance of the peer reference group in shaping young adult women’s political attitudes. What was even more fascinating was that Newcomb followed-up with these women decades later, and learned that those women who had stayed in supportive social environments maintained the political orientations that they acquired during college into their 50s, 60s, and even 70s. Thus, he proved that, as young adults, these women’s political attitudes were more malleable, but as time progressed over their life span, their attitudes became more stable. So, the conditions of this research in the college context are ideal in both the individual and environmental sense; during the years they are in college, students are perhaps more open to influences on their values than any other period in their lives, and at the same time, colleges are making an

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 7

Problem and Context

7

intentional effort to shape students’ racial attitudes toward the embracement of diversity.

LIMITATIONS IN THE RESEARCH ON ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICANS AND RACE IN HIGHER EDUCATION Knowing that an individual’s views toward racial issues and a higher education share an interplay with each other and that Asian Pacific Americans are becoming an increasing presence on college campuses across the country, it would seem logical that research on APA students’ racial attitudes in college would be on the rise. Why, then, are Asian Americans and their higher educational experiences understudied? Critics argue that the gap in the literature and lack of interest by scholars may be due to lingering generalizations about Asians in American society. Both Lei (1998) and Hune & Chan (1997) posit that Asian Americans are overlooked in educational literature because of one or another seemingly contradictory stereotypes: the “forever foreigner” and the “model minority” conventions. In the “forever foreigner” depiction, APAs are perceived as foreigners or eternal immigrants unassimilated to American values who have no stake in American social concerns and therefore are not relevant in discussions concerning racial matters. As the “model minority,” APAs are considered to be highachieving educational success stories who require no special attention from educators. Indeed, since the 1980s, much of the attention given to Asian Americans in education has emphasized their academic achievements and referred to Asian American students as “whiz kids,” the “head of the class,” or child prodigies (see, for example, Graubard, 1988; Brand, 1987; Butterfield, 1986). In either stereotypical scenario, Asian Pacific Americans are regarded as marginal members of the major dialogue on diversity in higher education. In addition to the perceptual reasons why APAs remain largely unstudied, there are also significant theoretical and methodological difficulties with regard to the examination of Asian Pacific Americans. First, in the case of racial attitude theory, the field has been dominated by a Black/White paradigm. More specifically, theoretical study has primarily focused on White Americans’ attitudes toward Blacks. The precedent for this tendency was established by Gunnar Myrdal in 1944, when the author, in the classic, An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, placed the responsibility for solving the “Negro dilemma”—and thereby the elimination of prejudice—on White Americans. Subsequent researchers adhered to Myrdal’s prognostication and, in their strong commitment to reducing racial prejudice, examined the racial attitudes of White Americans to the exclusion

96866_Inkelas_04

8

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 8


of other racial/ethnic groups. One prominent social scientist admitted that: “It never occurred to us when we wrote questions in the Forties and Fifties to ask them of Blacks because Myrdal’s dilemma was a White dilemma and it was White attitudes that demanded study” (Paul Sheatsley, personal communication, in Schuman, Steeh, & Bobo, 1985, p. 139). Yet, this empirical leaning continues to obscure research on the racial attitudes of minority groups in that it fails not only to examine how African Americans may perceive White Americans, but it also completely excludes an inquiry into the opinions of and among other racial/ethnic groups in the United States, including Hispanics, Native Americans, and Asian Pacific Americans. In addition to the lack of attention in racial attitude theory, Asian Pacific Americans seem to be understudied in terms of theory on racial or ethnic identification as well (Serafica, 1992; Chen, 1989). For Asian Americans, racial or ethnic identity theory can take on several different forms. One form pertains to acculturation theories, or the level of adoption of Western values and behaviors or retainment of Asian values and behaviors. While acculturation theorists contend that Asian Americans from different ethnic backgrounds follow similar patterns of acculturation processes from a more “Asian” orientation to a more “Western” one, they do acknowledge that different ethnicities may exhibit distinctive ethnic traits and levels of acculturation (Sue & Sue, 1990). Racial identity development models represent another form of identity theory that have been used to describe Asian American identity. Several psychologists (Atkinson, Morten, & Sue, 1989; Gay, 1985; Phinney, 1990) propose that individuals from minority groups—including Asian Americans—progress through a series of conflicts and resolutions in their lives that help them make evaluations and judgments about their racial identity and how this identity relates to those around them. Racial and ethnic identification pose interesting potential implications in the study of Asian Americans’ racial attitudes. Recent scholarship has drawn parallels between peoples’ feelings about their own racial/ethnic identity and feelings about other individuals and groups. Several researchers (Cross, 1990; Glisan, 1992; Carter, 1990) have found that the nature of one’s identification with one’s own racial/ethnic group may lead to negative attitudes toward other racial/ethnic groups. For examples, Cross (1990) identifies several types of identities in African American adolescents, including those in which a high salience attachment to a Black identity may lead African American youth to develop pro-Black and anti-White attitudes. Conversely, embracement of a multicultural racial identity has been positively linked to lower levels of racism for both White males and females (Carter, 1990). To date, the influence of racial or ethnic identity on Asian

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 9

Problem and Context

9

Americans’ racial attitudes in the college setting remains a largely unstudied area of research. This connection will be one of the focuses of this study. Methodological limitations pose other difficulties with Asian American educational research. Educational researchers using a quantitative approach in studying Asian American students encounter a considerable lack of data to analyze, especially at the nationally-representative level (Yonezawa & Antonio, 1996). Instead, several authors have chosen to focus more narrowly on a single-ethnicity APA sample (e.g., Chinese Americans). Yet, these studies, while better equipped to uncover multiple layers of ethnic differences, are restricted in their scope and generalizability. This study, while limited to the experiences of APA students at one Midwestern research university, will examine a multi-ethnic sample of Asian Pacific American students’ views about race. More importantly, because the data for this study was collected over a four year time span, this investigation can document the changes in and impacts on APA students’ racial attitudes during their time in college.

ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICANS AND HIGHER EDUCATION: A BRIEF CONTEXT The lack of research on Asian Pacific Americans, however, in no way suggests that APAs have not played significant a role in American higher education. Perhaps the most controversial and well-known topic concerning Asian Americans and higher education involves allegations that some of the nation’s most prestigious public and private colleges are/were using quotas to limit the admission and enrollment of Asian Americans at their institutions. This allegation is attributable to three facts: a) the amount of applications to colleges by Asian Americans has tripled due to significant growth in the U.S. Asian population (Hsia & Hirano-Nakanishi, 1995); b) a large number of applicants in that pool meet several traditional indicators of academic achievement, including high GPAs, high SAT scores, and a high school course pattern in honors or high-tracked classes (Peng, 1988); and c) Asian Americans have experienced a static or even declining rate of acceptance at some of the nation’s most prestigious higher education institutions during the same time period (Takagi, 1992). The disjuncture between rising amounts of academically-achieving Asian American applicants and a lack of growth in acceptance rates suggests that some institutions are intentionally setting quotas, or limitations, on the number of Asian Americans they will accept. The charges are not entirely unfounded; both Brown University and the University of California at Berkeley have admitted that their admissions practices were biased and made revisions to their procedures (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1992).

96866_Inkelas_04

10

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 10


Unexpectedly, members of the political left and right have unified in opposition to the alleged quotas. Advocates on the left were the first to investigate the questionable admissions practices and link them with a continued pattern of discrimination against Asian Americans, and minorities in general, in American society (see Takagi, 1992). Conservatives soon joined their liberal adversaries in denouncing the alleged quotas against Asian Americans in college admissions (e.g., D’Souza, 1991). However, they placed the blame on affirmative action policies with the following logic: forced increases in the number of African Americans and Hispanics due to affirmative action mandates has restricted the number of admissions offers colleges can give to Asian American students. With both sides of the political spectrum claiming to speak for the Asian American community, the constituency that is seldom heard from in this controversy is the Asian American student population itself. This irony is striking, given that this is the group that stands to gain or lose significantly from the alleged quotas/affirmative action debate. Moreover, Asian Pacific American students represent substantial portions of the enrollment at several of the institutions where affirmative action is currently the most hotly contested. For example, APA students represent 38 percent of the enrollment at UCLA, 35 percent at UC Berkeley, 20 percent at the University of Washington, 12 percent at the University of Texas, and an average of 16 percent at the Ivy League institutions (Academe Today, Chronicle of Higher Education, 1998). The results from this study will help to articulate the Asian American student voice in their opinions about racial/ethnic diversity. It can also serve to educate both conservatives and liberals alike on how Asian American students actually feel about some of the racial issues that both the left and right assume to speak for in the national debate on race and affirmative action. The admissions controversy is only the most recent of concerns in the shared history of Asian Americans and education in the United States. In fact, Asian Pacific American educational history elucidates the interplay between the roles of culture, local agency, and institutionalized segregation and educational policy. The following judicial cases and significant events describe some of these types of relationships. Despite petitions by Chinese parents to the San Francisco school board and the California State Legislature in the 1850s through 1880s, their children were not allowed to attend the San Francisco schools until 1884, when the California State Supreme Court ruled that Chinese American students had a right to an education. In reaction, the school board established the “Oriental School,” a separate facility for “Mongolians,” in San Francisco in 1885. This same Oriental School became an international issue when the Japanese government, in

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

Problem and Context

2:00 PM

Page 11

11

1905, protested the segregation of children of Japanese ancestry in the San Francisco school system. In a landmark deal between the U.S. and Japan, President Theodore Roosevelt negotiated the Gentlemen’s Agreement of 1907, which permitted Japanese children to attend the public schools established for Whites in exchange for limitations placed on the number of Japanese emigrants to the United States (Chan, 1991). Asian Americans have also played a key role in bringing educational issues to the forefront in American legal history. Long before Brown v. Board of Education in 1954, Asian Americans were contesting the legality of the “separate but equal” principle from the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson that segregated American education. However, attempts to desegregate the school systems in San Francisco in the early 1900s and Mississippi in 1927 (Gong Lum v. Rice) were denied due to Plessy. Asian Americans have also been at the center of the controversy over language policy in schooling, most notably through the history of education in Hawaii. With the influx of Chinese and Japanese plantation laborers in Hawaii during the late 1800s, large numbers of Asian American children were of school age in the early 1900s. In the early 20th century, the Hawaiian territorial government supported two types of schools: “standard” English language and “non-standard” schools. Because the standard schools only admitted children with oral English proficiency while the non-standard schools admitted all island youth without regard to English skills, the educational system became de facto segregated with White children attending the standard schools and Asian children attending the non-standard, or “pidgin English” schools (Agbayani, 1979). At the same time, the Japanese and Chinese communities sponsored their own schools, largely to teach their children the culture and language of their heritage. But, growing antiAsian sentiment in the 1920s, particularly a suspicion of the Japanese community, spurred the Hawaiian government to pass Act 30, which sought to bring the Japanese language schools under governmental control, and ultimately to eliminate the Japanese schools altogether. However, the Japanese community in Hawaii managed to mobilize quite effectively on behalf of the Japanese language schools, and the issue was brought before the U.S. Supreme Court in 1927. In an a noteworthy example of a minority and subordinated group’s victory over a governmental act, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Japanese language schools, and chastised the Hawaiian territorial government for its allegations that the Japanese schools represented disloyalty and were thus threats to United States security (Hawkins, 1995). Yet, with the onset of World War II, popular sentiment demanded that Island children “rid themselves of all ‘foreign’

96866_Inkelas_04

12

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 12


characteristics and to be and speak ‘American’” (Agbayani, 1979, p. 3), and thus both the Japanese and Chinese language schools were closed. After the war ended, the Hawaiian territorial government sought to end the segregation that existed between the “standard” and “non-standard” schools by raising the oral English standards of the non-standard schools. In 1959, Hawaii became a state, and with the amendment to the immigration laws in 1965, Hawaii once again experienced an influx of Asian immigrants. As it worked with its multilingual Asian communities in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the state of Hawaii continued to struggle with language policies in its educational structure, especially the role of bilingual education and the role of pidgin English in bilingualism (Stueber, 1973). Indeed, Asian Pacific Americans have played a crucial part in shaping bilingual education in the United States. In 1974, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Lau v. Nichols that the San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by denying Chinese American students who did not speak English “a meaningful opportunity to participate in the public educational program” when it failed to provide them with special language assistance (Wang, 1995, p. 58). The Court mandated that the SFUSD change its policies to include bilingual programs, teachers, and teacher assistants to provide equal educational opportunities for all of its students. The Lau ruling had a significant impact on the American educational system; in 1975, the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare established “Lau centers” designed to assist school districts across the country in developing bilingual educational programs that meet the Lau mandate. Moreover, Lau v Nichols has had a far-reaching influence on other government-sponsored services for non-native English speakers, including the Voters Rights Act of 1975 that cited Lau as one of the justifications for extending voting rights to non-English speaking citizens (Wang, 1995). Asian Americans have struggled in the realm of American higher education as well. Wang (1993) writes that while several of the elite, churchbased colleges and universities recruited students from Asia for purposes of missionary work and diplomatic ties, Asian American students were either completely excluded or limited to a small quota in many higher education institutions. In addition, because of the high costs of private colleges, the predominantly working class Asian Americans of the pre-World War II period could not afford such an education. The only viable college alternative for many Asian Americans before World War II were the Universities of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles, which were tuition free. Thus, the skyrocketing Asian American enrollments articulated previously—especially those in the elite private colleges—are a relatively new phenomenon.

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

Problem and Context

2:00 PM

Page 13

13

Indeed, several authors point to the 1965 Immigration Act as the pivotal force behind the apparent success of Asian Americans in higher education (Hune & Chan, 1997; Wang, 1993; Chan, 1991). One of the major changes in the post-1965 immigration process included preferences being given to those immigrants with professional training (e.g., physicians, nurses, engineers, scientists, etc.). Through this new procedure, over 200,000 highly educated and professionally trained Asians immigrated to the U.S. from 1972 to 1988 (Hune & Chan, 1997). Since it is well documented that the education and careers of parents are highly influential in affecting the educational achievement and career aspirations of their children, it is likely that the children of well-educated and professionally trained Asian parents will be high-achievers in school and inclined toward careers in the professions or sciences. Therefore, the Asian American “super student” or “model minority” stereotype is most likely due in large part to changes in immigration laws, and not to mystical Asian cultural beliefs or, certainly, to racial superiority. Taken together, the experiences of Asian Pacific Americans in K-12 and higher education have presented a portrait of historical exclusion, segregation, and discrimination, but also social agency and activism. Yet, discrimination against Asian Americans in higher education is not merely something of the past; several studies and events show that racial/ethnic hostility toward APAs still exists. Chan & Wang (1991) write that antiAsian sentiment due to lingering prejudices and economic competition with Asian nations, when compounded by the perception that rising Asian American enrollments decrease admission slots for others, has caused a backlash against Asian American students. A study using a nationally representative sample of college students supports this assertion, and reports that 30 percent of Asian American respondents frequently or occasionally felt insulted or threatened by other students because of their racial/ethnic background (Hurtado, Dey, & Trevino, 1994). In 1987, Asian American students were spat upon and incited into a physical altercation by two athletes, yet one of the offenders—a star football player—was not punished as severely as was expected (U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1992). More recently, a student at the University of California at Irvine was indicted for sending approximately 60 email messages that threatened to kill Asian American students and staff members at Irvine. The case ended in a mistrial because the jury could not agree on whether the student had acted willfully (Selingo, 1997). However, prejudice against Asian Pacific Americans is not limited to the obscene acts of frustrated individuals; the prevailing “model minority” myth obscures several important truths. While seemingly positive in its

96866_Inkelas_04

14

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 14


depiction of Asian Americans, the model minority stereotype has had several negative ramifications for APAs and their treatment in higher education. First, the homogenization of Asian Pacific Americans into one racial category masks the bifurcated educational experiences of a diverse APA population. While there may be a high percentage of APAs who come from families with highly educated parents in professional careers, there is also a high percentage of APAs of refugee status (e.g., Vietnamese and Cambodian) or low socioeconomic conditions (e.g., Hmong and Pacific Islander), most of whom have an educational level no higher than eighth grade (Hune & Chan, 1997). These educationally at-risk Asian Americans require special attention and should not be overlooked or categorized similarly to the other, more high-achieving APAs. Second, the belief that all Asian Americans are “success stories” obfuscates many of the difficulties that APA college students face. In addition to immigration patterns as an explanation for Asian American educational achievements, several authors have advanced that the key to Asian American academic success is the influence of the family, which is hardworking, close-knit, and values an education as the route to social and economic mobility (e.g., Bell, 1984, Chun, 1980, Ramirez, 1986). However, in what Keith Osajima (1991) terms the “hidden injuries of race,” there are several side-effects to the model minority stereotype that go unnoticed in favor of the “super student” myth. Several studies have shown that Asian American students cope with a considerable amount of stress in trying to meet the high expectations that have been placed upon them by both their parents and the stereotype itself (Osajima 1991; Cohon et al., 1986; Endo, 1980). In addition, APA students are starting to question their identities and expected roles within the family (Osajima, 1991; Sue & Sue, 1990), which may cause an inter-generational rift between Asian American parents and children. Finally, the model minority stereotype leaves no room for the Asian American student who is not academically high-achieving. Yet, because the stereotype persists, college student service administrators may not recognize that Asian American students do have special problems, including pressures from the family and even academic difficulties, and that APA students may require special assistance with their challenges. One area in higher education regarding Asian Americans, however, that is gaining attention and stretches across different Asian American ethnic groups is the growing Asian American Studies movement. APA students of varying ethnicities have demonstrated on university campuses during the 1960s and 1970s for increases in: a) access to higher education; b) minority faculty; and c) curricular opportunities in ethnic studies (Omatsu, 1994). APA activism for educational reform has surged once again at several institutions

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

Problem and Context

2:00 PM

Page 15

15

in the 1990s, including organized protests at Northwestern University, Columbia University, and the University of California at Irvine (Hune & Chan, 1997). Throughout their history in the United States, Asian Pacific Americans have had a rich and lasting legacy in American education and race relations. Taken in part or in whole, these experiences no doubt manifest themselves uniquely within Asian American students’ racial/ethnic identities and beliefs about racial/ethnic diversity. And yet, this brief history does not even include the multitudinous ways in which the college experience, which is known to affect students’ racial attitudes, may influence APA students’ views and opinions on diversity. This study will examine the interplay between the college environment and Asian American students’ racial/ethnic identities and how they combine to affect APA students’ racial attitudes.

FOCUS OF THE STUDY This study examines Asian Pacific American (APA) undergraduate students’ views toward racial/ethnic diversity issues by investigating the backgrounds, values, college experiences, and racial attitudes of a cohort of APA students who attended the University of Michigan during academic years 1990 through 1994. The purpose of this study is to uncover the distinctions within Asian Pacific American students’ racial attitudes in comparison to other racial/ethnic groups, and to identify key factors which influence APA students’ racial attitudes. To address these questions, Asian Pacific American student experiences and attitudes will lie at the heart of this research inquiry. However, since very little empirical research on APA students’ views toward racial/ethnic diversity exists, the review of related literature and theoretical framework for this study in Chapter Two will encompass educational, sociological, social psychological, and clinical psychological inquiry discussing broader models or theories of racial attitudes, racial/ethnic identity, and college impact. Following preliminary analyses revealing the similarities and differences between Asian Pacific American students and students from White/Caucasian, Black/African American, and Latino/Hispanic groups, the comprehensive conceptual model for this study will examine the relationship between APA students’ personal attributes, their personal beliefs and racial/ethnic identities, the college environment in which they interact, and their attitudes toward four different facets of racial/ethnic diversity. Using multivariate and path analyses, this study will reveal the significant factors that influence Asian Pacific American students’ views on selected

96866_Inkelas_04

16

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 16


racial/ethnic diversity issues, and the institutional and policy implications that can be derived from such relationships. Furthermore, the findings from this study will help determine whether theoretical models designed to explain the racial attitudes of and impact of college on majority students are appropriate for this (and perhaps other) racial/ethnic minority group(s).

SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY This inquiry utilizes data collected from a single institution (the University of Michigan), a fact that limits this study’s findings in terms of its ability to represent a national context. However, the data and the context in which the study was conducted possess many qualities that make it a beneficial case study. This study utilizes unique data from a four year, four wave longitudinal study on undergraduate expectations, perceptions, and experiences of diversity and multiculturalism at the University of Michigan. While the data is limited to a single institutional sample, its longitudinal nature allows for differences in students’ racial attitudes and identities to be examined over time. In addition, the relative effects of the college environment can be more accurately measured than with a cross-sectional study, since students were surveyed about their interactions with and perceptions of the environment throughout their time in college and not just at one time point. The University of Michigan (U-M), the university context for the study, is comprised of 17 schools and colleges. A premier research university, Michigan has one of the largest university budgets in the country and boasts a strong academic reputation by college rankings such as the U.S. News and World Report. However, the qualities that make the U-M distinct for this study involve its recognition of and commitment to racial/ethnic diversity. Most recently, the University of Michigan stood as a national test case for the use of affirmative action in undergraduate and law school admissions when it defended its practices to the United States Supreme Court in Grutter v Bollinger and Gratz v Bollinger. Although the lawsuits were filed and ruled upon after the cohort for this study had graduated from Michigan, the students studied in this inquiry attended the institution during a time when the admissions policies under dispute with the U.S. Supreme Court were being enforced. This admissions policy stemmed from 1987, when then President James J. Duderstadt initiated “The Michigan Mandate,” which articulated a strategic plan for linking academic excellence with social diversity. The mandate included several quantitative and qualitative objectives designed to foster diversity in faculty and staff recruitment and development, student recruitment and achievement, and the university environment (Moving Forward: The Michigan Mandate, 1992).

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

Problem and Context

2:00 PM

Page 17

17

The University of Michigan’s undergraduate enrollment in 1997–98 was 23,908, with 26.4 percent of the student body (international students excluded) consisting of minority students. Asian American students represented 11.9 percent of the undergraduate population, or 2,582 students (personal communication, University of Michigan Office of Academic Planning and Analysis, December 5, 1998). Neither the Admissions Office nor the Office of the Registrar keep records on the ethnic backgrounds of the Asian Pacific American students on the U-M campus. However, in 1997, the Cooperative Institutional Research Project (CIRP) surveyed University of Michigan freshmen and requested that the first year Asian Pacific American respondents indicate their Asian ancestry in the demographic portion of the questionnaire. While this data only reports the Asian ethnic backgrounds of the U-M class of 2001, it is the closest approximation to the actual Asian ancestry data available for the student population. With 79 percent of the U-M Asian Pacific American class of 2001 responding to the 1997 CIRP, the Asian ethnic breakdown was: 22 percent of the APA students were Chinese American, 20 percent were Korean American, 10 percent were Filipino American, 6 percent were Southeast Asian (defined on the survey as “Vietnamese, Laotian, Cambodian, etc.”), 5 percent were Japanese American, and a significant 42 percent were “other” Asian American (personal communication, University of Michigan Research Office in Student Affairs, January 10, 2001). Although there is no way of knowing, a large percentage of the “other” Asian American respondents may be of South Asian descent, given that there is a large Indian student population at the U-M and there was no response choice for “South Asian” or “Indian” in the race/ethnicity item. Indeed, the inclusion of South Asians in the Asian Pacific American nomenclature is historically complex and continues to change. As recently as the 1970 U.S. Census, Asian Indians were categorized as “Other” or “White,” until in 1974, the Association of Indians in America (AIA) requested a reclassification as Asian Americans in order to derive economic benefits in compensation for a history of discrimination in the United States (Espiritu, 1992). South Asian Americans are included as Asian Pacific Americans in this study because South Asians have been categorized as such for the past 25 years by the U.S. Bureau of Census, the U.S. Department of Justice (Shankar & Srikanth, 1998), as well as by official enrollment records by the University of Michigan. In addition to its structural diversity, the University of Michigan maintains several academic and extra-curricular programs and activities regarding Asian American issues and concerns. Within the Department of American Culture resides the small but active Asian/Pacific American Studies Program, which may offer up to seven different courses per term. In addition, there are

96866_Inkelas_04

18

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 18


Asian American staff members in both the student and academic affairs units on campus who work directly with Asian American undergraduate programming. There are currently 20 Asian American student organizations at the UM, including activist groups, social clubs, religious assemblies, an Asian American fraternity and sorority, a dramatic troupe, and a writer’s journal. Membership in the various organizations range from students exclusively of a particular Asian ethnicity to students from different Asian ethnicities, and even to students who are not Asian or Asian American. Thus, the University of Michigan provides an interesting backdrop for this study. Although the APA enrollment at Michigan does not rival the high percentages at institutions in the University of California system or in some of the Ivy League schools, Asian American students (11.9 percent) represent the highest proportion of the U-M student body other than White students (73.5 percent), yet comprise only roughly one-half of the university’s minority enrollment. So, while there is a notable Asian American presence at Michigan, there is also a significant representation of other racial/ethnic groups, as well as a strong commitment on the part of the university for diversity. In addition, Asian American students at Michigan have access to a broad range of academic and student affairs programming and activities. The combination of structural diversity and diversity of experiences at the university make the U-M a model case study for how different facets of the college environment may shape APA students’ views on racial/ethnic diversity. In addition to the restrictions associated with a single-institution sample, this study is limited by the scope of its subjects and research inquiry. Therefore, it is important to clarify some key terms that frame this study. First, both the literature utilized and sample investigated in this inquiry are confined to the attitudes of Asian Pacific Americans, which includes all Americans of Asian or Pacific Island descent, but does not consist of individuals living in Asian countries. Second, the term “racial attitudes” in this study shall be defined as any attitudes, opinions, or views related to issues concerning matters of race, racial/ethnic diversity, or multiculturalism. Racial attitudes may be construed as broadly as a general intolerance for anyone of a different racial/ethnic background, but can also be as specific as an animosity toward an individual from a specific race or ethnicity. All theoretical and empirical discussions from this point forward will operate in conjunction with the parameters defined above.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF THIS STUDY As previously discussed, this study will help to fill several relative voids in the higher education, racial/ethnic identity, and racial attitude literature.

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

Problem and Context

2:00 PM

Page 19

19

First, it will provide a voice for Asian American students, who—up to this point—have been relatively unheard from in the controversy over racial issues in higher education. Second, this inquiry may offer a new perspective in racial attitude theory by exposing the vulnerability of overly simplistic models of race relations which assume that racial issues are entirely framed within a Black/White paradigm or that one must be either “for” or “against” diversity, and that agreement with some diversity issues but disagreement with others is contradictory or inconsistent. Instead, the results from this study may help inform future research on Asian Pacific Americans—and perhaps other racial/ethnic minority groups—and their multifaceted views on diversity and other related controversies in race relations. Similarly, this study will utilize a variety of sociological and social psychological theories that have been used to explain White Americans’ motivations behind their racial attitudes and will test the applicability of these theories when studying a racial/ethnic minority group. This study will also extend new frontiers in the research concerning racial/ethnic identity and racial attitudes. Drawing from recent findings that one’s racial or ethnic identity is connected to one’s racial attitudes (see Glisan, 1992; Cross, 1990; Carter, 1990), this study will investigate this relationship for Asian Americans. The longitudinal nature of the data will allow for a more in-depth examination of changes in both Asian American students’ racial attitudes and racial/ethnic identity in the college context, as well as provide insight into the effects of the college environment on APA students’ attitudes toward race. In addition to advancing racial and higher education theory, this study can assist higher education practitioners in understanding differences in its diverse student populations’ racial attitudes and the components of the college environment that seem to have the strongest effects on such racial attitudes. With this information, institutional practitioners at similar types of universities will be better equipped to design and implement appropriate diversity-related programs and educational interventions that will reach a broader student audience. The next chapter summarizes current research and theoretical perspectives that inform the conceptual framework of this study. The summary will begin with an overview of the higher education research concerning Asian Americans and their racial attitudes, and will subsequently focus upon possible influences on APA students’ racial attitudes in a college impact framework. These influences encompass aspects of the college environment, racial/ethnic identity, and personal ideologies concerning race.

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 20

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 21

Chapter Two

Overview of Literature

The review of literature in this chapter is divided into three sections. The first section summarizes the state of research on Asian Pacific American college students’ attitudes toward racial issues. The second section discusses various factors in students’ lives that are theorized or have been found to influence their racial attitudes. The final section introduces literature from various social science fields that illuminate factors in Asian Pacific American students’ backgrounds that may have an impact on their racial attitudes. This literature overview will then, in Chapter Three, culminate in a conceptual framework by which the principle research questions of this study will be examined.

PRIOR RESEARCH ON ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN STUDENTS’ RACIAL ATTITUDES Over the past two decades, numerous empirical studies have studied college students’ opinions on racial/ethnic diversity issues (see, for example, Allen, 1986; Balenger, Hoffman & Sedlacek, 1992; Brigham, 1993; Carter, White & Sedlacek, 1987; Qualls, Cox & Schehr, 1992). Studies of students’ racial attitudes have ranged broadly in sample and focus. Some of the studies only analyze the racial attitudes of students on one or two particular campuses (e.g., Bunzel, 1992; Grottkau & Nickolai-Mays, 1989), while others utilize nationally representative samples (e.g., Hurtado, Dey, & Trevino, 1994). Some focus solely upon the racial attitudes of college students irrespective of the college experience (e.g., Balenger, Hoffman, & Sedlacek, 1992; Brigham, 1993), while other inquiries examine the influence of a particular program or policy (e.g., Springer et al., 1996) or several facets of the college environment (Pascarella et al., 1996; Astin, 1993) on students’ attitudes toward racial issues. Yet, perhaps due to Myrdal’s legacy, most of the 21

96866_Inkelas_04

22

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 22


racial attitude research in the higher education literature concentrates solely or significantly upon the racial attitudes of White students only (e.g., Springer et al., 1996; Smith, 1993; Balenger, Hoffman, & Sedlacek, 1992; Glisan, 1992; Muir, 1989; Wergin & Koerin, 1989; Carter, White, & Sedlacek, 1987). In the margins, however, there have been a few scattered empirical studies on Asian Pacific American students’ views toward race and diversity. Research on Asian Pacific American college students’ racial attitudes can be grouped in two ways: a) their treatment in the sample; and b) the racial issue being investigated. In terms of the sample, most studies do not focus exclusively on Asian Americans’ racial attitudes, but instead canvas the attitudes of several racial/ethnic groups, of which Asian Americans are but one group. In those cases where Asian Americans are the sole members of the sample, every study was conducted at a single institution. Concerning the types of racial issues studied, a few focus on affirmative action in college admissions, and the others represent a variety of racial or diversity concerns. In a nationally representative sample of first year college students, Sax & Arredondo (1996) found that 50 percent of Asian American freshmen agreed that affirmative action in college admissions should be abolished, in comparison to 58 percent of White, 23 percent of African American, and 38 percent of Mexican American students. However, a much smaller percentage of Asian Americans in the national sample thought that no special consideration should be given to African Americans in admissions decisions (29 percent). Similarly, Fukurai, et al. (1995), in a survey of 266 students at the University of California at Santa Cruz, found that Asian Americans tended to oppose certain aspects of affirmative action policies, but supported other manifestations of the policy. For example, 38 percent of APA students in the sample felt that affirmative action was a form of discrimination (as opposed to eight percent of Hispanics and none of the African Americans in the study). In addition, 57 percent of APA students in the UC Santa Cruz study indicated that affirmative action provides opportunities to less qualified or less competent individuals, a margin greater than the level of agreement from White, Hispanic, and African Americans (48%, 27%, and 25%, respectively). Yet, when asked explicitly if they supported the use of affirmative action in educational, employment, and contracting decisions, Asian Americans at Santa Cruz overwhelmingly approved of all three types of affirmative action (75%, 83%, and 75%, respectively). Indeed, other researchers have found that Asian American students’ reactions to racial issues like affirmative action are not unequivocally positive or negative, but vary according to context. A study of University of

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006


2:00 PM

Page 23

23

California at Berkeley students’ opinions on diversity concluded that Asian American students “were the most conflicted” of all the racial/ethnic groups of students regarding the diversification of the student body (Institute for the Study of Social Change, 1991, p. 15). The authors described Asian American students’ opinions on racial/ethnic diversity issues such as affirmative action as “subtle,” and argued that opposition to affirmative action on of the part of some APA students was more “complex than (it) first appear(ed) on the surface” (p. 27). Other studies at different campuses have similarly reported that APA students’ opinions on racial/ethnic diversity issues are multifaceted and complex. In a 1990–1994 longitudinal study of Asian Americans’ opinions toward multiculturalism and racial/ethnic diversity at the University of Michigan (the data utilized in this study), APA seniors were found to be less likely to believe that a) colleges have a primary responsibility to correct racial injustice and that b) increased enrollment of students of color will enhance the excellence of education than when they were first year students. However, these same APA students were also found to be more likely as seniors than as freshmen to support a) different admissions criteria on SAT or ACT scores for some students of color; b) financial aid for students of color as a high priority; c) the hiring of more faculty of color as a necessity (The Michigan Study, 1997). Some may argue that these differences in opinion are contradictory or even the result of ignorance. Indeed, previous research has revealed that White and African Americans usually showed general patterns of opposition or support for a variety of race-based issues, but rarely showed support for some issues and opposition toward others (e.g., Kluegel & Smith, 1986; Schuman, Steeh & Bobo, 1985; Schuman & Hatchett, 1974). However, the differences in Asian Pacific Americans’ attitudes may infer that their opinions concerning racial issues are couched in a unique perspective that are dissimilar to both the opinions of White and African Americans. Yet, Asian American students’ views of their campuses’ racial climates bear no inconsistencies. Minatoya & Sedlacek (1981) found that APA students in their study at a large university in the mid-Atlantic region felt that students of Asian descent were treated differently than White students at the university. Distinctions between the treatment of Asian Americans and other students are not localized to the East Coast, however. Cabrera & Nora (1994), in their study at a public commuter Midwestern university, indicated that Asian Americans and African Americans held greater perceptions of a negative campus racial climate, prejudiced faculty and staff, and discriminatory in-class experiences than their White or Hispanic peers. Moreover, Hurtado, Dey, & Trevino (1994) reported that, in a national

96866_Inkelas_04

24

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 24


sample of fourth year college students, 31 percent of Asian Americans had heard faculty member(s) make inappropriate remarks about minorities and 30 percent of APA students felt personally insulted or threatened by other students because of their Asian background. It would seem that Asian Pacific Americans across the country perceive the racial climates on their campuses to be somewhat hostile to APA students, and thus believe their campuses to be discriminatory against Asian Americans. However, other Asian Pacific Americans find that racebased policies, such as affirmative action, are discriminatory in terms of preferential treatment given to members of certain racial/ethnic minority groups. Yet, opposition to some types of race-targeted policies like affirmative action does not always unequivocally indicate opposition to all such policies: students at the University of Michigan—the same campus in which this study is based—showed high levels of support for the hiring of more faculty of color but less support for a high priority being placed upon financial aid for students of color as a high priority.

INFLUENCES ON STUDENTS’ RACIAL ATTITUDES: A REVIEW OF THEORY AND RESEARCH College Impact Theory What might be causing Asian Pacific American college students’ contrasting views on affirmative action and other racial issues? In order to understand how students’ attitudes may be influenced by different aspects of their personal backgrounds and college experiences, it is important to discuss how background characteristics and college environments are thought to have an impact on students’ attitudes in the first place. There have been several theoretical models in the higher education literature that have proposed to explain how students change as a result of their interaction with different college environments (e.g., Astin, 1993; Tinto, 1993; Weidman, 1989; Pascarella, 1985). However, only two models directly address student change along affective dimensions such as racial attitudes, values, or beliefs: Astin’s (1993) input-environment-outcome (I-E-O) conceptual framework and Weidman’s (1989) conceptual model of undergraduate socialization. The Astin and Weidman models actually dovetail well with each other; the Astin input-environment-outcome model provides a skeletal framework for studying college impact, and the Weidman model strengthens the I-E-O framework by supplying specific constructs by which to measure the “inputs” and the “environments” in an empirical inquiry. The Astin (1993) I-E-O model has been used for over three decades in the study of college student change and development, no doubt in large part

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006


2:00 PM

Page 25

25

due to its simplicity and flexibility. In this framework, “outcomes,” or student characteristics after exposure to college, are thought to be influenced both by a) “inputs,” or student characteristics before and at time of entry to college, and b) “environments,” or various programs, policies, faculty, peers, and educational experiences that students interact with while in college (1993, p.7). Astin argues that research examining how the college environment may influence student change or development will always be biased unless measures are taken to control for as many student inputs as possible. Students enter college at different stages of development and with dissimilar backgrounds, aspirations, and values. Research that draws conclusions on the impact of college on student outcomes, but fails to take into account the inherent distinctions among students before they even enter college, will most likely overestimate the power of a college education on students’ lives and achievements. The Weidman (1989) conceptual model of undergraduate socialization is probably the most comprehensive college impact model designed specifically to examine affective outcomes. As does Astin (1993), Weidman posits that student outcomes are influenced both by students’ college experiences and their personal characteristics. Although the model includes some psychological aspects in its framework, its theoretical underpinning is primarily structural, or sociological, in focus. Weidman describes the model as a “consideration of socializing influences experienced by undergraduates from a variety of sources, both within and external to the postsecondary institution” (1989, p. 290). Thus, the framework places more emphasis on how social structures affect student outcomes (a sociological orientation) than on how individual processes influence those same outcomes (a more psychological orientation). However, Weidman is quick to point out that the individual is not without agency in the process of socialization; on the contrary, he asserts that the individual has considerable control over the variety of ways in which an environment may act as a socializing agent. In terms of its operationalization, the Weidman (1989) framework can be thought of as an elaborated I-E-O model. Similar to Astin (1993), the Weidman model includes student input characteristics, such as the student’s socioeconomic status, prior academic aptitude and a pretest of the student’s aspirations, values, and preferences. In addition, the model contains several aspects of the college environment, such as institutional, curricular, and social contexts. Institutional characteristics include institutional size, residential considerations, and the types of organizations within the campus community. Curricular contexts encompass institutional quality and mission as well as students’ interactions with curricular offerings and academic departments. Social contexts cover a broad spectrum of factors, including the experiences students at institutions of different size,

96866_Inkelas_04

26

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 26


residence patterns, and community organizations, may have while on campus. Social experiences also incorporate students’ interpersonal interactions with peers and faculty. Yet, the undergraduate socialization model differs significantly from the I-E-O model with its incorporation of non-college reference groups and something Weidman (1989) calls “normative pressures.” Students are not completely cut off from the outside world when they attend college, nor are they invulnerable to pressures exerted upon them from sources external to the college environment. Thus, their affective outcomes, such as their views on social issues like racial/ethnic diversity, can be influenced by factors outside the college experience as well. Weidman’s model encompasses several sources of influence on students’ outcomes, including familial and other non-college reference groups. Weidman (1989) emphasizes that the effects of parental socialization may persist during a student’s years in college and thus may mitigate the impact that college can have on affecting students’ outcomes. He suggests that familial socialization and lifestyles be investigated, both as a direct influence on student outcomes and in interaction with the collegiate experience. In addition to the parent-child relationship, Weidman hypothesizes that students may have other sources of influence external to the college environment, such as peers, employers, and home communities. He adds that the support of non-college significant others, such as friends, relatives, and churches, has been found to be important for minority students (Thomas, 1981; Nora, 1987, in Weidman, 1989). Parental socialization, significant non-college reference groups, and students’ background characteristics all combine to form what Weidman (1989) terms “pre-college normative pressures.” Pre-college normative pressures are the combination of impacts on students’ beliefs or convictions prior to college that determine how open they will be to structural influences on those beliefs while in college. Thus, strong pre-college convictions may make the impact of the college experience less potent or at least less noticeable. After students have been exposed to different aspects of the college experience, such as curricular, institutional, and social conditions, the pre-college normative pressures interact with socializing agents within the college environment to form “in-college normative pressures.” The culmination of all the normative pressures, in turn, influence the students’ outcomes, or in this case, students’ attitudes toward racial/ethnic diversity issues. Demographic and Collegiate Influences on Students’ Racial Attitudes The Weidman (1989) model lends itself well to the study of influences on students’ racial attitudes. In addition to a clearer articulation of how the

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006


2:00 PM

Page 27

27

“inputs” and “environments” of the Astin (1993) I-E-O model interact to affect student outcomes, the Weidman undergraduate socialization model and results from other empirical works suggest some constructs that are meaningful to the examination of college students’ racial attitudes. In terms of demographic characteristics, Allen & Haniff (1991) reported that gender was an important predictor of racial attitudes for African American women. The authors found that African American females were more conservative in their racial attitudes than were African American males, and women were less likely to support inter-racial dating on campus. These findings, however, directly contradict conclusions from other studies, which report that women are generally more racially tolerant than men (e.g. Allen, 1986; Carter, 1990; Qualls, Cox & Schehr, 1992). Sax & Arredondo (1996) concluded that students from upper class socioeconomic statuses were more likely to oppose the use of affirmative action in college admissions. Some may question why students from a high socioeconomic status (SES) would oppose a race-based issue like affirmative action, since a number of empirical studies conducted in the 1960s and 1970s found that a higher socioeconomic status (especially higher levels of education) was correlated with a stronger commitment to diversity within individuals (Prothro & Grigg, 1960; Converse, 1964; and Greeley & Sheatsley, 1974). Yet, Mary Jackman, in two controversial studies (Jackman, 1978; and Jackman & Muha, 1984), argued that a higher education does not necessarily lead to increased levels of racial tolerance in individuals, but instead socializes individuals on how to appear to be tolerant. She found that well-educated White Americans may indicate that they support racial diversity at an abstract level, but that they are no more likely than poorly educated Americans to support policies and programs related to racial integration. Asian Pacific Americans in the Sax & Arredondo (1996) study seemed to support Jackman’s conclusions, at least in the sense that APAs of a higher socioeconomic status did not support the use of affirmative action in college admissions—a policy used to increase racial integration in higher education. However, since the students in Sax & Arredondo’s sample were college freshman and the study only investigated students’ views on affirmative action, it cannot be concluded that APA opposition to affirmative action is due to a successful inculcation of values via a college education, nor can it be concluded that Asian Americans only appear to be racially tolerant on a superficial level. College Subenvironments Contrary to Jackman’s (1978) conclusion that college does not produce any effect on students’ racial attitudes, other higher education literature suggests

96866_Inkelas_04

28

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 28


that various facets of the college environment can have an impact on students’ racial attitudes and views toward diversity. Several studies concluded that student involvement with racial/cultural workshops or ethnic studies courses increased commitment to the promotion of racial understanding (Antony, 1992; Astin, 1993; Hyun, 1994); openness to diversity and challenge (Pascarella et al., 1996; Springer et al., 1996); and cross-race interactions (Hurtado, Dey & Trevino, 1994). Recent studies have also validated a relationship between academic disciplines or majors and more tolerant attitudes toward racial issues. For example, Milem (1992) found that students who enrolled in ethnic studies courses were more liberal in racial attitudes, higher in commitment to racial understanding, and more likely to be culturally aware. Astin (1993) had similar findings to Milem’s, and also reported that greater numbers of mathematics courses taken and majoring in business, nursing, science, or engineering fields were negatively related to increases in desires to promote racial understanding. Muir (1989) supported the relationship between engineering majors and negative racial attitudes and Pascarella & Terenzini (1991), in a review of additional research, concurred that social science majors showed the largest gains in support for civil rights, and that business, education, and engineering majors made the least amount of gains. Participation in extra-curricular activities also seems to have an impact on students’ racial attitudes. Milem (1992) concluded that students who socialized with someone from another racial/ethnic group were more liberal in racial attitudes, higher in commitment to promoting racial understanding, and had increased levels of cultural awareness and acceptance. Three studies using data from a national longitudinal survey of college student experiences revealed that students who discussed racial/ethnic issues outside of class were more likely to be liberal in racial attitudes, show higher commitment to racial understanding, and have greater levels of cultural awareness and acceptance (Milem, 1992; Antony, 1992; Astin, 1993). In addition, Hurtado (1990), using the same data, found that the time students spent in student groups and organizations was positively associated with increased commitment to the promotion of racial understanding. Previous research has also empirically linked minority student participation in racial/ethnic student organizations with increased racial/ethnic identification (Mitchell & Dell, 1992; Trevino, 1992), and two studies connect racial/ethnic student organizational involvement with increased sensitivity to cultural awareness and racial discrimination (Trevino, 1992; Rooney, 1984).

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 29


29

The Campus Racial Climate Often, students’ perceptions about their campuses may be just as influential as their experiences. Several studies indicate that students hold strong negative perceptions about their campuses’ racial climates. Peterson et al. (1978) noted that greater hostilities toward Blacks among White students were related to the perception that allocations of resources were being distributed preferentially toward Black students. In addition, Cabrera & Nora (1994; and Nora & Cabrera, 1996) found that minority students were more likely than their White counterparts to perceive that the campus climate was prejudicial and/or discriminatory. Moreover, McClelland & Auster (1990) reported that Black students were more likely to have negative perceptions of the campus climate concerning school functions, student parties, and race relations in general. In terms of how such negative perceptions of the environment affect students’ racial attitudes, Pascarella et al. (1996) determined that, alternatively, students’ openness to diversity was influenced by the perception that their campus was non-discriminatory. Hurtado (1992) found that students’ indications that their campuses were “student centered” or “committed to diversity” were associated with perceptions of low racial tension on campus, while perceptions that their campus was concerned with “resources or reputation” led to greater perceptions of campus racial tension. In addition, Hurtado (1994) reported that high-achieving Latino students who felt that other students on their campus knew little about Hispanic culture perceived greater racial/ethnic campus tension, while perceptions that their faculty cared about the students at the institution led to reduced perceptions of tension among Latinos. Nearly all of the above studies did not explore Asian Pacific American college students’ racial attitudes; instead, most of them utilized a multiracial sample and controlled for the individual effects of ethnicity, or they focused exclusively on Black, White, and sometimes Hispanic student samples. This inquiry will incorporate many of the constructs that higher education researchers have advanced as influential in shaping students’ racial attitudes in order to ascertain whether or not these constructs are applicable or appropriate in the study of Asian Pacific American college students’ racial attitudes. Influences of Personal Beliefs on Individuals’ Racial Attitudes In addition to the higher education literature, the fields of sociology and social psychology offer three major contributions regarding influences on individuals’ racial attitudes: self-interest, stratification, and dominant ideology theory. Perhaps the most basic of the theories interpreting why

96866_Inkelas_04

30

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 30


Americans hold negative racial attitudes is related to conflicts they perceive with their own self-interests. The self-interests theory argues that hostilities between members of different racial groups arise from conflicts over material interests and scarce resources. Blalock’s (1967) Toward a Theory of Minority-Group Relations is a widely cited proponent of this hypothesis. Originally designed to stockpile several theoretical interpretations concerning intergroup hostility, Blalock’s 97 theorems can be synthesized into the following: intergroup conflict is the result of status imbalances, real and perceived competition, and power relationships. Because opposition is formed around certain economic or political interests, the self-interest or group conflict models can be considered to be issue domain-specific, where negative racial attitudes can be aimed at specific targets for specific reasons. Perhaps the most influential researcher studying this theory is Lawrence Bobo. In 1983, Bobo first attacked the argument that opposition to policies promoting integration was strictly due to racism. In his study of White Americans’ attitudes toward busing to desegregate the public schools, Bobo (1983) concluded that Whites, in addition to holding several racist beliefs, were averse to race-targeted policies because they perceived them to be a threat to their lifestyles and positions in life. In subsequent studies (Bobo & Kluegel, 1993; Bobo & Hutchings, 1996), he found that the effects that self-interests had on people’s racial attitudes were somewhat more muted than in his 1983 study, but that the effects attributable to other theories (e.g., underlying racism) were also not as strong as in previous studies. In a neo-Marxist interpretation of self-interests, Jackman & Muha (1984) argued that dominant social groups “routinely develop ideologies that legitimize and justify the status quo” (p. 751). Thus, in order to keep their privilege and status, the authors asserted that Whites, males, and the wealthy develop opinions that help to systematically prevent minorities from success. Jackman & Muha’s implied hierarchy blends well with other theories which: a) advance that Americans believe that an economically and socially stratified society exists; and/or b) posit that Americans’ racial attitudes are based in part upon their beliefs about the legitimacy of a socially stratified order. Blumer (1958) offered a classic sociological stratification interpretation of race prejudice. Unlike the self-interest theory, he argued that feelings of competition and hostility emerge from historically and collectively developed judgments about the positions in the social order that in-group members should rightfully occupy relative to out-groups members. Important components to his theory include: a) a belief of superiority by the in-group over the other groups; b) the perception that out-groups are “alien” or different; c)

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006


2:00 PM

Page 31

31

the sense that one’s group position involves certain rightful claims to rights, privileges, resources, and statuses; and d) the sense that other groups are trying to gain a greater share of one’s rights, privileges, resources, and statuses. Negative attitudes about other racial/ethnic groups derive from the implied inferiority of those groups in relation to one’s own and perceptions that individuals in those groups are “alien.” Tajfel & Turner (1986) offer a similar stratification theory that is more social-psychological in origin. In their social identity theory, the authors asserted that individuals derive their self-images from the social categories to which they believe they belong. Thus, in order to maintain a positive self-concept, individuals will aim to construct positive images of their social group, and will form negative images of the out-group in comparison. From these positive self-conceptions and negative conceptions of the “other,” a social hierarchy begins to take form. In an attempt to validate Blumer’s group position thesis, Bobo & Hutchings (1996) found that different groups (varying from racial/ethnic groups to blue-collar/white-collar groups) do have salient ideas about their positions in the social order, but that their negative racial attitudes are as likely to be influenced by simple self-interests and prejudicial beliefs as they are by their sense of group position. Bobo & Kluegel (1993) found that the White Americans in their study tended to support programs and policies that sought to mitigate economic stratification, but would not support programs and policies designed to end racial stratification. In their study, White Americans gave greater support to “opportunity-enhancing” programs, such as job-training programs, than they did to race-targeted programs like affirmative action. The authors asserted that the Whites in their sample tended to oppose affirmative action programs because they were thought to promote outcomes that were not based on merit but instead on racial heritage. However, support for job-training programs was high, because the extra help given to the participants was color-blind and based on individual initiative. Self-interest theorists would be quick to point out that White Americans would support job-training programs because these programs may serve to advance their self-interests, while they would never be eligible to receive benefits from race-based affirmative action programs and thus would not be likely to support them. White Americans may also tend to support opportunity-enhancing programs and oppose race-targeted programs because of an abiding personal conviction in a construct called the dominant ideology. Kluegel & Smith (1986) assert that the majority of White Americans subscribe to a dominant ideology in which they believe that—regardless of racial heritage—opportunity is available and success is attainable in America, and

96866_Inkelas_04

32

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 32


dreams can be obtained through hard work and merit. Thus, the way for minority groups to achieve economic and social parity is not through redistributive processes like affirmative action but through sweat, determination, and education. American racial minority groups are not as likely to have such strong a faith in the dominant ideology. Kluegel & Smith (1986) reported that Black Americans were less likely to agree that the reasons why some Americans do not succeed were related to a lack of preparation, skill, or motivation. Instead, the majority of African American respondents in Kluegel & Smith’s (1986) study perceived American society to be systematically, structurally, and institutionally discriminatory by race, gender, and social class, and that subordinated groups—regardless of individual effort—are inherently at a disadvantage in such a society. Jennifer Hochschild (1995), in Facing Up to the American Dream, wrote that African Americans’ views toward the dominant ideology are not as clear cut as their depiction in the Kluegel & Smith (1986) study. She argued that Blacks’ attitudes toward the American dream (i.e., the dominant ideology) are influenced by their class as well as their racial status. Therefore, upper- and lower-class African Americans hold different beliefs about the American dream. Contrary to what one might expect, Hochschild found that African Americans in the lowest-third socioeconomic status of her sample remained the strongest supporters of the American dream, while African Americans in the highest-third were the ones whose beliefs in the American dream had declined the most. In what she termed as “succeeding more and enjoying it less,” Hochschild discovered that, although the socioeconomic status of the top third of the African American population had improved dramatically over the past thirty years, these successful Black Americans found themselves still struggling to compete for equal pay and treatment in their professions and communities. This competition, combined with a disillusionment of the collective state for African Americans in U.S. society, led successful Blacks to conclude that the American dream is a myth. On the other hand, those African Americans whose circumstances were bleak and/or worsening continued to “remain under the spell of the great national suggestion,” because abandoning hope in the American dream would mean having to abandon any hope of escaping their present situations (Hochschild, 1995). There has not been much research on what Asian Pacific Americans’ beliefs are concerning the dominant ideology or the “American dream.” A diversity study at UC Berkeley concluded that Asian Pacific Americans view education as the primary pathway to economic and social mobility, thus suggesting that they subscribe to at least that aspect of the “American

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006


2:00 PM

Page 33

33

dream” ideology (Institute for the Study of Social Change, 1991). Hurtado, Inkelas, Briggs, & Rhee (1997) may have confirmed this conjecture concerning APA students’ strong belief in education as a means of success when they found that, in a nationally representative sample, Asian American high school students were the best prepared for college: APA high school seniors, as compared with their racial/ethnic peers, had the highest degree aspirations, were the most likely to have taken college entrance examinations on time, and applied to the greatest amount of colleges. In a study examining the Black-Korean conflict and the lack of conflict between Koreans and Mexicans in Los Angeles, Cheng & Espiritu (1989) noted that foreign-born Koreans and Mexicans are likely to share an “immigrant” ideology of America as the land of opportunity, since they often left their home countries to expand their economic and social opportunities. John Ogbu (1991) offers a similar theory through a wider context of all American immigrants. In a cultural ecological explanation, Ogbu argues that Asian Americans are voluntary immigrants (as opposed to involuntary immigrants), and that voluntary immigrant minority groups tend to do well academically because they see schooling as a necessary step in the American dream of upward social mobility. On the other hand, involuntary immigrant minority groups, because of systematic and persistent economic and social discrimination they have faced, do not believe in social mobility and thus do not see the need to perform well in school. However, Ogbu’s theory is left vulnerable by the fact that Asian Americans embody very different immigrant histories: to be sure, many immigrants from Asia came to the U.S. to seek out better employment opportunities, but some also came as sojourners, as political dissidents, and as refugees from devastating wars. Thus, many Asian Pacific Americans are not “voluntary” immigrants, as he posits, and therefore may not value American dream, or dominant ideology, so strongly. To date, there has been no directed research that specifically examines American-born Asian Pacific Americans’ beliefs about the dominant ideology. However, just as there are connections between White and African Americans’ beliefs about the dominant ideology and their attitudes toward racial issues, there would appear to be the potential for similar relationships among other racial/ethnic groups like Asian Pacific Americans. In fact, the dominant ideology and self-interest theories can be useful in interpreting Asian Pacific American attitudes toward racial issues. For example, APA opposition to the use of affirmative action in college admissions processes could be interpreted through self-interest theory: if Asian American students are inclined to believe that affirmative action policies are taking coveted enrollment opportunities away from them and giving

96866_Inkelas_04

34

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 34


them to under-represented minority groups, then naturally, APA students would be against the use of affirmative action in admissions decisions. Indeed, APA students in Sax & Arredondo’s (1996) study who were not attending their first choice college were more likely to oppose affirmative action in admissions, implying that they may have felt that their chances for admission in their school of preference (or “self-interests”) were thwarted by affirmative action policies. Opposition to racial issues like affirmative action may be heightened by a belief in the dominant ideology. APA students who worked hard in high school, achieved good grades and SAT scores, and even participated in extra-curricular activities in order to satisfy the admissions criteria of the colleges of their choice may feel that their opportunity for advancement was impeded by subjective and non-meritocratic criteria based upon racial or ethnic background. Moreover, Asian American students—especially those from voluntary immigrant families (Cheng & Espiritu, 1989; Ogbu, 1991)—may have been raised in a household that values the work ethic and “land of opportunity” beliefs. Because of these strong linkages, this study will test both the self-interest and dominant ideology theories as potential influences on Asian Pacific American students’ racial attitudes.

INFLUENCES ON RACIAL ATTITUDES UNIQUE TO ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICANS Thus far, most of the research and theory reviewed has not focused on Asian Pacific Americans specifically, but on the racial attitudes of Whites or Americans in general. This choice was due in large part to the fact that very little has been written about Asian Pacific Americans’ racial attitudes (Osajima, 1991) and educational experiences (Yonezawa & Antonio, 1996). However, there is related literature on Asian Pacific Americans that may be applicable to the study of their racial attitudes; in addition, certain aspects of existing theory have properties that lend themselves well to an inquiry into APA students’ attitudes. For example, the Weidman (1989) model is beneficial in the study of Asian Pacific American students’ outcomes because it incorporates the influences of familial and other non-college reference group socialization. Several researchers have suggested that APA adolescents’ parents are significant players in their future choices and outcomes (e.g., Osajima, 1991, Shih, 1988). Others have stressed the importance of Asian cultural values on APA students’ lives (Shih, 1988; Chew & Ogi, 1987), which no doubt are inculcated through these students’ families and communities. The popular media has concluded that Asian American students’ remarkable achievements are due to dominant forces in the Asian family

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 35


35

and cultural norms, such as filial piety and the Confucian work ethic (Bell, 1984; Butterfield, 1986; Brand, 1987). Empirical analyses have revealed similar convictions among APA students themselves. Students in a 1991 study credited their families as the most influential factor in their educational achievements, and that obligations to their families served as an important motivation to do well in school (Osajima, 1991). Shih (1988) noted Asian cultural values stress congeniality and the maintenance of group harmony, in contrast to the rugged individuality embraced by Western culture. Chew & Ogi (1987) concur that Asian Pacific American students live in a duality of cultures: an Asian culture that emphasizes filial piety, humility, restraint of emotional expression, and sense of obligation and an American culture—including the culture of American higher education—that stresses individualism, autonomy, and leadership. These clashes in cultures may produce antagonisms within the Asian American family and within the APA student’s psyche. Some APA students in Osajima’s (1991) study acknowledged that parental influence could sometimes turn into parental pressure. Osajima found that some APA students who felt these family pressures to be too severe expressed great dissatisfaction with their Asian heritage. While Osajima documented how family pressure has had an influential effect on APA students’ views toward their own racial or ethnic identity, he did not investigate how APA students’ opinions about their identities may affect their attitudes regarding racial issues. The connection between racial/ethnic identity and racial attitudes, however, is a relatively new area of investigation with only limited speculation on how the two constructs interact with each other. The Influence of Racial or Ethnic Identity on Asian Pacific Americans’ Racial Attitudes The first research into the relationship between self-identity and attitudes toward others was conducted in the field of developmental psychology. Although the age at which children become able to identify people by race or ethnicity is still being debated, several studies have revealed that, by first grade, most children can distinguish among people of different skin color and other racial/ethnic cues (Katz, 1981; Proshansky, 1965). Yet, it is not until sometime during or after age eight that children are able to generalize these cues and terms they have learned to describe members of other racial groups to all members of those racial/ethnic groups (Brigham & Weissbach, 1972). During this period of development, children sort out concepts based on racial/ethnic attributes that seem to be either “like me,” or “different from me.” The conglomeration of concepts the children use to describe

96866_Inkelas_04

36

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 36


attributes that are “like me” are then thought to form the first phases of their racial or ethnic identity (Brigham & Weissbach). It may be fruitful to first describe the various theories on racial or ethnic identity processes hypothesized for Asian Pacific Americans, before the discussion turns to how racial or ethnic identity may have an impact on Asian Pacific Americans’ racial attitudes. While Fugita & O’Brien (1991) were primarily examining the process of ethnic identity within Japanese Americans, their discussion of the different theoretical perspectives in understanding ethnic identity has been used to describe other Asian American ethnic groups as well. The authors identify two perspectives in the study of ethnic identity that are beneficial to the parameters of this study: the assimilationist and emergent ethnicity perspectives. The assimilationist perspective implies a “zero-sum” relationship between mainstream assimilation and retention of ethnic traits; individuals who gain greater social assimilation to the mainstream American culture lose their ethnic traits and identification and vice-versa. Assimilationists (Gans, 1979; Park, 1950) argue that, with each generation born in the U.S., Asian Pacific Americans lose their “Asian” identity and become more “American,” or Western. The emergent ethnicity perspective asserts that various racial or ethnic identifications are shaped as much by processes that occur in the new society (America) as by the ethnic and cultural traits brought over from the country of immigration. Embedded within this perspective are some assimilationist assumptions: for example, the emergent ethnicity view posits that an individual’s ethnic identity is influenced by factors from both the “old” (i.e., “Asian”) and “new” (i.e., “Western”) worlds through which the individual is struggling to navigate (Handlin, 1951). The major difference between the two theories, however, is that the emergent ethnicity perspective diffuses a significant limitation in the assimilationist perspective—the fact that the assimilationist viewpoint does not allow for the possibility that the processes of assimilation and retention of ethnicity can occur simultaneously within an individual. In other words, in the assimilationist perspective, an Asian Pacific American could never develop both “Asian” and “American” identities at the same time. Elements of both perspectives can be found in several theories on or studies of Asian Pacific American racial and/or ethnic identification. First, in terms of the assimilationist perspective, several social scientists have attempted to operationalize Asian Pacific American identity by indexing a series of traits, beliefs, or behaviors that are thought to be traditionally “Asian.” For example, a few studies created an “Asian American” ethnic identity scale by combining a set of values that are hypothesized to be Confucian or Buddhist: group orientation, fatalism, obedience to authority,

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006


2:00 PM

Page 37

37

self-control, and filial piety (Matsuda, Matsumoto, & Meredith, 1979; Yamauchi, 1981). Another study indexed APA ethnic identity through a set of traits: language familiarity, friendship choice, knowledge of one’s ethnic group’s geography and history, and attitudes toward the members or customs of one’s own group (Suinn, Richard-Figueroa, Lew, & Vigil, 1985). What is noticeable about these two theories is the fact that the measurement of ethnic identity seems to be rather static or fixed: either one is fluent in English or one is not; either one is obedient or one is not; either one is “Asian” or one is not. Yet, several sociologists and psychologists (e.g., Espiritu, 1992; Yeh & Huang, 1995; Sue & Sue, 1971; Atkinson et al, 1989) note that Asian Americans often do not live in an exclusively “Eastern” or “Western” world; instead, they navigate in both Asian and American cultures in their daily lives. Some researchers, such as Gibson (1988) and Kim (1993), in fact, argue that Asian Americans practice a strategy of “accommodation without assimilation,” where APA children adopt “American” values while at school and with White peers, while maintaining traditional cultural values in the home. However, there seem to be varying degrees of fluidity across Asian and American cultures, as noted by two typologies of Asian American identity developed independently by Sue & Sue (1971) and Lee (1996). In the Sue & Sue (1971) typology, the first type of Asian Pacific American is the “loyalist,” one who adheres closely to the norms, standards, and values of the traditional Asian family. In Lee’s (1996) typology, the “Asian-identified” identity was similar, in that Asian-identified students were motivated most by a strong desire to follow their parents’ wishes. The second type in Sue & Sue’s model is the “marginalist,” who takes pride in assimilation with the dominant (American) culture, and rejects Asian customs, values, and behaviors. Interestingly, in Lee’s study, the “marginalist” took on two slightly variant forms. The first was in the form of the “Korean-identified” student, who probably best exemplified the “accommodation without assimilation” strategy. At school, Korean-identified students dressed in “preppy” fashions and constantly sought the recognition and respect of their White peers; however, at home, most of these students spoke Korean and only associated with other Korean-Americans. The second variant form in Lee’s study was the “New Waver.” Similar to Sue & Sue’s “marginalist,” New Wavers worked hard to shed themselves of the stereotypical image of the Asian American. New Waver boys would counter the feminized, bookish Asian American stereotype by wearing dark, loose fitting clothing and emphasizing body building; New Waver girls wore tight fitting suggestive clothing and stylized makeup. The final

96866_Inkelas_04

38

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 38


type of Asian Pacific American in the Sue & Sue typology is the “rebel.” These APAs attempt to develop a new identity that reconciles aspects of one’s Asian ethnic heritage while also rebelling against parental authority. Lee isolated a similar type of identity in her high school ethnographic study. Unlike the other students in her study, “Asian American-identified” students did not primarily identify themselves along their ethnic or “Asian” background; instead, they emphasized both their “Asian” and “American” selves, and were often the most vocal about Asian American rights and racial injustice. While Sue & Sue (1971) focused primarily on how Asian Americans form their identities in reaction to their ethnic cultural ties, Lee (1996) noted that Asian American identities can be formed just as significantly by social and political contexts as they can by cultural relationships. In fact, Lee noted that three of the four types of Asian American identities she isolated in her study were pan-ethnic, or encompassed students of more than one Asian ethnic background. The Asian-identified, New Wavers, and Asian American-identified students all associated in groups that were ethnically diverse, often because these students identified less by their ethnic heritage than they did by perceived common experiences—which, among the different groups, included: a) a need to perform up to the expectations of one’s parents; b) a disgust of the model minority stereotype; or c) a desire to fight racism and injustice. Thus, in some measure, the Asian American identities that Lee characterized were related to APA students’ reactions to their attitudes about race and racism in America. The New Waver students were reacting to the stereotypical image of Asians in America by emphasizing activities, manner of dress, and behaviors that countered the image. The Asian American-identified students reached across ethnic and racial boundaries to counter racism by being outspoken and through community activism. The pan-ethnic phenomenon among Asian Pacific Americans was not newly coined by Lee (1996), though. Despite the heterogeneity of the Asian Pacific American community by ethnic origin, socioeconomic status, and immigration history, Asian Americans have gone through a “racialization,” whereby “previously unclassified relationships, social practices, or groups are given racial meaning” (Chan & Hune, 1995, p. 207). The Asian American pan-ethnic racialization process has been characterized and discussed by several authors (Chan & Hune, 1995; Espiritu, 1992; Omi & Winant, 1986), all with very similar interpretations. All of the authors point to the 1960s and the Civil Rights Movement as the catalyst for the “Asian American” identity construct. At that time, most of the APA population consisted of second- and third-generation Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino Americans

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006


2:00 PM

Page 39

39

who began to question their identity and place in the American racial context. The different Asian ethnic groups realized that, individually, they were too small in size to exercise much political clout (Espiritu, 1992). Consequently, they (especially the APA students involved in the 1960s student movements) began to reconceptualize themselves in a more pan-ethnic way which brought together previously distinct Asian ethnic communities separated by nationalist sentiments, linguistic differences, and cultural practices (Espiritu, 1992) into a more powerful economic, political, and social force. Students empowered by their “Asian American” pan-ethnic identity then joined forces with other Asian ethnic groups (and sometimes other American minority groups) to protest racially discriminatory practices and champion civil liberties. The APA pan-ethnic concept is challenged today by a constantly changing Asian Pacific American population in the U.S. Due in part to changes in immigration policies and an increasingly global connection, the APA population in America is no longer dominated by Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino Americans, but includes Asians of a diverse number of regions, including Southeast Asia, Korea, and the Indian sub-continent (Chan & Hune, 1995). Yet, the “Asian American” racialization process rejuvenates itself each time new Asian immigrants enter the country and generations in the U.S. encounter prejudices and cultural assumptions merely because they are of Asian ancestry—regardless of the country of their origin or the generation status they are in America. The pan-ethnic or racial identity hypotheses in Asian Pacific American scholarship lend themselves well to existing research and theory on racial identity development in other racial groups. Racial identity refers to an individual’s sense of identification or disidentification with the group with which he or she is thought to share racial heritage. Racial identity, like other forms of individual identity, results from a process of self-reflection, reference group persuasion, and ascribed characteristics (Erikson, 1963). Tajfel & Turner (1986) offer a social identity theory that hypothesizes how processes may interact to influence individuals to identify with a larger reference group, such as a racial/ethnic group. The Tajfel & Turner (1986) social identity theory constructs a continuum associated with how individuals perceive the nature and the structure of relations between different groups in society, and how they choose to identify with such groups (p. 35). On one end of the continuum are people who believe in “social mobility,” or that groups—such as racial/ethnic groups in America—are permeable, and that it is possible to move between groups through talent, hard work, etc. On the other end of the continuum are people who believe in “social change,” or what others may describe as

96866_Inkelas_04

40

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 40


“social stratification.” These individuals see the structure of relations between racial/ethnic groups as highly stratified, and that it is very difficult for individuals to move between groups, especially from subordinated groups to dominant groups. Thus, they argue that, in addition to other factors, a person’s social identity is influenced by his or her beliefs about social stratification and the dominant ideology (see Blumer, 1958; Kluegel & Smith, 1986; Bobo & Hutchings, 1996). The authors assert that one’s own identity and behavior toward members of other racial/ethnic groups depends upon how one positions one’s self on this continuum. For example, people who more strongly support a “social mobility” belief system tend not to identify with any one particular group (racial/ethnic or otherwise), and are more inclined to reject group ideology and collectivity and focus primarily on individual characteristics of others. On the other hand, people who more strongly support a “social change or stratification” belief system tend to identify and affiliate with their larger group, and are likely to view members of other groups less often by individual characteristics than by unified social categories. Tajfel & Turner (1986) also posit that those who embrace the “social change or stratification” belief system tend to derive their self-images from the social categories to which they believe they belong. This self-categorization process, then, affects how individuals perceive people who are not from their racial/ethnic group: increased focus on the ways in which one’s group is distinct from others influences individuals to believe that there are major differences among social groups, and that—just as one’s own group shares similar beliefs and practices—other groups must manifest different beliefs and practices. In addition, individuals in minority groups, when comparing the statuses of different racial/ethnic groups in American society, begin to recognize the subordinated position they occupy in the social hierarchy. Yet, instead of perceiving their marginalized role in the social order as a sign of inferiority to dominant groups, Tajfel & Turner (1986) note that minority group members aim to bolster their images by constructing a positive image of their social group in order to maintain a positive self-concept. Thus, a subordinated position in the social order does not always result in an inferior minority group perception; on the contrary, social marginalization may result in a positive self- and group-image and a greater sense of commitment to one’s racial/ethnic group. How does this process of heightened salience of and identification with one’s racial/ethnic group begin? The process of racial identity development has been hypothesized for several different racial/ethnic groups, first for African Americans (Cross, 1990; Hall, Cross, & Freedle, 1972), but also for Latinos (Ramirez, 1984) and White Americans (Helms, 1990).

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006


2:00 PM

Page 41

41

Atkinson, Morten, & Sue (1989) noted that the racial identity development models created to describe the developmental processes for different minority groups tended to bear striking resemblances to one another. Combining the major characteristics of the other models, the authors developed a five-stage “Minority Identity Development Model,” designed to encompass the racial identity development process of all minority groups, including Asian Pacific Americans. In their model, individuals in the first stage, “conformity,” are distinguished by a lack of racial or ethnic consciousness and an unconscious endorsement of the dominant culture. Then, through a “breakthrough” event, individuals encounter information or experiences inconsistent with their belief system and are forced to question their beliefs (“dissonance”). After the period of dissonance, individuals become “immersed” within or obsessed with their own racial/cultural identity and exhibit biases for this identity at the expense of other cultures. Finally, individuals begin to emerge from their ethnic and mono-cultural world view and develop a more multicultural or diverse understanding of the world. While still embracing their own racial identity, they also develop the capability to tolerate and appreciate the racial identities of other groups. As psychologists, Atkinson, Morten & Sue (1989) were not only interested in the process of racial identity development within individuals, but also in how that developmental process affects individuals’ psychological or mental health. Consequently, the authors formed a series of hypotheses on how the above model could be used to interpret individuals’ beliefs and attitudes toward themselves, members of the same minority group, and members of different minorities. So, for example, Atkinson, Morten & Sue posit that individuals from minority groups in the “conformity” stage would hold self-deprecating and group-depreciating attitudes, since they would tend to identify more strongly with White social beliefs. In addition, their strong affiliation with dominant belief systems might cause them to hold prejudicial attitudes toward other minority groups. When individuals reach the “resistance” and “immersion” stages, they become completely engrossed in their own ethnicities’ culture and social practices. During this time, the White or dominant society is seen as the oppressor, while other minority groups may be seen through a more appreciative lens, especially as the individual begins to develop a sense of empathy due to his/her recognition of a shared history of oppression. Moreover, individuals in the “resistance” period would be marked by high levels of ethnocentrism as well. Finally, in some time between the “introspection” and “integrative” stages, individuals begin to understand that there are positive and negative aspects to different cultures, and that each culture (the dominant or White,

96866_Inkelas_04

42

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 42


their own ethnic, and other racial/ethnic) should be appreciated for its strengths and diversity. Thus, although the relationship has not been widely tested, Atkinson, Morten & Sue (1989) advance that an individual’s racial identity at different phases of his/her development can pose a major influence upon his or her racial attitudes toward others of different racial/ethnic backgrounds. If, as in the early stages of one’s racial identity development, an individual is unaware of his or her racial identity in relationship to the dominant culture’s, then he or she would presumably either hold no racial attitudes or would adopt attitudes similar to those of the dominant culture. Yet, if the person has already experienced the crucial encounter or incident that in turn makes him or her more ethnically conscious and biased, then it would follow that he or she would become more ethnocentric. Indeed, Cross (1990) argues that racist attitudes are most likely to occur in the immersion, or ethnically-oriented, stage. On the other hand, Carter (1990) concluded that different patterns for White college students emerged by gender. White males tended to respond in more confused or uncertain ways about their racial identity, while females displayed characteristics of a more integrated or multicultural identity. Yet, for both males and females, strong identification with a multicultural racial identity was positively and significantly related to lower levels of racism. It should be noted, however, that the identity development models from which the Atkinson, Morten, & Sue (1989) model stems have drawn increased attention and scrutiny recently from other psychologists. For example, Sellers (1993) has argued that the empirical studies conducted to test the validity of racial identity development models are often both inadequate in representing the constructs in the models and methodologically or statistically flawed. Moreover, most of the racial identity development models, Sellers (1993) asserts, fail to take into account the influence of the situational context, a condition that proponents of the ecological perspective of identity find to be of paramount importance. The ecological model of racial or ethnic identity (Root, 1999) argues that individuals live in historical and geographical contexts—including inherited influences, traits, and social interactions in the community—which interact within individuals to shape their identity. The ecological influence would seem to be salient in understanding Asian Pacific American identity, given the heterogeneity of ethnic backgrounds, community racial compositions, and inter-racial relationships in and among the Asian Pacific American community. It will be important to identify in this study if the environmental and social factors in APA college students’ lives have an impact on their racial/ethnic identities, and, in turn, on their racial attitudes.

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006


2:00 PM

Page 43

43

The disparate and loosely connected literature on Asian Pacific American identity, as well as racial or ethnic identity in general, does, however, suggest that there are a few key factors in understanding Asian Pacific American identity that may have an influence on APA students’ racial attitudes. First is the question of how the salience of APA students’ sense of their own identities has an impact on their attitudes toward other racial/ethnic groups and racial issues as a whole. Does the nature and/or the intensity of their identification as Asian Americans affect their beliefs toward issues related to diversity? Tajfel & Turner (1986) suggest that the ideological tendencies of minority group members are related to whether or not they identify with a “social mobility” or “social stratification” perspective of American race relations. Lee (1996) and Sue & Sue (1971) assert that the juxtaposition of Asian Pacific American youth between an “Asian” and “American” culture, as well as stressors caused by important social influences such as parents and peers, colors APA students’ perspectives of other Asian Americans, as well as the dominant culture. Finally, Atkinson, Morten, & Sue (1989) hypothesize that there is a direct relationship between the stage in which a minority individual resides in the racial identity development model and his or her attitudes toward others: ethnocentric minority individuals tend to be anti-establishment or anti-White, while individuals who embrace a multicultural identity tend to appreciate racial and ethnic diversity. Another notable inference that can be drawn from the racial/ethnic identity literature is the need to take into account various cultural, social, and political stimuli in racial/ethnic identity development. The assimilationist perspective stresses cultural traits, such as generation status, and language usage in shaping ethnic identity. The emergent ethnicity, as well as the ecological perspective, theories emphasize that inherited influences and traits may be important in the study of racial or ethnic identity, but one must also be cognizant of social and environmental factors, such as familial, peer, school, and community influences. Finally, Espiritu (1992) reminds us that racial or ethnic identity formation is not necessarily an intra-psychic development of individuals processing their experiences, but may also include external social forces that compel individuals to form certain identities in reaction to economic or political exigencies. This study will examine not only how the salience of Asian Pacific American identity affects APA students’ racial attitudes, but it will also consider how cultural, social, and political factors influence APA identity, which may, in turn, affect Asian Pacific American students’ attitudes toward racial/ethnic diversity. To date, the Stacie J. Lee (1996) study has been the only empirical investigation into the relationship between Asian Pacific Americans’ racial or ethnic identities and their racial attitudes. However, the Lee study only

96866_Inkelas_04

44

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 44


examines the connections between APA students’ identities and the model minority stereotype. This study will examine the potential influences that racial/ethnic identity may have on APA students’ attitudes toward racial issues such as affirmative action, racial stratification, and gains in racial/ethnic commitment. As with the other concepts introduced in this chapter, this study represents an initial attempt to combine different bodies of literature, such as the racial and/or ethnic identity literature, into one conceptual framework designed to examine APA students’ racial attitudes.

SUMMARY OF THE LITERATURE This chapter has consisted of a review of various areas of social science literature in different disciplines that may all contribute to an understanding of the influences behind Asian Pacific American students’ attitudes toward racial issues. Literature in a number of fields has illuminated various background characteristics, such as gender, socio-economic status, and parent or family socialization, that seem to have an impact on individuals’ racial attitudes. More specifically, the higher education literature has revealed that several facets of students’ college experiences and peer environments influence their racial attitudes, such as the courses they take, their majors, their extra-curricular activities, and their perceptions of the campus climate. Yet, not all of the potential impacts on students’ attitudes are attributable to structural influences. Evidence from the sociology and social psychology literature argues that individuals’ attitudes toward racial issues can also be influenced by their own personal beliefs, such as their perceived self-interests, their beliefs about their racial/ethnic group’s position in the social order, and their adherence to the dominant or “American dream” ideology. Finally, recent contributions from the field of psychology posit that there is a relationship between an individual’s racial/ethnic identity and his/her racial attitudes. This study seeks to combine all of these aspects into one comprehensive conceptual framework that will examine APA students’ attitudes toward racial/ethnic diversity issues. However, it bears repeating that nearly all of the theoretical and empirical literature discussed in this chapter did not examine the racial attitudes of Asian Pacific Americans, per se. Thus, this study will not only examine the possible influences of the abovereviewed constructs on APA students’ opinions on racial issues, but it will also simultaneously test whether any of these theories—that were developed in the absence of an Asian Pacific American perspective—are germane in an inquiry into this unique population. The next chapter will outline the conceptual framework for this study and present the methods that address the research questions of this inquiry.

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 45

Chapter Three

Analytical Methods and Conceptual Framework

This chapter describes the analytical methods and conceptual framework for addressing the major research questions in this longitudinal study of Asian Pacific American students at the University of Michigan. The first section outlines the research questions that frame this study and the hypotheses that are generated from the research questions. The next section briefly describes the longitudinal dataset from which the constructs for this study were drawn and analyzed. The final two sections outline the conceptual framework and analytical methods of this study, including the constructs utilized to address the research questions and the quantitative analyses performed to examine those questions.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES In examining the racial attitudes of Asian Pacific American students at the University of Michigan, the research questions developed to frame this inquiry are: 1. How are Asian Pacific American students’ views on issues related to racial/ethnic diversity distinct from the views of their peers in other racial/ethnic groups (e.g., White/Caucasian, African American, and Latino students)? 2. What influence do key background characteristics and personal beliefs have on Asian Pacific American students’ views on racial/ethnic diversity issues? 3. How does Asian Pacific American racial/ethnic identity change during the course of students’ college experiences, and how, in turn, do identity issues affect APA students’ racial attitudes? 45

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

46

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 46

Racial Attitudes and Asian Pacific Americans 4. What role may the college environment play in affecting Asian Pacific American students’ views on diversity?

In order to address these questions, several hypotheses regarding Asian Pacific American students’ attitudes toward racial issues were developed based upon the literature summarized in Chapter Two. The following hypotheses were compared to the analytical findings in this study, and conclusions were based on the similarities or differences between the hypotheses and actual results from the data. (The hypotheses follow the same numerical order as the research questions.) Hypothesis 1 Asian Pacific American students’ views on various different racial/ethnic diversity issues will be distinct from their White, African American, and Latino/Hispanic peers. Previous higher education studies have shown that APA students differ from their racial/ethnic peers in their views on racial issues such as affirmative action (Sax & Arredondo, 1996; Fukurai et al., 1995): APA college students are generally more supportive of racial/ethnic diversity issues than White students, but often are less supportive than other minority students. This study tested Asian Pacific American students’ views on affirmative action as well as other racial/ethnic diversity issues, such as gains in racial/ethnic commitment and beliefs in a racially stratified U.S. society. Hypothesis 2 It is hypothesized that Asian Pacific American student backgrounds and their personal beliefs—such as their perceived self-interests and belief in the dominant ideology—will influence APA students’ racial attitudes. Similar to the preponderance of research on the relationship between gender and racial attitudes (e.g., Allen, 1986; Carter, 1990; Qualls, Cox & Schehr, 1992), it is hypothesized that APA females will be more inclined to support or show agreement with diversity issues than males. In addition, as the research has shown in previous sociological studies (e.g., Bobo, 1983; Bobo & Kleugel, 1993; Kleugel & Smith, 1986), APA students’ self-interests and dominant ideology beliefs will bear an influence on their racial attitudes. In terms of self-interests, APA students who are not attending their first choice institution or have a low ratio of college acceptances in relation to applications submitted will likely oppose race-targeted programs such as affirmative action since they may believe that their chances at admission to their favored colleges were thwarted by affirmative action policies. Concerning dominant, or “American dream,” ideology beliefs, APA students who are

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 47


47

strong believers in the American dream ideology will also likely oppose affirmative action, since Kluegel & Smith (1986) found that strong adherents to the dominant ideology felt that advancement and opportunity should be based upon merit and not race. In addition, because strong advocates of the dominant ideology believe that opportunity is abundant in American society regardless of personal backgrounds, APA students with strong American dream beliefs will also be less likely to feel that American society remains discriminatory or unequal. Hypothesis 3 The longitudinal structure of the data in this study will reveal that Asian Pacific American students will be more likely to articulate the salience of their racial/ethnic identities over the course of their college experiences. As Erikson (1968) and Chickering & Reisser (1994) posit, college is the ideal time for individual exploration and identity formation. Moreover, previous data reveals that Asian Pacific American students at the University of Michigan come from predominantly White home communities, while their campus environment comes replete with opportunities to interact with students of diverse Asian American and other ethnic backgrounds, to take courses on the Asian Pacific American experience, and to get involved with APA and other diversity-related activities (The Michigan Study, 1997). Thus, it seems likely that APA seniors will be more likely to convey the significance of their racial/ethnic identities than the same students could as freshmen. As Asian Pacific American students become more aware of their racial and/or ethnic identities, their conceptions of their similarities to other racial/ethnic groups in America will change as well. It is most likely that the APA students in this study will identify more closely with White American interests and values at college entry, given that the vast majority of them grew up in predominantly White communities (The Michigan Study, 1997). However, Atkinson, Morten & Sue (1989) argue that, as minority individuals become more identified with their racial/ethnic group, they begin to sense a growing conflict with their dominant beliefs and a stronger empathy and feeling of shared experience with other minority groups. Thus, if it is true that Asian Pacific American students grow more APA-identified as their college careers progress, then it is likely that they will find that they share less in common with White Americans and more in common with other minority groups. Finally, as Asian Pacific American students’ conceptions of their own identities change, their attitudes toward racial/ethnic diversity issues will change in accordance. Authors such as Atkinson, Morten, & Sue (1989),

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

48

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 48


Cross (1990), and Glisan (1992) advance that, as individuals from minority groups transform their racial/ethnic identities from majority-based to minority-based, their attitudes toward racial issues tend to change from majority- to minority-based as well. Thus, their theories, as they would apply to Asian Pacific Americans would be the following: APA students who identify strongly with majority (or White American) viewpoints are hypothesized to manifest the least amount of support for or agreement with diversity issues, especially those that are thought to oppose the majority’ groups own self-interests, such as affirmative action in higher education. Meanwhile, APA students who identify strongly with minority viewpoints will be more likely to support diversity issues such as affirmative action, both because race-targeted policies like affirmative action serve in minority groups’ self-interests and also because Asian Pacific Americans with minority-based identities will become more focused upon discrimination against minorities and view affirmative action as a tool toward the elimination of inequality. APA students who focus primarily upon their own racial/ethnic identity are thought to be largely ethnocentric, and will identify most strongly to the prevailing attitudes of the Asian Pacific American community, especially in those cases where APA opinion diverges most strongly from the perspective of other racial/ethnic groups. Hypothesis 4 As prior higher education research has concluded regarding the impact of the college experience on other racial/ethnic groups, the college environment will affect Asian Pacific American students’ views on diversity in this study as well. Controlling for students’ backgrounds, several facets of the college environment are hypothesized to have an impact on APA students’ racial attitudes, including their academic major, their extra-curricular activities, their informal interactions with peers, and their perceptions of the racial climate. Like their peers in other racial/ethnic groups, APA humanities and social science majors will likely have more liberal racial attitudes than their science and engineering counterparts (Astin, 1993; Muir, 1989). In addition, APA students involved in diversity-related extra-curricular activities (Hurtado, 1990) and those students with high levels of diverse peer interactions and discussions revolving around diversity issues (Milem, 1992; Astin, 1993) will be more supportive of diversity issues. Finally, because prior research (e.g., Hurtado, 1992; Cabrera & Nora, 1994) has shown that minority students generally hold negative impressions of their campuses’ racial climates, and because minority students are also the strongest supporters of diversity issues (e.g., Sax & Arredondo, 1996), APA students

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 49


49

who identify with minority interests and who have negative opinions of the racial climate will likely be most supportive of diversity issues. The above hypotheses were tested using a quantitative framework. Before discussing the analytical methods applied in this investigation, however, the next two sections of this chapter will describe the sample and the conceptual model employed in this study.

DATA COLLECTION AND SAMPLE The data utilized in this study is only a portion of a longitudinal survey of undergraduate students’ expectations and experiences with multiculturalism and diversity at the University of Michigan. The stimulus for the Undergraduate Experience at Michigan study was based on a desire to learn how the University of Michigan’s 1987 presidential mandate (“The Michigan Mandate”) to promote diversity and multiculturalism on campus was affecting the general experiences of a diverse group of undergraduates on campus. In addition, “The Michigan Study,” as the study was to later be called, filled a significant gap in information on how racial/ethnic diversity influences the cognitive and affective outcomes of students. The Michigan Study addresses three broad areas of the undergraduate experience at Michigan: 1. Undergraduate experiences not directly related to racial/ethnic diversity, such as interactions with faculty members, extracurricular involvement, and evaluations of academic and intellectual experiences; 2. Undergraduates’ perceptions of the racial climate at Michigan, including inter-racial personal relationships, feelings of racial tension, and views on the University’s stance on and commitment to diversity; and 3. The effects of the University of Michigan’s efforts toward multiculturalism and diversity on the overall educational experience of its undergraduates (The Michigan Study, 1997). The Michigan Study focused on the experiences of the U-M class of 1994, and four waves of surveys were administered to members of this cohort: at the beginning of the Fall term of 1990, in the Winter term of 1991, in the Winter term of 1992, and in the Winter term of 1994. Survey items on the instruments were pre-tested in the Spring term of 1989 on 13 focus groups of undergraduates with facilitators matched by race/ethnicity in order to identify appropriate themes relevant to undergraduates’ experiences. Undergraduates were asked between 36 and 62 questions—with each question

96866_Inkelas_04

50

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 50


including several sub-questions—based upon the three broad areas of inquiry described above in each of the four waves of surveys. The sample for the Entrance survey (Fall term 1990) consisted of a pool of incoming first year students who registered for enrollment in August 1990 (n=4,591). Two thousand six hundred (2,600) students in the class of 1994 completed and returned the Entrance survey for a response rate of 56.6 percent. The next three surveys were administered to all students of color in the class of 1994, and a large representative sample of White/Caucasian students from the entire population (i.e., n=4,591), and not only those White students who responded to the Entrance survey. Of a total pool of 414 Asian Pacific American matriculants in the class of 1994, 259 APA students completed the entrance survey in Fall 1990, a response rate of 62.5 percent. With each subsequent wave, as expected, the response rate for Asian Pacific American students dropped each year, except for the fourth wave: 61.4 percent in Winter 1991 (n=221); 55.1 percent in Winter 1992 (n=188); and 74.9 percent in Winter 1994 (n=248). The substantial rise in the number of responses in the fourth year survey (Winter 1994) was attributable to a $10.00 incentive for completion of the fourth year survey. In order to capitalize on the longitudinal strength of the survey but also maintain as much statistical power as possible for the multivariate analyses, the matched sample chosen for this study is the Fall 1990 and Winter 1994 sample (n=184).

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR THE STUDY As discussed in Chapter Two, the fields of higher education, sociology, and social and clinical psychology have all separately theorized or studied the influences of various factors on individuals’ racial attitudes. Yet, taken in combination, the theoretical and empirical insights from these disciplines can be fused together to form an even more comprehensive analysis; accordingly, this study seeks to examine the individual and collective influences of these constructs in an investigation of the personal and collegiate influences on Asian Pacific American students’ racial attitudes. Because the focus of this study is on college students, and since a major component of this research is to ascertain the impact of college on Asian Pacific American students’ racial attitudes, the central frameworks informing this study are two college impact models: Astin’s (1993) inputs-environments-outcomes (I-E-O) model and Weidman’s (1989) conceptual model of undergraduate socialization. However, where possible, the college impact models are supplemented with constructs from the sociology and psychology literature that have been found to have an influence on individuals’

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 51


51

racial attitudes. In fact, the Astin I-E-O and Weidman frameworks actually serve more as a foundation from which a new model is created. The full analyses in this study includes a series of discrete analyses highlighted in Chapter Four that eventually culminate in a comprehensive conceptual I-E-O model. Because the Michigan Study data is rich with longitudinal measures related to students’ perceptions of and interactions with racial/ethnic diversity, there are dozens of measures that, ideally, should be included in a study examining Asian Pacific American students’ racial attitudes. However, with a limited 1990 and 1994 longitudinal matched Asian Pacific American sample (n=184) to work with, the comprehensive conceptual model demands a carefully considered and parsimonious framework. Thus, discrete analyses were utilized in order to uncover the key “input,” “environment,” and other sociological or social psychological measures that appear to be significant in understanding the influences behind Asian Pacific American students’ racial attitudes. The comprehensive conceptual model (see Figure 3.1) reflects a combination of the constructs that were found to be statistically significant in the discrete analyses, as well as those which are theoretically vital in the extant literature or in the Weidman (1989) socialization models. The model in Figure 3.1 examines the influences of key background characteristics, academic and social collegiate experiences, and personal beliefs and racial/ethnic identification on Asian Pacific Americans’ views toward the four selected racial/ethnic diversity issues. The items in italics are measures that were tested in this study, but are not included in the final sets of analyses based on the comprehensive conceptual model due to their lack of significance in the discrete analyses presented in Chapter Four. Several of the constructs in the conceptual model have never been used simultaneously in a study of racial attitudes, and most certainly have not been utilized in an investigation of Asian Pacific Americans’ attitudes. The order of the constructs in the comprehensive model are based in part on Weidman’s (1989) Undergraduate Socialization model. However, other constructs are placed in accordance to their logical and chronological placement in an I-E-O framework. The constructs chosen for the model reflect the measures found to be statistically significant in the discrete analyses, or key constructs reinforced in the Weidman (1989) socialization model. The placement of the measures in the comprehensive conceptual model were fashioned after Weidman’s undergraduate socialization model and the chronology specified in an I-EO model. The measures were placed in a chronological sequence in order to better understand how Asian Pacific American students’ background characteristics and pre-college influences (or “inputs”) may work to affect their

52

28.qxp 4/28/2006 2:00 PM

Figure 3.1. Comprehensive conceptual model to study the impact of personal influences on Asian Pacific students’ racial attitudes.

96866_Inkelas_04 Page 52


96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 53


53

interactions with the college environment, which in turn, are hypothesized to shape their personal beliefs and racial/ethnic identity after exposure to college. In this sense, the personal beliefs and racial/ethnic identification measures become what Astin (1993) terms “intermediate outcomes,” or measures that have properties like those of traditional outcome measures since they are influenced by factors in the college environment, but also bear an influence on the final outcomes in the model. The arrows at the bottom of Figure 3.1 represent three of the discrete analyses, which, through ordinary least squares multiple regression analyses, independently tested the relationships among all of the following upon the four racial attitude outcome measures: a) APA background characteristics and non-college influences (“inputs”); b) academic and social college environments (“environments”); and c) personal beliefs and racial/ethnic identification. The final portion of the analyses examined the relationship between the inputs, college environments, personal beliefs, and racial/ethnic identification (or intermediate outcomes) and the four racial attitude outcome measures. These relationships are represented by the arrows connecting the boxes in the middle of Figure 3.1. Before we turn to a detailed explanation of the analytical methods, however, the variables that comprise the study are reviewed in the next section.

VARIABLES UTILIZED IN THE STUDY It is important to remember that the measures represented in the comprehensive conceptual model only embody some of the variables tested in the discrete analyses. Some of the measures that were originally hypothesized to be conceptually significant but, when tested, bore no significant relationship to the racial attitudes of the Asian Pacific American students in this study, were eliminated from the comprehensive model. Thus, as this section will summarize, several additional measures were included in the analyses that led up to the formation of the comprehensive conceptual model. Outcomes: Attitudes Concerning Racial/Ethnic Diversity Issues Four measures, however, that did not change for any of the analyses throughout the study are the four racial attitude scale measures which serve as the “outcomes”—and thus the focus of this inquiry—for this study regarding the racial attitudes of Asian Pacific American students. While these scale measures were statistically derived through data reduction techniques, the constructs that they represent are also key controversies in the racial attitude literature.

96866_Inkelas_04

54

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 54


Views Regarding Affirmative Action in Higher Education Two of the dependent measures concern the use of affirmative action in the college context. Previous research on Asian Pacific Americans students’ attitudes toward affirmative action has been complex, often yielding findings that reveal both APA support for and opposition to affirmative action in different contexts (e.g., Sax & Arredondo, 1996; Fukurai, et al., 1995; Duster, et al., 1991; Inkelas, 1997). For example, APA students at UC Santa Cruz were found to oppose affirmative action measures in college admissions policies, but supported the use of affirmative action in other educational, employment, and contracting decisions (Fukurai, et al., 1995). Other studies suggest that while Asian Pacific Americans support the creation of opportunities for the disadvantaged in a general sense, they tend to express strong reservations about affirmative action, or more specifically, the ways in which affirmative action is used to create such opportunities (Institute for the Study of Social Change, 1991; Inkelas, 1997). Some authors may find these findings “conflicting” (Institute for the Study of Social Change, 1991) or contradictory, but what these results may imply is that Asian Pacific Americans, like White Americans, differentiate between their support for the principles and practices of affirmative action. APA students may hold different attitudes regarding the broader, more philosophical issues that undergird the use of affirmative action in comparison to their views on how affirmative action is actually carried out in policy decisions, such as admissions, financial aid, and faculty hiring decisions. This distinction may be even more pronounced for Asian Pacific Americans, since they have a past and current history of discrimination in the U.S., but also tend not to be included in affirmative action policies at several higher education institutions. Therefore, in this study, two different measures of affirmative action attitudes will be analyzed. One measure relates to how APA students feel about the philosophy or principles behind the use of affirmative action in colleges, or students’ beliefs that higher education has a responsibility to promote increased equity and opportunity for diverse students. The Support for Affirmative Action Principles scale measure is composed of the following survey items: •

•

Continued racial and ethnic discrimination within higher education requires that universities aggressively remove institutional barriers that promote inequality; By including multicultural perspectives in the curriculum, universities are fulfilling the real purpose of higher education;

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 55

Analytical Methods and Conceptual Framework •

•

55

Colleges and universities should not provide resources to support educational, cultural, and social activities run by different groups of color (reverse coded); and Despite our concern over racial injustice, colleges and universities do not have a primary responsibility to correct the situation (reverse coded).

The alpha reliability for this scale is α = .675. Several measures were reverse coded so that students’ responses would semantically match the other measures in the cluster. All scales derived for this study were created using a longitudinal (1990 and 1994 waves) Asian Pacific American student sample (n=184). (See Appendix A for factor loading statistics and other information on this and all other scales created for this study.) The second affirmative action measure is more policy-specific in focus and concerns APA students’ opinions on affirmative action practices, or the ways in which affirmative action is carried out on college campuses to promote diversity goals. Individual items within the Support for Affirmative Action Practices scale (α = .689) include APA students’ views on: • • •

Differential SAT or ACT criteria for students of color in admissions decisions being justifiable; A high priority being given to financial aid for students of color; and The hiring of more faculty of color as a top priority.

All of the individual variables in these two affirmative action scale measures were originally part of the same item set in the Fourth Year Survey, and the two scales were derived via principal components factor analysis with orthogonal (varimax) rotation. The reliability of the constructed scales were tested using Cronbach’s alpha reliability tests. Both the Support for Affirmative Action Principles and Support for Affirmative Action Practices scales were formed as the result of the separation of two distinct factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.0. Both scales have moderately high reliabilities (α = .675 and α = .689 respectively), but the two scales are highly correlated with each other (r=.590). However, given the strong theoretical rationale for the inclusion of both dependent measures of views toward affirmative action and the fact that the constructs separated into two distinct factors during factor analysis, both dependent measures will be included in this study. In addition, bivariate correlations conducted with all the independent variables in the full conceptual model and the two affirmative action dependent measures show that the relationships of the

96866_Inkelas_04

56

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 56


independent measures with these two dependent measures do not follow similar patterns. Views Regarding the Status of American Race Relations The third outcome measure in this study concerns Asian Pacific American students’ racial attitudes that are broader in focus than the affirmative action issue, and center on their attitudes about the status of American racial relations. This measure can help elucidate the differences of Asian Pacific American students’ opinions between a specific type of racial policy and their general perceptions about racial stratification in American society. Previous research has found that White Americans tend to support racial equality and integration in a general sense, but usually oppose more specific policy measures designed to achieve equality or integration, such as busing to desegregate K-12 public schools or race-targeted programs in employment or higher education (Bobo, 1983; Kluegel & Smith, 1986; Jackman & Muha, 1984; Kinder & Sears, 1981). Different social scientists have proposed that White Americans’ resistance to specific racial policies as opposed to their desire for equality is due to a variety of factors, including veiled racism (Kinder & Sears, 1981; McConahay, 1982), self-interest (Bobo, 1983), and a belief in the “American dream” ideology (Kluegel & Smith, 1986). Although it has been established that Asian Pacific American students do not unequivocally support affirmative action, it is not yet known if Asian Pacific Americans follow similar patterns to White Americans regarding their opinions on the current status of American race relations. The inclusion of this dependent measure representing APA students’ views about the existence of racial stratification in American society will enable us to learn whether APA students opinions toward racial equity in a broad sense and affirmative action in a specific sense are related or are dissimilar. Items in the scale measuring APA students’ views on the status of American race relations represent students’ beliefs on whether or not they believe that discrimination and inequality (and thus racial stratification) still exist in today’s society. The Existence of Discrimination/Inequality scale (α = .704) is composed of APA students’ agreement or disagreement with the following statements: • •

Most people of color are no longer discriminated against in this country (reverse coded); A person’s racial background in this society does not interfere with achieving everything he or she wants to achieve (reverse coded);

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 57

Analytical Methods and Conceptual Framework •

•

57

In the generation since the Civil Rights Movement, our society has done enough to promote the welfare of people of color (reverse coded); and The system prevents people of color from getting their fair share of the good things in life, such as better jobs and more money.

Views Regarding Gains in Racial/Ethnic Commitment The final dependent measure chosen for this study estimates APA students’ evaluations of their gains in terms of their commitment to their own racial/ethnic identities. Racial/ethnic identity commitment in this scale represents APA students’ perceptions of increases in their knowledge of and commitment to their racial/ethnic group’s cultural contributions to society. This measure is distinct from the other outcome measures in that it includes students’ views as they contribute to race relations instead of just simply gathering their evaluations of various racial issues. In other words, this scale measure asks students to indicate the extent to which they were actively involved with an increased commitment to their racial/ethnic group. The other outcome measures are more passive in nature, and reflect APA students’ attitudes toward certain racial policies or the current status of race relations that are largely societal, and not personal, in focus. This distinction is of great interest for higher education, since institutions will be able to learn not only how the college experience may affect individuals’ attitudes toward social issues, but also how college has an impact on students’ active involvement with or commitment to their own racial/ethnic community. The variables that compose this scale, Gains in Racial/Ethnic Commitment, represent APA students’ agreement or disagreement with the following: • • •

I have gained a greater commitment to my racial/ethnic identity since coming to the University; At times it is important to be with people of my own racial/ethnic group for comfort and the chance to be myself; and Since enrolling at the University, I have gained greater knowledge of my racial/ethnic group’s contribution to American society.

The alpha reliability for this scale is a = .642. For summary statistics on the factor scales for the dependent measures, see Appendix A. The next set of concepts details the “inputs” and “environments” constructs employed in this study.

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

58

2:00 PM

Page 58


Inputs: Student Background Characteristics The student background characteristics examined in this study combine several features of the Weidman (1989) undergraduate socialization model. As with Weidman’s model, students’ background characteristics serve as the first set of inputs. Although he did not include it in his framework, this model includes students’ genders, since several higher education research studies have found a link—albeit with different conclusions—between gender and increases in tolerance and racial awareness (e.g., Qualls, Cox & Schehr, 1992; Allen & Haniff, 1991; Carter, 1990). Because Asian ethnic background (e.g., Chinese American, Korean American, etc.) is an important demographic characteristic with significant implications that is often excluded from quantitative analyses on Asian Pacific Americans, a heterogeneity of APA ethnic backgrounds is included in the analysis of the influence of background characteristics on the four outcome variables. However, due to sample limitations, the comprehensive conceptual model in this study will not include Asian ethnic background as an input variable. (When the 1990 and 1994 matched longitudinal sample is utilized for the analyses of the comprehensive conceptual model, the number of students from certain ethnic backgrounds can fall below ten cases.) Inputs: Family Socialization There are other student background characteristics incorporated into this study which are slight departures from the Weidman (1989) model. However, the author himself encourages researchers using his model to include dimensions and variables other than those in his original model (Weidman). This study takes certain liberties with the Weidman model, but is careful to match constructs within the Weidman version where possible. For example, Weidman’s model includes a set of concepts related to “parental socialization,” such as socio-economic status, life style, and parent-child relationships, that are posited to bear a relationship on students’ socialization outcomes. For this study, the “parental socialization” construct is varied slightly to “family socialization” in order to encompass influences from the family that extend beyond the parent-child relationship, but are still related to students’ parents by the nature of its existence. Such variables include parents’ highest educational attainment, the student’s generation status in the United States and the primary language he/she speaks at home. Parents’ highest educational attainment is utilized as the measure for socioeconomic status in the Family Socialization construct for both pragmatic

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 59


59

and theoretical reasons. While a student’s socioeconomic status (SES) is generally considered to be a conglomeration of a number of factors, including his or her parents’ income, parents’ educational attainment, wealth of the community lived in, and standard of living, the Michigan Study survey instruments only included one of the above SES measures: parents’ educational attainment. However, this omission in the Michigan Study is one of interesting implications for an Asian Pacific American population. Several studies have concluded that highly educated Asian American professionals are not reaching per capita economic parity with Whites/Caucasians for similar positions held, even in the sciences and engineering (Suzuki, 1989; Ong & Hee, 1993), and that APA professionals are experiencing a “glass ceiling” in terms of limited opportunities for promotion to higher management positions (Tamayo, 1993; U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1992). For Asian American professionals, then, educational attainment may actually be a better measure of socio-economic status than income or occupational prestige, given that highly educated APAs are not earning incomes at the same parity with White Americans, nor are they advancing to higher paying or more upper-level positions at the same rate as White Americans. APA families, like those of the students in this sample, however, may be providing socioeconomic opportunities for their children in ways that are not reflective of their annual incomes or occupational status. Other Family Socialization measures included in this study that were not included in Weidman’s (1989) original model are the students’ generation status and primary language spoken at home. Clearly, a student’s generation status in this country is predicated upon his or her parents’ generation status, and the language spoken at home is also likely due to the language spoken at home by his or her parents. However, as Sue & Sue (1990) advance, generation status can exert a much greater influence on an Asian Pacific American individual’s life than just the parent-child relationship; it can affect the individual’s self-concept, identity, and views toward others of different generational status and/or race/ethnicity. One of the unfortunate consequences of the pan-ethnic label, “Asian Pacific American,” is that the social, cultural, and political histories behind Asians of different ancestries become masked. Asian immigrants came to the United States under different circumstances and during different points in American history. While some emigrated for better economic opportunities, others fled their ancestral homes for political reasons. Some Asian American families immigrated to the U.S. with both sets of parents professionally educated in their native language, while others left nations with little-to-no educational systems in place (Chan, 1991). By using a combination of background measures, such as parents’ educational attainment, Asian ethnic background,

96866_Inkelas_04

60

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 60


generation status, and primary language spoken at home, this study attempts to tease out how Asian Pacific Americans of different social and cultural circumstances perceive American racial issues and race relations. Moreover, generation status and primary language spoken at home have been used as measures of acculturation in ethnic identity studies of Asian Pacific Americans (Suinn et al., 1985; Sue & Sue, 1990). Previous research has asserted that APAs of greater generational statuses away from the immigrant generation exhibit less and less Asian ethnic traits and characteristics (Matsuda, Matsumoto, & Meredith, 1970; Makabe, 1979; Yamauchi, 1981). Thus, it is likely from an acculturation standpoint that APA students who speak an Asian language at home—and are assumed to be from a first or second generation Asian immigrant family—will manifest stronger Asian-ethnic identities than those who speak English at home. Furthermore, since Asian ethnic background cannot be included as a construct in the comprehensive conceptual model, the generation status and primary language measures may serve as important control variables that account for some of the influence that different background characteristics may have on APA students’ racial attitudes. As discussed in the review of literature in Chapter Two, there are currently two perspectives regarding Asian American racial or ethnic identity: the assimilation and the emergent ethnicity perspectives. Assimilationists think of Asian American identity as a continuum between traditional (i.e., “Asian”) and Western (i.e., “American”) characteristics and values; the more “traditional” one’s identity is, the less “Western” one is, and viceversa. As mentioned previously, assimilationists often use generation status in the U.S. and primary language—two variables utilized in this study—as indexes of Asian ethnicity. In the section that describes the racial/ethnic identity constructs utilized in this study, measures which more closely mirror the emergent ethnicity perspective of racial/ethnic identity will be discussed. The juxtaposition of the influences of the more assimilation-oriented ethnic identity measures in comparison to the more emergent ethnicity-oriented measures may bear interesting implications for the study of racial/ethnic identity and its relationship to racial attitudes. The inclusion of ethnic background, generation status, and primary language measures in this study will contribute greatly to the literature by helping us understand how, if at all, Asian Pacific Americans of different social and cultural histories perceive racial issues differently. In addition, parallel analyses can help us uncover if APA students of different ethnic and historical backgrounds have divergent conceptions of their racial/ethnic identity and beliefs about other social issues, such as the structure of opportunity in American society. Finally, higher education administrators can

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 61


61

learn if Asian Pacific American students of different backgrounds participate in the college environment in distinct ways. Inputs: Non-College Reference Group Socialization In addition to “parental socialization,” Weidman’s (1989) Undergraduate Socialization model incorporates another set of constructs that are not specified in the Astin (1993) I-E-O model: the effects of “non-college reference group socialization.” Peer groups have long been considered to be a great influence on students’ outcomes, such as their opinions on racial issues. Newcomb (1962) first relayed the importance of studying peer-group influence on student outcomes, but he was concentrating more specifically on peer groups formed while in college and not before college. However, Newcomb did mention that pre-college acquaintances can exert a powerful influence on students’ outcomes, especially in the early college experience, if the student remains in close contact with those pre-college peers. Weidman himself posits that minority students like Asian Pacific Americans may rely heavily on the support and advice of non-college significant others, since they may have to cope with competing expectations and conflicts. Indeed, Asian Pacific American students may feel an incredible amount of pressure to succeed academically and/or conform to their parents’ wishes (e.g., Osajima, 1991; Chew & Ogi, 1987), and thus may turn to trusted childhood friends as a sounding board or for counsel. For this study, non-college peer group influences are measured by two constructs: the racial composition of the APA respondents’ home neighborhoods, and the racial/ethnic backgrounds of the Asian Pacific American student respondents’ best friends prior to college entry. Three dichotomous measures represent whether the APA students’ best friends were White/Caucasian, Asian Pacific American, or from a non-Asian minority group. Social scientists have observed that group membership or affiliation has a strong influence on individual interests of beliefs (Bobo & Kluegel, 1993; Tajfel & Turner, 1986; Blumer, 1958). In most of those studies, group membership or identification was generally defined along racial lines: White individuals would tend to identify with White Americans as a group, etc. However, developmental psychologists argue that traditionallyaged college students such as those in this study’s sample are engaged in a search for their identit(ies), so, upon college entry, students may not have formed such strong affiliations with their racial/ethnic group. In fact, Erikson (1963) argues that—more than any other type of influence—peer influence is the most critical factor in the consciences of adolescents. For the Asian Pacific American students in high school, their racial/ethnic identity,

96866_Inkelas_04

62

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 62


then, may not have been nearly as significant in their worldview as the identity of their peer group. Studies using national data have found that college freshmen from different racial/ethnic backgrounds hold differing opinions on several racial/ethnic diversity issues: White/Caucasian freshmen generally are less supportive of affirmative action policies than minority students; and minority freshmen are more likely to think that racial discrimination is still a major problem in the United States (Sax & Arredondo, 1996). Thus, this study seeks to examine whether Asian Pacific American students’ opinions on racial/ethnic diversity issues are influenced by their pre-college peer groups’ attitudes. (Collegiate peer groups are measured through a different set of variables outlined in a subsequent section of this chapter.) Finally, faithful to the Weidman (1989) model, this framework incorporates a measure of students’ scholastic ability before college, in this case their high school grade point averages and cumulative SAT scores. Inputs: Pre-Tests of the Outcome Measures The final set of inputs in the comprehensive conceptual model, which were also utilized in select discrete analyses, are what are known as “pretests” for the outcome measures (Astin, 1993). Because the I-E-O model is designed to assess the relative impact of college on students’ outcomes, it is vital that the researcher understand the students’ orientations to the outcome in question prior to college entry. For example, if one is analyzing the impact of college on students’ openness to diversity, it is beneficial to know how open students were to diversity before they entered college in order to assess any change that occurred within students due to the college experience. This way, one can discern more reliably if the influences on the outcome can be attributed to the college environment, or if the students were already predisposed toward that outcome in the first place. Since the data collection for this study was longitudinal, in many instances, it is possible to measure what Asian Pacific American students’ racial attitudes were before they started college by analyzing their responses to questions in the entrance 1990 survey. Thus, for each of the four dependent or “outcome” measures, the comprehensive conceptual model includes—as the final set of “inputs”—pre-tests or controls, which are APA students’ views on issues that closely resemble each respective outcome measure. Since there are four different dependent measures being investigated, there are correspondingly four different sets of pre-test or control measures. In cases where all the individual items that composed the scales

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 63


63

for the outcome measures were included as questions in the entrance 1990 survey, those items were clustered together and checked for their reliability as scales. Therefore, the two outcome scales, Support for Affirmative Action Practices and Existence of Discrimination/Inequality, have identical scales as pre-tests (see Appendix A). In those cases in which some of the individual items that form the scales of the outcome measures were not included as questions in the entrance 1990 survey (i.e., the Support for Affirmative Action Principles and Gains in Racial/Ethnic Commitment measures), either single-items or new scales derived via factor analysis were substituted as pre-tests of the outcome measures. Ideally, identical pre-tests are desirable to test change over time, but since identical items for some of the outcome measures were not included on both the entrance and fourth year surveys, the most likely controls of freshman attitudes have been selected as pre-tests for this study. For the analysis of the outcome, Support for Affirmative Action Principles, two of the four items that comprise the dependent measure are included as controls: a) colleges and universities should provide resources to support educational, cultural, and social activities run by different groups of color; and b) colleges and universities have a primary responsibility to correct racial injustice. The outcome, Gains in Racial/Ethnic Commitment, which was measured in the fourth year (1994) survey, understandably has no comparable questions on the entrance (1990) survey since the nature of the scale itself measures self-assessments of changes in racial/ethnic commitment while in college. Such observations could not be made prior to college entrance in 1990, since students had not yet experienced the college environment. Thus, in order to control for the influence of students’ proclivity toward racial/ethnic commitment prior to college, a new control measure was created via a factor analysis that symbolize students’ interests in activities related to racial/ethnic understanding and commitment upon college entry. The measure is a scale representing APA students’ indications of the importance of interacting with others of a similar background while in college. The individual items that comprise the Preference for Interacting with Like Others scale (a= .631) are the following: • •

Importance of being active in groups/activities reflecting my own background; and Importance of finding people on campus who share my background/experiences.

For statistical information on the pre-test scales, see Appendix A.

96866_Inkelas_04

64

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 64


The discrete analyses that examine the direct influences of each of the above input measures on the racial attitude outcome measures help to account for some of the less significant personal background characteristics by eliminating their use in the comprehensive conceptual model. This is not to say that the input variables that were excluded from the comprehensive conceptual model are inconsequential; indeed, every measure utilized in this study is borne out of the extant literature. However, in order to be able to look more closely at the college educational aspects that may have an influence on Asian Pacific American students’ racial attitudes in a model restricted by a limited sample, the input measures incorporated into the comprehensive conceptual model are the ones that were found to be of key significance for the APA students in this sample. Environments: Collegiate Experiences As with the Weidman (1989) model, the Collegiate Experiences portion of the conceptual framework for this study utilizes both academic and social normative contexts. Following higher education literature such as Milem (1992), Astin (1993), and Pascarella et al (1996), this study incorporates academic or campus coordinated contexts such as APA students’ majors and their level of exposure to University-sponsored diversity activities in the examination of influences on APA students’ racial attitudes. There were 21 response choices for academic majors given by the Asian Pacific Americans in the study’s sample, which were reduced to smaller clusters of majors into four categories based on the Biglan (1973) typology: soft pure (arts, humanities, and social sciences); soft applied (economics, business, journalism, architecture, or “applied social sciences”); hard pure (biological and physical science); and hard applied (engineering and health professions). The Biglan typology of academic disciplines was used in favor of School/College designations because previous literature (Milem (1992); Astin (1993); Pascarella et al (1996), has shown that students with different academic concentrations—such as science versus social science majors— have had divergent attitudes toward racial issues. Since a large percentage of APA students in this study are enrolled in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts, which encompasses both the hard and soft sciences, these distinctions may be masked when merely utilizing school or college designations. In addition, Asian Pacific American students are typically thought of as predominantly oriented toward mathematics and science majors. By categorizing the fields of study to include APA majors in other

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 65


65

disciplines, we can better investigate whether major choice in non-scientific fields has a distinct effect on APA racial attitudes. Exposure to non-major-related academic activities has also been shown to have an influence on students’ attitudes toward racial/ethnic diversity issues. Milem (1992) found that students who had enrolled in an ethnic studies course held more supportive attitudes toward race as well as greater commitment to racial issues in their fourth year of college. This study incorporates a similar measure: APA students’ exposure to a diversity curriculum through specific courses, readings, lectures, and discussions. In addition, this study examines the potential impact of non-course related University-sponsored diversity programming on students’ racial attitudes. This last construct may be of significance for the students at this institution, since the university sponsors and promotes a considerable amount and variety of campus coordinated diversity programming outside of the general curriculum. The social college environments in this study’s conceptual model utilize both formal and informal contexts. Formal social contexts include involvement with student groups or organizations that are either Asian American or Asian-ethnic specific in focus or center on the activities of other racial/ethnic groups. The informal social contexts incorporate the extent of informal interactions or conversations APA students had with friends about racial/ethnic diversity issues. Ever since Allport (1954) argued that increased inter-racial contact can lessen racial prejudice, social interactions across racial/ethnic boundaries have long been a central component of any inquiry into influences on individuals’ racial attitudes. The final informal social context construct measures APA students’ perceptions of the racial climate at the University. Recently, higher education researchers have concluded that there exists a relationship between students’ perceptions of their campuses’ racial climates and their racial attitudes (Hurtado, 1992; Cabrera & Nora, 1994). For this study, APA students’ views of the racial climate are based on a scale measure, Positive Perception of the Climate for Inter-Racial Interaction (a = .764), constructed by their perceptions of the extent of inter-racial contact on the UM campus, including: • • • • •

Friendships between students of color and White students; Interaction between students of color and White students; Dating between students of color and White students; Trust and respect between students of different groups of color; and Relationships and experiences among different racial/ethnic groups that promote in-depth learning from each other.

96866_Inkelas_04

66

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 66


Intermediate Outcomes: Personal Beliefs and Racial/Ethnic Identification This portion of the study’s conceptual framework is a slight departure from the Weidman (1989) undergraduate socialization model. Because there is considerable empirical evidence and theoretical conjecture that an individual’s personal beliefs can influence his/her racial attitudes, personal belief systems are infused into this study of Asian Pacific American students’ attitudes toward racial/ethnic diversity. Two types of personal beliefs are examined in this study: self-interests and a belief in the dominant ideology or “American dream.” Self-interests are measured by two constructs: a) APA students’ indications of whether or not they are attending their college of first choice; and b) the ratio of the number of college acceptances for APA students versus the number of colleges to which they applied. Based on self-interest theory, it stands to reason that Asian Pacific American students who are not attending their first-choice college or have low college acceptance to application ratios may blame race-based policies like affirmative action on their inability to gain admission at their colleges of their choice. Sax & Arredondo (1996) used the first choice institution proxy as their measure of self-interests in their study of students’ opinions concerning the use of affirmative action in college admissions. They reported that the Asian Pacific American students in their sample who were attending their first-choice institution were more likely to support affirmative action in admissions than those APA students who were attending a college of second-choice or lower. The first choice institution measure will be tested again in this study as a proxy for self-interests; in addition, a new proxy—the ratio of college acceptances to applications submitted—is introduced in this study. Students’ beliefs in the dominant or “American dream” ideology is measured by two scale indices: a) the first, Poverty the Fault of the Individual, combines APA students’ beliefs that poverty is caused by a “lack of thrift” and a “lack of effort;” and b) the second index, Wealth Due to Individual Effort, is a composite of responses which indicate APA students’ beliefs that wealth is acquired by “hard work and initiative” and “personal drive and a willingness to take risks.” While these two measures seem related, they both emerged as distinct factors during exploratory factor analysis with orthogonal rotation. (See Appendix A for the summary statistics on these factor scales.) These scale measures also closely approximate definitions of the dominant ideology set by both Kluegel & Smith (1986) and Hochschild (1995). Such beliefs about the individual causes of social stratification have been associated with opposition to group-based social policies such as affirmative action (Bobo & Kluegel, 1993).

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 67

Analytical Methods and Conceptual Framework The racial/ethnic identification constructs in this model represent a confluence of several different theories of Asian American identity formation from the “emergent ethnicity” perspective. The first measure, Think Often About APA Identity, concerns the extent to which the APA students in this study thought about being Asian Pacific American and the commonalties of people who are Asian Pacific American. The second item, APAs Share a Common Fate, measures the extent to which APA students felt that what happens to Asian Pacific Americans as a group is related to what happens in their lives. The final set of measures concern whether the APA students felt they shared common interests with White Americans or other minority groups. Asian Pacific American students who felt that their political and economic interests were similar to those of White Americans would have high responses for: Believe APAs Share Common Interests with Whites. APA students who felt that they shared common political and economic interests with other minority groups would score highly on Believe APAs Share Common Interests with Minorities. Blumer (1958), a sociologist, and Tajfel & Turner (1986), both social psychologists, have asserted that individuals tend to self-identify with a larger group when they begin to link their own experiences with those that are/were historically and collectively experienced by the group. In Atkinson et al.’s (1989) minority identity development model, the first phase of identity development is marked by the individual’s lack of racial consciousness, while in latter stages, racial consciousness and appreciation for multiple cultures is of utmost importance to the individual. Thus, students who indicate that they do not often think about their Asian Pacific American identity would manifest a weaker racial/ethnic identity than their peers who think about their identity often. Moreover, those students who believe that they share a common fate with other Asian Americans as a whole would be strongly racially identified. Similarly, according to Atkinson et al., APA students who lack a racial consciousness would be in the earliest stage of minority identity development, and would tend to identify most strongly with the interests of the majority, or White Americans. Conversely, APA students who feel that they share common interests with other minority groups neither lack racial consciousness nor manifest strong Asian ethnocentrism, and thus would be in the latter stages of the Atkinson et al. minority identity development model. The additions of the personal beliefs and racial/ethnic identification measures in the conceptual framework make this study unique for Asian Pacific Americans, and may help connect previously separated bodies of literature in ways that help researchers better explain the complex phenomenon of influences on individuals’ racial attitudes.

96866_Inkelas_04

68

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 68


Because the data collection in this study was longitudinal, the Asian Pacific American respondents’ personal beliefs and racial/ethnic identification could be tracked over time. Since several developmental psychologists (e.g., Erikson, 1963; Chickering & Reisser, 1993) contend that the traditional college years are periods of critical importance in identity formation, and other social scientists (e.g., Alwin, Cohen, & Newcomb, 1991) have found students’ values to be the most open to change during their time in college, it is reasonable to expect that Asian Pacific American students’ beliefs about the dominant ideology and their racial/ethnic identity might change during the four years they were exposed to collegiate influences. Thus, one of the stated hypotheses for this study is that Asian Pacific American students’ conceptions of their racial/ethnic identity will change during college. In order to understand if APA students’ senior year beliefs in the dominant ideology and their conceptions of their racial/ethnic identity have an effect on their racial attitudes, their 1994, or T4, personal beliefs and racial/ethnic identification (as well as controls for their 1990, or T1, beliefs and identification) are examined for their influence on the four outcome variables. With the inclusion of these constructs, this study extends prior literature by examining the relationship between APA personal belief systems and racial attitudes beyond that of simple self-interest as an explanation for APA opposition to affirmative action and social stratification. Instead, this study incorporates constructs such as conceptions of fairness, beliefs about the structure of opportunity, and the relationship between racial/ethnic identity and racial attitudes. In summary, the comprehensive conceptual model represents the culmination of key factors identified in the extant literature and the three discrete analyses which individually examined the direct relationships between a) APA students’ background characteristics and non-college influences; b) their academic and social college experiences; c) their personal beliefs and racial/ethnic identification in 1994 (T4); and d) their attitudes toward racial/ethnic diversity issues. The comprehensive conceptual model, in turn, seeks to understand how Asian Pacific American students’ background characteristics, personal beliefs, racial/ethnic identification, and college experiences collectively influence their attitudes toward issues pertaining to racial/ethnic diversity. Thus, the comprehensive model seeks not only to advance scholarship on the discrete contributions of individuals’ backgrounds, personal beliefs, identities, and college experiences on their racial attitudes, but endeavors to show how these constructs combine to portray a more intricate portrait of the myriad of influences that shape Asian Pacific American students’ racial attitudes. The next section outlines the analytical

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 69

Analytical Methods and Conceptual Framework methods utilized to investigate this study’s research questions which are based on the conceptual framework described above.

OVERVIEW OF ANALYTICAL METHODS This study employed several types of quantitative methods in order to answer the research questions and hypotheses posed. The methodological analysis consisted of four parts: data preparation, descriptive analyses, multiple regression analyses, and path analyses. Data Preparation As a preliminary step, the original data from The Michigan Study was transformed to fit the parameters of this study and methodological analyses. All quantitative analyses other than the path analyses were performed using version 8.0 of SPSS for Windows. First, several variables were recoded for more accurate and logical representations in the conceptual model. In several cases, variables had to be reverse coded, so that the direction of the responses matched other variables of similar natures for the purposes of creating factor scales. All individual interval items and scale interval measures were coded so that positive or “high” responses are of the highest value. All nominal data, such as Asian ethnic backgrounds and students’ majors, were transformed into dichotomous measures (1=no and 2=yes) and one category was taken out of the multivariate analyses and used as the referent category. Second, because there are only 184 total Asian Pacific American respondents in the Entrance 1990 and Fourth Year 1994 matched sample, the analyses had to be made as parsimonious as possible and all missing data treated with caution. There are several techniques through which to compensate for item non-response. One option is to delete the cases in which there is missing data in order to improve upon valid data. Given that the Asian Pacific American longitudinal sample was already limited in sample size (n=184), it was important to, instead of eliminating cases, preserve as many cases as possible. Another option is the regression method which analyzes variation in the missing data through a selected set of variables or constructs. Based on the regression analysis, randomly selected values from the distribution of the regressed value are chosen to be imputed for the missing item. The most probable variables to be used in the regression analysis would be the Asian Pacific American respondents’ demographic information. However, given that some of the demographic measures contained missing values themselves, and since the distribution of responses for many of the demographic measures was biased toward one response

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

70

2:00 PM

Page 70


option, the option of using the regression function to adjust for item nonresponse was not chosen. A final option for addressing item non-response is the insertion of mean responses for missing data. This method is generally not recommended when there is a substantial amount of missing data within a construct. Because the greatest amount of missing data for any one item among the independent variables was only seven percent, mean replacements were inserted for every independent variable with missing data except for APA students’ background characteristics. Mean replacement values were based upon the mean values of the responses for each independent variable for the entire matched APA sample of n=184. The third step in data preparation was the construction of factor scales as a method of data reduction. Again, because this study was working with a limited number of cases available for analysis, whenever possible, constructs were combined to form scales that best represented concepts in the conceptual model. Exploratory factor analyses with principle components factoring and orthogonal (varimax) rotation were utilized in the preliminary data reduction technique for the four dependent or outcomes variables and several independent variables. All of the factor analyses and Cronbach alpha reliability tests were conducted using the matched Asian Pacific American sample (n=184). (See Appendix A.) The means and standard deviations of all of the measures in this study can be found in Appendix B. Descriptive Analyses The second portion of the quantitative analysis consisted of a series of chisquare distributions that helped identify significant differences in Asian Pacific American students’ racial attitudes in comparison to their White, African American, and Latino/Hispanic peers (Research Question #1). In addition, descriptive relationships were utilized to examine differences in APA students’ racial attitudes, degree of racial/ethnic identification, and personal beliefs from entrance in 1990 to exit in 1994. The descriptive analyses are not adjusted to account for potential response bias, primarily because most of the demographic characteristics of the full sample population are unknown, such as Asian Pacific American students’ ethnic backgrounds, parents’ educational attainment, generation status, and primary language spoken at home. However, although Asian Pacific American students enjoyed strong response rates between 55 and 75 percent in various waves of the data collection, the descriptive statistics may not be fully representative of the Asian Pacific American student population at this institution. Indeed, the 1990 and 1994 longitudinal matched

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 71


71

sample chiefly employed in this study only has a 184 cases, and when further delineated into sub-categories such as by Asian ethnic background, the number of cases becomes vulnerable to inference. Yet, the descriptive analyses will nonetheless provide an insight into significant differences among the racial attitudes and identities of students from different racial/ethnic backgrounds at this institution—insights that can be re-tested with another sample. Multiple Regression Analyses The other portions of the quantitative inquiry included several multivariate analyses through the use of hierarchical or forced-entry ordinary least squares regression analyses. First, Asian Pacific American students’ background characteristics, collegiate experiences, personal beliefs, and perceptions of racial/ethnic identification were independently regressed upon the four outcome variables in this study. In addition, because regression analyses only test direct relationships among constructs, APA students’ background characteristics were regressed upon their academic and social college experiences in order to uncover possible indirect relationships in the longitudinal data. Similarly, so that indirect relationships among the measures may be identified and the impact of the college environment upon APA students may be elucidated, APA students’ personal and college experiences were regressed upon personal belief and racial/ethnic identity constructs in 1994 (T4). Additional tests for indirect relationships were conducted using path analyses (see next section). The measures in the comprehensive conceptual model were divided into groups, or “blocks,” of variables suitable for multivariate analysis. Blocked hierarchical regression allows the researcher the opportunity to observe how specific variables or clusters of variables (“blocks”) interact with the dependent variable by examining changes in the percent variance explained in the model with each new block entered in the equation. Thus, one can begin to understand how clusters or blocks of variables influence student outcomes such as their racial attitudes, while holding the effects of the other blocks of variables constant. The regression analysis for the full conceptual model consisted of six blocks and the dependent variables. Since there are four dependent variables, the analyses were conducted four separate times with the blocks in the exact same order each time with only the dependent variable and their corresponding pre-tests changing in the equations. The independent variables were arranged in the following order of blocks, according to the specifications set by the comprehensive conceptual model:

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

72

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 72

Racial Attitudes and Asian Pacific Americans Block 1:

Block 2:

Block 3:

Block 4:

Block 5:

Block 6:

Student Background Characteristics and Family Socialization: gender; father’s educational attainment; mother’s educational attainment; generation status in the U.S. Student ability (previously a portion of Weidman’s (1989) non-college reference group influences): SAT or converted ACT score Pre-tests or controls of the dependent variable: these variables vary in accordance with the dependent variable being analyzed. Academic College Environment Contexts: humanities/ social sciences majors; exposure to diverse curriculum; exposure to University-sponsored diversity programming Social College Environment Contexts: involvement with Asian-ethnic group activities; informal conversations about diversity with friends; positive perception of climate for inter-racial interaction Personal Beliefs and Racial/Ethnic Identification in Senior Year: poverty the fault of the individual (dominant ideology); wealth due to individual effort (dominant ideology); think often about APA identity (racial/ethnic identification); believe APAs share common interests with White Americans (racial/ethnic identification)

Evaluated in combination with the descriptive analyses, the blocked regression analyses elucidate the qualities of APA students’ personal and collegiate experiences that directly influence their racial attitudes and help answer the research questions posed in this study. Path Analyses The final series of quantitative analyses in this study presented in Chapter Five consists of limited path analyses that specify both direct and indirect relationships among the independent variables and the four dependent variables representing Asian Pacific American students’ racial attitudes. The path analyses supplement the regression analyses in several important respects: first, they serve to uncover the ways in which APA students’ racial attitudes may be indirectly influenced by their background characteristics through their college experiences, as well as how APA students’ personal beliefs and racial/ethnic identities may influence their racial attitudes via critical college experiences. Second, since the data in this study is longitudinal, the path analyses help us to learn how relationships between phenomena develop over time to affect Asian Pacific American students’ attitudes toward racial/ethnic diversity issues. Finally, with both the ability to establish indirect and causal

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 73


73

relationships, the path analyses reveal how previously disconnected racial attitude and identity theory (e.g., dominant ideology, racial/ethnic identity development, and college impact), may be inter-related and may actually work in tandem to influence APA students’ views on racial issues. While the ideal set of path analyses would allow us to specify the paths between all the measures in the comprehensive conceptual framework and the four outcome measures, inadequate numbers of Asian Pacific Americans in the longitudinal sample prevent a such an examination of the data. Instead, the path models are restricted to a limited set of measures identified as significant predictors in Chapters Four and Five. However, each direct and indirect relationship in every model was scrutinized in careful consideration of prior theory and research on racial attitudes, social attitudes, and racial/ethnic identity. The placement of the measures in the path models was determined by their status as input, environment, intermediate outcome, or outcome measures. Input measures, such as APA background characteristics, were treated as exogenous variables and placed at the far left of each path model. College environment measures were treated as endogenous variables and situated between the input and outcome measures in the model. Intermediate outcomes, or measures influenced by both input and environment constructs that also serve as predictors of the outcome measures, were accordingly placed after the input and environment measures and prior to the outcome measures in the path models. Finally, the four racial attitude outcome measures were placed at the far right of each of the path models. (Each of the four path models are illustrated in Chapter Five.) The path analyses in this study were conducted using version 4.0 of the AMOS statistical software program, a program designed to test direct and indirect relationships among variables by assessing the overall fit of a given model while taking measurement error into account when estimating path coefficients. After each of the four hypothesized path models were drawn in the AMOS program, the models were examined for overall fit and rejection of the null hypothesis. The rejection of the null hypothesis, or the rejection of the possibility that there are no relationships among the measures in the model, is evaluated by the probability level (p) of the model. If p > .05 (or is non-significant), then the null hypothesis is rejected (Arbuckle & Wothke, 1999). Three indexes were utilized to examine overall fit: the chi-square (␹2) index (Hoyle & Panter, 1995); the goodness of fit index or GFI (Hu & Bentler, 1995); and the root mean square error of approximation or RMSEA (Browne & Cudeck, 1993). The chi-square index represents an absolute fit index, and calculates the discrepancies between the estimated and observed model fit. Because the chi-square index is highly dependent

96866_Inkelas_04

74

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 74


upon the sample size, there are no general “rules of thumb” by which to evaluate a ␹2 statistic, except that low values are preferred. Thus, in addition to the chi-square index, this study also reports two other indexes of goodness of fit: GFI and RMSEA. Hu & Bentler (1995) write that a cutoff value of .90 or higher (GFI values range between 0 and 1), suggests a model with a good fit. Browne & Cudeck (1993) assert that a value of .05 or less of the RMSEA would indicate a close fit of the model. All three fit indexes will be reported in Chapter Five. Once the model fit was established, the significant (p < .05) standardized maximum likelihood estimates in each of the models are presented in tabular and graphic form. Significant estimates are considered to be any estimates in which the value of the critical ratio (unstandardized estimate/standard error) is greater than or equal to + 1.96. The unstandardized and standardized estimates, their standard errors, critical ratios, and significance levels (p-values) of the direct and indirect effects are presented in tabular form. The graphic illustration of the final models include the significant standardized estimates of the various paths in the models. The next two chapters (Chapters Four and Five) represent the results based on the descriptive, multiple regression, and path analyses of this study. Chapter Four comprises the descriptive and discrete multivariate analyses, or how Asian Pacific American students’ background characteristics, collegiate activities, personal beliefs, and racial/ethnic identification independently and directly influence the study’s four racial attitude outcome measures: support for affirmative action principles; support for affirmative action practices; belief in the existence of discrimination/inequality in American society; and gains in racial/ethnic commitment. Chapter Five, utilizing the study’s comprehensive conceptual model, examines how all of the constructs work collaboratively to shape Asian Pacific American students’ racial attitudes, through a series of multivariate and path analyses.

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 75

Chapter Four

Results

The results presented in this chapter are divided into five sections. The first section begins with a discussion of differences in APA students’ racial attitudes in comparison to their racial/ethnic peers. It continues with a description of the background characteristics of the Asian Pacific American students in the study. Section one concludes with the results of the first of several discrete analyses on the relationship between APA students’ background characteristics and their racial attitudes in 1994. Section two portrays the self-interests and dominant ideology beliefs of APA students and their racial/ethnic peers at college entry in 1990 (T1), and section three outlines Asian Pacific American students’ conceptions of their racial/ethnic identity as compared to their racial/ethnic peers at college entry in 1990 (T1). The fourth section opens with a comparison of the college experiences of Asian Pacific American students in relation to their racial/ethnic peers. Section four continues with a description of the interplay between key APA background characteristics and APA students’ college experiences, and closes with analyses of the influences of APA students’ college experiences on their racial attitudes. Section five revisits Asian Pacific American students’ dominant ideology beliefs and racial/ethnic identification in their fourth year of college, in 1994 (T4), and examines the changes in their beliefs and identities during their college careers from 1990 to 1994. Section five continues with a consideration of the potential impact of APA students’ background characteristics and the college environment in shaping their dominant ideology beliefs and racial/ethnic identities, and this section closes with analyses on how APA students’ beliefs and identities—both at college entry and four years later—affect their racial attitudes. This chapter concludes in section six with a brief summary of the analyses from the first five sections of this chapter.

75

96866_Inkelas_04

76

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 76


SECTION ONE: ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN STUDENTS’ RACIAL ATTITUDES AND BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS Racial Attitudes of the APA and Other Racial/Ethnic Student Groups The first research question of this study posed how Asian Pacific American students’ racial attitudes are distinct from attitudes of their racial/ethnic peers. Table 4.1 represents APA students’ fourth year (1994) opinions on the four racial attitude outcome measures in this study in comparison to the views of their White, African American, and Latino peers. (Native American students were excluded from the analyses due to insufficient sample size.) The bivariate results show that students in all four racial/ethnic groups tend to agree with affirmative action in principle, with an overwhelming 98 percent of Asian Pacific American students supporting the principle of affirmative action. However, APA students register considerably less agreement with affirmative action in practice (29 percent disagree), which is significantly less than the disagreement voiced by White students (48 percent), and greater than the percentage of African American (2 percent) and Latino (21 percent) students in the sample who disagreed. From this data, it seems clear that students from all four racial/ethnic groups are supportive of affirmative action principles, but White, Asian American, and Latino students somewhat less likely to support affirmative action practices. For Asian Pacific Americans, though, the distinction is the most sharply drawn: APA students are the second most likely (after African Americans) to support affirmative action principles, but they are also the second most likely (after White Americans) to oppose affirmative action practices. By-and-large, the strong majority of students—greater than 87 percent for all four racial/ethnic groups—also believe that racial stratification exists in American society. Almost 100 percent of African Americans stated that discrimination/inequality still exists in the U.S., and nearly all Asian Pacific American students also agree with that assessment (95 percent). On the face of these findings, then, it may appear that Asian Pacific American students find American society to remain discriminatory and unequal and thus support the principles that undergird affirmative action policies in higher education. However, while APA students see the justification for affirmative action in principle, they seem to question the means through which affirmative action policies seek to reach their goals. Employing constructs such as APA students’ self-interests and beliefs in the dominant ideology as controls in the multivariate analyses may help us understand the reasons behind the

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 77

Results

77

Table 4.1. Views on Racial/Ethnic Diversity Issues among Students of Varying Racial/Ethnic Backgrounds in Their Fourth Year (1994) of College (in Percentages) Asian Pacific American

White/ Caucasian

African American

Hispanic/ Latino

Chi-Square

Views on affirmative action in principle Strongly disagree

0.0

1.1

0.0

0.0

Disagree

1.8

7.6

0.0

3.1

Agree

48.0

67.5

24.4

45.9

Strongly agree

50.2

23.8

75.6

51.0

␹2=216.87; df=9; pⱕ.001

Views on affirmative action in practice Strongly disagree

0.8

7.3

0.0

2.8

Disagree

28.3

41.1

2.3

17.8

Agree

55.7

44.2

33.0

54.2

Strongly agree

15.2

7.5

64.8

25.2

␹2=428.70; df=9; pⱕ.001

Belief in the existence of discrimination/equality in American society Strongly disagree

0.0

0.8

0.0

0.0

Disagree

4.7

12.4

1.1

6.6

Agree

51.3

64.9

14.9

48.1

Strongly agree

44.1

22.0

84.0

45.3

␹2=289.54; df=9; pⱕ.001

Gains in racial/ethnic commitment after 4 years of college Strongly disagree

2.4

2.0

1.1

2.7

Disagree

18.7

21.1

7.5

26.4

No thoughts

29.3

47.1

10.7

32.7

Agree

35.0

25.8

38.5

27.3

Strongly agree

14.6

4.1

42.2

10.9

␹2=316.35; df=12; pⱕ.001

Note: For 1990 and 1994 matched sample: Asian Pacific American (n=178); White/Caucasian (n=814); African American (n=92); Hispanic/Latino (n=55).

96866_Inkelas_04

78

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 78


distinctions they draw between affirmative action in principle and in practice. These findings are presented later in this chapter. Finally, nearly half of the Asian Pacific American students in this study indicated that they had made gains in racial/ethnic commitment after four years in college. It would seem that minority students seem to make the largest gains in this area, since African American (82 percent) and Latino (38 percent) students also reported gains in racial/ethnic commitment, as compared to 30 percent of White students. It will be important to relate APA students’ level of racial/ethnic identification prior to college entry to their level of identification after exposure to the college environment. In turn, APA students’ extent of racial/ethnic identification will be a significant factor to assess in its relationship with their reported gains in racial/ethnic commitment. If we look more closely at the individual items that comprise the four composite racial attitude measures, we see that Asian Pacific American students hold considerable differences in opinion, even within the four constructs (see Table 4.2). For example, for the Support for Affirmative Action Principles index, APA students are almost twice as likely to strongly advocate providing resources to support educational, cultural, and social activities run by different groups of color than any other measure that constituted the index. Perhaps this discrepancy is due to the fact that Asian Pacific American students may perceive that they stand to gain the most from resources for minority student activities since Asian-ethnic group activities on campus may benefit from those resources, but they are less confident about their views concerning the other measures in the Support for Affirmative Action Principles index, which represent broader societal interests concerning diversity in higher education. Table 4.2 also shows that there exists a split in opinion over Asian Pacific American students’ support for affirmative action practices. While the slight majority of APA students (53 percent) oppose the justification for different SAT/ACT criteria in minority admissions, the majority of APA students support the policy of high priority being given to minority student financial aid (53 percent) and the hiring of faculty of color (53 percent). In addition, 41 percent of APA students feel that the “system” does not prevent people of color from getting their fair share in life. It may be that APA students slightly oppose different SAT/ACT criteria and believe that the “system” is not discriminatory against minorities because of an abiding belief in the dominant ideology, or that success can, and should, be achieved through merit. Or, APA students may oppose different SAT/ACT criteria because they feel that equal consideration for standardized test scores will benefit their self-interests in gaining college admissions. On the

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 79

Results

79

Table 4.2. Asian Pacific American Students’ Views on Selected Racial/Ethnic Diversity Issues in Their Fourth Year (1994) of College (in Percentages) Strongly Disagree Disagree

Agree

Strongly Agree

Affirmative action principles Higher education must remove barriers that promote inequality

1.2

10.7

59.8

28.4

Multicultural curricula fulfills the real purpose of higher education

5.1

19.8

53.7

21.5

Colleges should provide resources to minority group activities

0.6

2.8

47.0

49.7

Colleges have a responsibility to correct racial injustice

3.3

22.8

47.2

26.7

Different SAT/ACT criteria may be justifiable in minority admissions

24.7

28.1

40.4

6.7

College financial aid for minorities should be a high priority

11.4

35.2

42.6

10.8

6.2

41.2

35.0

17.5

␹2=69.11; df=9; pⱕ001 Affirmative action practices

Hiring of more faculty of color should be a top priority ␹2=33.93; df=6; pⱕ001

Beliefs about the existence of discrimination/inequality in American society Most people of color no longer face discrimination in the U.S.

54.2

36.9

7.3

1.7

A person’s race does not interfere with his/her achievement

30.6

47.8

16.7

5.0

The system does not prevent minorities from getting their fair share in life

11.7

40.2

41.3

6.7

␹2=133.68; df=9; pⱕ001 (continued)

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

80

2:00 PM

Page 80


Table 4.2. Asian Pacific American Students’ Views on Selected Racial/Ethnic Diversity Issues in Their Fourth Year (1994) of College (in Percentages) (continued) Strongly Disagree

Disagree

Agree

Strongly Agree

I have gained greater commitment to my racial/ ethnic identity since coming to the University

9.4

18.3

40.6

19.4

At times, it is important to be with people in my racial/ethnic group for comfort and the chance to be myself

13.9

26.1

34.4

17.8

I have gained greater knowledge of my racial/ethnic group’s contribution to American society since coming to the University

9.5

34.1

30.7

8.9

Gains in racial/ethnic commitment

␹2=17.57; df=6; pⱕ001 Note: For 1990 and 1994 matched APA sample: Asian Pacific Americans (n=184).

other hand, APA students may support increases in faculty of color because that may include more Asian Pacific American faculty, or at least they may support the idea that greater representation of minority faculty enhances the overall diversity of the campus. Again, it will be important to evaluate APA students’ support or opposition to these two affirmative action dependent measures in relation to their beliefs about the dominant ideology and their perceived self-interests in order to understand how their personal beliefs and admissions experiences are tied to their attitudes toward affirmative action. To summarize, Table 4.1 reveals that Asian Pacific American students’ diversity views are dissimilar to their racial/ethnic peers. While APA students’ opinions show similar trends to their peers’ opinions (e.g., greater disagreement about affirmative action practices than on affirmative action principles and a strong overall belief that discrimination/inequality exists in American society), they also are marked by distinctions from their White and African American classmates (e.g., greater support for affirmative action principles and gains in racial/ethnic commitment than White students and greater opposition to affirmative action practices than African American students.) Moreover, Table 4.2 shows that APA students’ racial

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 81

Results

81

attitudes are not uniformly consistent even among the items that comprise the outcome scales in this study. Thus, Asian Pacific American students’ views toward racial/ethnic diversity are unique, in terms of their differentiation from their racial/ethic peers (Table 4.1), and their racial attitudes are complex within related constructs (Table 4.2). Before we turn to the constructs that may influence APA students’ views toward these racial attitude measures, the next section will introduce the reader to the background characteristics of the Asian Pacific American sample in this study. Background Characteristics of the APA and Other Racial/Ethnic Student Groups Since the impact of the college experience on students’ racial attitudes must take into account students’ characteristics prior to college, it is important to examine the background characteristics of the Asian Pacific American students in this study. Moreover, a descriptive analysis helps better acquaint the reader with the unique characteristics of this APA sample. Table 4.3 details the demographic and high school academic characteristics of the Asian Pacific American students studied in this inquiry. In terms of demographic characteristics, the largest Asian ethnic representation in the APA sample is East Asian (45 percent), which encompasses Asian Americans of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean ancestry. However, nearly one-fourth of the sample is South Asian, or Indian, and a high percentage (18 percent) of Asian Pacific Americans in this study did not specify their ethnic backgrounds. APA students’ parents have a very level of high educational attainment, although there is a noteworthy discrepancy in the educational attainment of APA students’ mothers in comparison to their fathers. While 84 percent of APA students’ fathers have obtained a baccalaureate or higher, slightly more than one third of APA students’ mothers have less than a college education. However, in comparison to the educational attainment of African American, Latino, and White students’ parents in the study, Asian Pacific American students’ parents have considerably more education than their peers’ parents. Greater than 50 percent of African American students’ parents did not finish college, one third to 50 percent of Latino students’ parents do not have college degrees, and between 27 and 38 percent of White students’ parents do not hold baccalaureates. The majority of the Asian Pacific American students in the study are the first generation to be born in the United States, making their parents the immigrant generation. Despite the fact that the majority of the APA students’ parents were born in an Asian country, 60 percent of the APA students indicated that the primary language spoken at home is English. Although over 90 percent of the Asian Pacific American students in this

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

82

2:00 PM

Page 82


Table 4.3. Background Characteristics of the Asian Pacific American Base Year (1990) and Matched (1990 & 1994) Samples for This Study (in Percentages) Base year

Base year

Matched

Gender

Matched

Primary language spoken at home

Male

54.9

49.2

English

59.2

59.0

Female

45.1

50.8

Bilingual

27.7

27.9

Asian language

13.0

13.0

All or mostly White

79.7

71.0

11.0

15.8

9.4

7.7

Asian ethnic background East Asian1

44.5

43.2

Racial composition of

South Asian

23.7

23.0

childhood neighborhood

Vietnamese

3.2

2.2

Filipino

11.0

15.3

Half White/half minority

Other/no specification

17.7

16.4

All or mostly minority

Fathers’ highest education level

Race/ethnicity of HS best friend

Less than college degree

15.9

12.6

Asian/Asian American

34.4

31.3

Bachelor’s degree

19.9

18.9

White/Caucasian

60.7

62.7

Master’s degree

24.3

24.6

Other minority

4.9

6.0

Doctorate

39.9

44.0

3.5 or lower

30.1

25.7

High school grade point average Mothers’ highest education level Less than college degree

34.6

26.2

3.6–3.7

21.5

19.7

Bachelor’s degree

37.3

43.6

3.8–3.9

28.8

31.1

Master’s degree

18.0

18.6

4.0

19.5

23.5

Doctorate

10.2

11.6 25.9

24.6

SAT or converted ACT score 1110 or less

Generation status in U.S

1

Born outside U.S

31.0

31.0

1120–1210

24.6

23.0

1st generation in U.S.

65.5

65.5

1220–1300

23.0

23.0

2nd generation in U.S.

3.4

3.4

1300 or more

26.5

29.5

East Asian category encompasses Chinese, Japanese, and Korean Americans. Note: For 1990 base year sample: Asian Pacific Americans (n=317); for 1990 and 1994 matched APA sample: Asian Pacific Americans (n=184).

96866_Inkelas_04

Results

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 83

83

study are either the first generation or the immigrant generation—which, from an assimilationist perspective would imply that they are more “Asian” than “Western” in personality—the overwhelming majority of APA students (80 percent) grew up in all or mostly White neighborhoods and have high school best friends who are White (61 percent). In comparison, nearly half of the African American students in the sample lived in neighborhoods that were all or mostly composed of minorities, but 92 percent of the White students came from predominantly White backgrounds (The Michigan Study, 1997). It would seem that the White and African American students attending the University of Michigan came from largely segregated backgrounds, and that Asian Pacific American students’ backgrounds are more similar to White students’ communities than with their African American peers. It is also interesting to note that, while the majority of the APA students are the first generation born in the U.S. and about 40 percent of them speak or hear another language than English at home, they tend to have grown up in predominantly White communities. This phenomenon may have interesting influences on the Asian Pacific American students’ conceptions of their racial/ethnic identity, which is examined in another section of this chapter. As previous literature would confirm (e.g., Owings et al, 1995; Hurtado et al, 1997), the Asian Pacific American students in this study were strong academic achievers in high school. Every APA student in the sample had a high school grade point average higher than 3.5 out of 4.0, and 20 percent had a perfect 4.0. Moreover, the lowest SAT score for the APA sample was 1110 out of 1600, and one-quarter of the sample had an SAT score of 1300 or higher. Asian Pacific Americans of differing ethnic ancestries held distinct background characteristics as well. The majority of the South Asian, Vietnamese, and Filipino students in the study were female, while 60 percent of the East Asian students were male. The South Asian and Filipino students’ mothers and fathers were the most highly educated with the majority holding postsecondary degrees, while 78 percent of Vietnamese students’ mothers and 45 percent of East Asian students’ mothers had less than a college education. Across the board for students of all four Asian ethnic backgrounds, greater percentages of students’ fathers had higher education levels than their mothers. For all APA students of varying ancestries, the majority of the students were the first generation born in the U.S. However, a much larger percentage of East Asian students spoke either an Asian language (19 percent) in their homes, or lived in bilingual households (35 percent). Yet, there were little differences in the racial composition of the APA students’ neighborhoods or friendships by ethnic ancestry. The majority of

96866_Inkelas_04

84

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 84


all APA students of different ancestries lived in all or mostly White communities, and most had White/Caucasian best friends. Finally, in terms of high school academic achievement, there were no significant differences in APA students’ grade point averages by ethnic background. All ethnic groups had particularly high achievement levels, with a 3.5 or higher grade point average. However, SAT scores did vary slightly, with the largest percentages of South Asians and APA students who did not identify their ethnic ancestry scoring a 1300 or higher. On the other hand, the majority of Vietnamese students as well as 43 percent of Filipino students scored in the lowest quartile for APA respondents: 1110 or less. It should be noted, though, that APA students’ SAT scores on the whole, were higher than their racial/ethnic peers (The Michigan Study, 1997). Background Characteristics That Predict APA Students’ Racial Attitudes In order to ascertain which, if any, of Asian Pacific American students’ background characteristics were significant predictors of any of the four dependent racial attitude measures (as measured in 1994), four multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess the influence of APA students’ background characteristics, family socialization, and high school academic influences on their views toward affirmative action principles, affirmative action practices, beliefs about the existence of discrimination/inequality in American society, and gains in racial/ethnic commitment. The observed significance levels of the F-statistics for the Support for Affirmative Action Principles, Support for Affirmative Action Practices, and Gains in Racial/Ethnic Commitment regression models were not significant at the pⱕ.10 level, indicating that APA student background characteristics do not fit well as predictors of these racial attitudes. However, APA students’ background characteristics do serve as significant predictors of their beliefs about the Existence of Discrimination/Inequality. The fact that APA students’ background characteristics were found to be non-significant in predicting three of the four racial attitude outcome measures may be related to the fact that four years of time separate the background characteristic predictors (T1 in 1990) from the outcome measures (T4 in 1994) in these analyses. Thus, where possible, the same APA background characteristics were tested as predictors of APA students’ racial attitudes as measured at college entry in 1990 (T1). It is important to remember, as outlined in Chapter Three, that only two of the four racial attitude outcome measures in 1994 (T4) can be replicated using base year (T1), or 1990, data. Once again, the F-statistics for these two regression models demonstrated a lack of fit, meaning that APA students’ background characteristics do not even serve as predictors of their racial attitudes at college

96866_Inkelas_04

Results

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 85

85

entry. Because prior literature has demonstrated a relationship between key background characteristics—such as gender (Qualls et al, 1992), high school academic aptitude (Hurtado et al, 1995), and peer influences (Weidman, 1989)—and students’ racial attitudes, it may be that APA background characteristics and non-college reference groups have a more potent influence on APA students’ college experiences, racial/ethnic identification, and personal beliefs, which in turn may have an effect on their racial attitudes. The analyses in Chapter Five will address the possibility of indirect relationships in the multivariate and causal models. In terms of background characteristics that are predictors of APA students’ beliefs in the existence of discrimination/inequality, Asian Pacific American females are significantly more likely to believe that American society is still discriminatory or unequal than APA males. In addition, APA students with a more recent immigration history are marginally more likely to believe that discrimination and continued inequality exists in U.S. society (pⱕ.10). Thus, at first glance, it appears that—except for gender and generation status—the factors that distinguish Asian Pacific American students’ racial attitudes are not their background characteristics, but instead may be their experiences during college. The relationship of APA students’ college experiences with their racial attitudes are examined in depth later in this and the next chapter. The finding that APA females are more likely to perceive discrimination or inequality is confirmed by prior literature which finds that women are generally more racially tolerant and responsive than men (e.g., Allen, 1986; Carter, 1990; Qualls, Cox & Schehr, 1992). It seems that Asian Pacific American women are similar to their racial/ethnic female counterparts in this regard. The negative relationship between generation status and perceiving American society to remain discriminatory/unequal may be related to prejudice and discrimination that recent Asian immigrants face from the mainstream society due to strong Asian accents, foreign manner of dress, and different customs. Several works have cited cases of discrimination encountered by recent Asian immigrants due to their perceived differences from mainstream American culture (Hune & Chan, 1997; Inkelas, 1997; Chan, 1991). These two background characteristics—gender and generation status—raise interesting questions on the factors behind individuals’ beliefs about racism or discrimination. This dependent measure represents APA students’ views toward race relations in the U.S., not their beliefs about sexism or xenophobia. But, perhaps the reasons why women and recent immigrants perceive more racial discrimination in this country is because they themselves are the recipients of unfair treatment due to their gender or

96866_Inkelas_04

86

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 86


cultural differences. Perhaps their perceived experiences of discrimination lend themselves a greater sensitivity to the other ways in which society may be structurally unequal. However, if it is true that certain groups of APA students (e.g., females and recent immigrants) are more sensitive to racial inequities because of personal connections to discrimination or inequality, it is curious that high school peer influences bore no relationship with a greater recognition levels of the existence of societal discrimination/inequality. Indeed, Weidman (1989) and Newcomb (1962) argue that pre-college acquaintances can reinforce existing social attitudes. It may be that Asian Pacific American females and recent immigrants are quick to recognize social inequality because they have experienced discrimination first-hand. Meanwhile, it may be more difficult for APA students in diverse neighborhoods or social circles to perceive society as discriminatory or unequal because they themselves are accepted by both their White and minority neighbors and friends, and thus may not be conscious of the inequities that may surround them. The only other input variables that were significant predictors of APA students’ beliefs in the continued existence of discrimination/inequality in American society were related to high school academic achievement. Asian Pacific American students with lower high school grade point averages (GPAs) are more likely to believe that society is discriminatory/unequal, while—in what appears to be a contradictory finding—APA students with higher SAT scores are more likely to believe that discrimination/inequality still exists in society. Why would the two academic achievement measures seem to have the opposite influence on APA students’ views about discrimination or inequality? Correlation analyses of this study’s data show that APA students’ high school grade point averages (GPAs) and SAT scores are not related in any significant way, so it is not the case that high scorers on the SAT have lower high school GPAs or vice-versa. Moreover, since APA students’ background characteristics were entered prior to their high school academic achievement measures in the regression analysis, the influence of such background characteristics in affecting high school GPAs and SAT scores are accounted for in the analysis. Thus, it appears that the findings that low high school GPAs and high SAT scores for APA students should be treated and considered independently from each other in evaluating predictors of their beliefs in the existence of discrimination/inequality in American society. One possibility is that APA students with a lower grade point average are more likely to believe that society is discriminatory or unequal because they view their performance as tied to structural and racial inequities in the

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 87

Results

87

K-12 schooling process. In terms of the SAT relationship, it may be that the APA students in this study with high SAT scores are aware of real and perceived reports (for example, see U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, 1992; Takagi, 1992; Wang, 1993) that Asian Pacific American college applicants were/are being held to higher standards concerning SAT admissions requirements (and thus obtained higher SAT scores). Because of their knowledge of these real and perceived discriminatory admissions practices, APA students with high SAT scores may be more sensitive to ways in which American society is discriminatory or unequal. The discrepancy between the influence of APA students’ high school GPAs and SAT scores on their beliefs about societal discrimination and inequality should be studied further in order to discern whether this finding is an anomaly in the data, or whether this is an area that demands more in-depth consideration.

SECTION TWO: ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN STUDENTS’ SELF-INTERESTS AND DOMINANT IDEOLOGY BELIEFS Personal beliefs, such as self-interests and a belief in the dominant (or “American dream”) ideology, have been utilized in the social science literature for a number of years as influential in shaping individuals’ racial attitudes (e.g., Bobo, 1983; Bobo & Kluegel, 1993; Kluegel & Smith, 1986). However, the aforementioned studies focused primarily on White and African Americans, so the question remains as to whether personal beliefs have any bearing on Asian Pacific Americans’ racial attitudes. Table 4.4 reports the distribution of responses for two self-interest measures and two dominant ideology measures among APA, White, African American, and Latino students in the study. While the majority of Asian Pacific Americans are attending the university of their first choice, APA students are the racial/ethnic group least likely to be attending their first choice (54 percent); on the other hand, White students are the most likely to be attending their first choice institution (72 percent). On the other end of the spectrum, APA students are the most likely to be attending their fourth or lower choice institution (8 percent). Similarly, nearly 20 percent of APA students enjoyed less than a 75 percent acceptance rate at the colleges or universities to which they applied, a margin significantly greater than that of their racial/ethnic peers. Affirmative action opponents would be surprised to learn that White students are nearly 10 percent more likely to be attending the institution of their first choice than African American students and 15 percent more likely than Latino students. By-and-large, though, students in all racial/ethnic groups were generally accepted to somewhere between 75 and 99 percent of the

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

88

2:00 PM

Page 88


Table 4.4 Personal Beliefs among Students of Varying Racial/Ethnic Backgrounds at College Entry (1990) (in Percentages) Asian Pacific American

White/ Caucasian

African American

Hispanic/ Latino

Chi-Square

Self-interests (1990): Attending which choice institution? First choice

54.3

72.0

63.2

57.3

␹2=58.13;

Second choice

26.0

19.9

26.5

24.3

df=9; pⱕ.001

Third choice

11.8

5.2

6.5

11.7

7.9

2.9

3.9

6.8

Fourth or lower choice

Self-interests (1990): Ratio of college acceptances vs. applications 100% acceptance rate

31.9

39.9

29.0

26.9

␹2=90.90;

75–99% acceptance rate

49.0

50.8

65.3

62.7

df=9; pⱕ.001

50–74% acceptance rate

13.8

7.2

4.2

9.0

5.4

2.1

1.5

1.4

Less than 50% rate

Dominant ideology (1990): Reason for poverty due to lack of effort or thrift 2.8

3.1

2.0

2.8

␹2=27.90;

Somewhat important

28.7

25.2

14.9

25.0

df=6; pⱕ.001

Very important

68.5

71.7

83.1

72.2

Not important

Dominant ideology (1990): Reason for wealth due to hard work, initiative, personal drive, and risk taking 0.5

0.6

1.0

0.9

␹2=64.45;

Somewhat important

20.7

15.9

12.7

15.1

df=6; pⱕ.06

Very important

78.8

83.5

86.4

84.0

Not important

Note: For base year sample (1990): Asian Pacific American (n=307); White/Caucasian (n=2,031); African American (n=156); Hispanic/Latino (n=96)

96866_Inkelas_04

Results

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 89

89

schools to which they applied. If Asian Pacific American students are aware of the fact that they are the racial/ethnic group that is least likely to be gaining admission to the institutions of their choice, then—according to the theory that individuals will probably oppose principles or policies that work against their self-interests—they will most likely oppose policies such as affirmative action which they may believe curtails their chances of admission to competitive institutions. As for dominant ideology beliefs, the overwhelming majority of the freshmen respondents believed that poverty is caused by a lack of effort or thrift, and that wealth is due to hard work and personal drive. This would intimate that most of the entering freshmen in this study are subscribers to the dominant (or “American dream”) ideology, since they believe that wealth is attainable through merit and poverty is not caused by structural impediments but by sloth. Interestingly, although the majority of entering Asian Pacific American students also support the dominant ideology paradigm, they are the least likely of the four racial/ethnic groups to find it “very important” that poverty and wealth are due to individual initiative, possibly suggesting that they are the most likely to find other, possibly structural, reasons for affluence and indigence. Background Characteristics That Predict APA Students’ Personal Beliefs As social scientists can attest after decades of research, an individual’s beliefs about social issues are substantially shaped by his or her surrounding environment (see Mackie, Hamilton, Susskind, & Rosselli, 1996 for a review of research). Thus, in an attempt to uncover the relationship between APA students’ personal beliefs and their attitudes toward racial issues, it may be prudent to determine how APA students’ background characteristics may influence their personal beliefs. This investigation may yield possible indirect relationships between APA students’ personal backgrounds and their racial attitudes. Since students’ college application and acceptance experiences occur prior to their college entry, we can only assess how their background and K-12 schooling characteristics predict their college admissions outcomes. The other two personal beliefs measures in this study involving Asian Pacific American students’ dominant, or “American dream,” ideology beliefs are addressed in a subsequent section of this chapter, when the predictive effects of both APA students’ background characteristics and college experiences can be examined in relation to their dominant ideological beliefs. As expected, the findings for both self-interest measures somewhat mirror each other. South Asian Americans are more likely to be attending their first choice college and are more likely to have a high college accept-

96866_Inkelas_04

90

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 90


ance to application ratio. As we learned previously, South Asian Americans have the largest percentages of parents with doctorates, as well as the highest high school grade point averages and SAT scores, so it makes sense that they are the most likely among the Asian ethnic groups to fare well in the college admissions process. Surprisingly, though, APA students as a whole with higher overall SAT scores were both less likely to be attending their first choice and to have high acceptance to application ratios. This may suggest that SAT scores are not the only factor in which these APA applicants are being evaluated in their admissions processes. It also serves as a possible reason for why APA students with high SAT scores were significantly more likely to believe that discrimination and inequality exists in American society, since, traditionally, students with high standardized test scores are thought to have strong chances at admission to selective institutions. Yet, for the APA students in this study, high SAT scores did not seem to bolster their success in admission to the colleges of their choice. The regression analyses of APA background characteristics that predict their self-interests also suggest that, while APA males are more likely than females to be attending the university of their first choice, they are not significantly more likely to have a higher ratio of acceptances than APA females. Independent sample t-tests show that there are no significant differences in the average number of schools that APA males versus females applied to or were admitted to, so it appears that APA males are simply more successful in gaining admission to their first choice institution. The 1990 data reveals that Asian Pacific American students are the least likely to be gaining admission to the colleges or universities of their choice, and that they are strong subscribers to the dominant, or “American dream,” ideology, or the belief that success in America can be obtained through hard work and merit. This may be a potent combination in influencing Asian Pacific American students’ views toward race-targeted policies like affirmative action. Section five of this chapter will investigate how APA perceived self-interests and dominant ideological beliefs combine to shape their views on affirmative action in higher education and other racial/ethnic diversity issues.

SECTION THREE: ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN STUDENTS’ RACIAL/ETHNIC IDENTIFICATION Social scientists have only begun to empirically link an individual’s racial/ethnic identity to his or her racial attitudes. Indeed, the study of Asian Pacific American racial identity itself is relatively new, and given the approximately two dozen types of Asian ancestries currently found in the

96866_Inkelas_04

Results

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 91

91

U.S., some may even question if a universal “Asian American” identity even exists. However, authors such as Chan & Hune (1995), Omi & Winant (1986), and Espiritu (1992) outline a process by which persons of different Asian ancestries become “racialized,” whereby previously distinct Asian ethnic peoples are grouped together for political reasons to become an aggregate race termed “Asian Americans.” While the Asian American racial label is a socially created construct, psychologists such as Atkinson, Morten, and Sue (1989) have asserted that a racialized form of minority identity development does exist for Asian Pacific Americans, and that this developmental process involves a series of events that alters an APA individual’s identification with the majority, his/her minority, and other minorities’ culture(s). Finally, some recent research and theoretical conjecture (e.g., Glisan, 1992; Cross, 1990; Atkinson et al., 1989) posit that a person’s developmental stage and identification with certain cultures (whether it be the majority or a minority culture) is related to the way in which an individual perceives other cultures and the attitudes that encompass those other cultures. This study examines whether Asian Pacific American students’ perceptions of their racial/ethnic identities have an influence on their racial attitudes. First, however, descriptive analyses compare the racial/ethnic identity patterns of APA students with their racial/ethnic peers. Table 4.5 shows that, only behind African Americans, a large percentage (32 percent) of Asian Pacific American students entering college have already thought fairly often to a lot about their racial/ethnicity. Sixty-five percent of APA entering freshmen respondents also believe that they share a common fate with other Asian Pacific Americans. Thus, unlike the first stage in Atkinson et al.’s (1989) minority development model in which APA students would be thought to subscribe to a majority identity, a sizable amount of APA students about to begin college are already cognizant of their Asian Pacific American identity. In contrast, a minority of White (11 percent) and Latino (19 percent) entering freshmen have thought often about their racial/ethnic identity. While a significant amount of Asian Pacific American entering freshmen seem to have given serious thought to their racial/ethnic identities, they seem to be almost evenly divided in opinion over whether or not they share common interests with members of other racial/ethnic groups. Nearly half of the APA respondents felt that Asian Pacific Americans shared common economic and political interests with other minority groups, while nearly half of the APA students felt that APA and other minority interests were different. Meanwhile, only slightly more than half of the APA students (53 percent) felt that Asian Pacific Americans shared common inter-

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

92

2:00 PM

Page 92


Table 4.5. Racial/Ethnic Identification Among Entering Freshmen of Varying Racial/Ethnic Backgrounds on 1990 (T1) (in Percentages) Asian Pacific American

White/ Caucasian

African Hispanic/ American Latino

Chi-Square

Extent to which student thinks about his/her identity Hardly ever

18.3

51.9

17.6

43.6

␹2=246.63;

Once in a while

49.6

37.1

39.2

37.6

df=9; pⱕ.001

Fairly often

24.2

9.1

31.1

17.8

7.9

1.9

12.2

1.0

A lot

Belief that respondent shares a common fate with others of same racial/ethnic group No 8.3 19.3 3.9 30.1 ␹2=126.08; Yes, a little

27.2

28.4

11.6

35.9

Yes, some

44.1

34.9

41.3

27.2

Yes, a lot

20.5

17.4

43.2

6.8

df=9; pⱕ.001

View that students’ racial/ethnic group shares common interests with other minority groups 8.2

4.5

0.0

0.0

␹2=683.42;

Somewhat more different

43.3

40.8

0.8

23.1

df=9; pⱕ.001

Somewhat more similar

42.1

44.2

3.9

69.2

6.4

10.4

95.3

7.7

Much more different

Much more similar

View that students’ racial/ethnic group shares common interests with White Americans Much more different

14.8

—1

50.4

23.2

␹2=229.09;

Somewhat more different

32.2

—

27.5

30.5

df=6; pⱕ.001

Somewhat more similar

38.1

—

11.5

23.2

Much more similar

14.8

—

10.7

23.2

Note: For base year sample (1990): Asian Pacific American (n=307); White/Caucasian (n=2,031); African American (n=156); Hispanic/Latino (n=96) 1 Students were instructed on the survey to skip the common interests question for their own racial/ethnic group; thus, White respondents did not respond to the question concerning common interests with White Americans.

ests with White Americans, while 47 percent of the APA students thought that APA and White interests were different. In comparison, the strong majority of African American and Latino students entering college felt they shared common political and economic issues with other minority groups. However, there is no data on how White respondents compared their interests with other White Americans, since

96866_Inkelas_04

Results

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 93

93

there was a skip pattern in the survey that asked respondents not to evaluate their sense of common interests with others in the same racial/ethnic group as the respondent. Unlike their other minority counterparts, Asian Pacific American students do not seem to identify strongly with the interests of either other minority groups or with White Americans. This distinctions in APA students’ perceptions of common interests may draw interesting relationships with their racial attitudes in a subsequent portion of this chapter. Thus, it appears that, contrary to one of the stated hypotheses in this study, Asian Pacific American students did not begin college with a strong identification with White American interests, despite the fact that the vast majority of APA students in this study came from predominantly White home communities. Instead, it would appear that a significant percentage of APA entering freshmen (at least 32 percent) had already given a fair amount of thought to their Asian Pacific American identity, and 65 percent even agreed that they share a common fate with Asian Pacific Americans as a whole. What this finding may suggest is that the conjecture in the minority identity development model that minority adolescents begin their racial identity development from a dominant viewpoint may not be borne out by Asian Pacific Americans. Instead, APA adolescents may already be cognizant from a young age of their racial or ethnic identities due to the salience of their Asian-ethnic cultural practices and values in the home. Recent theory on African American identity development also calls into question whether minority youth universally begin the process of racial identity development from a mainstream perspective. For example, Cross (1990) asserts that, for African American youth, their racial identities may be described as either high salience (HS) or low salience (LS). Similar to the Atkinson et al. (1989) model, Cross identifies some African American adolescents as having low salience racial identities, or social identities in which race or African American culture plays only a minor, if any, role in their lives. On the other hand, Cross identifies other African American adolescents as having high salience racial identities, meaning that, for these youth, race and African American culture plays a central role in their lives. These individuals, therefore, do not begin the process of racial identity development in their young adulthood from a dominant standpoint, and form their racial/ethnic identities along a different trajectory than the Atkinson et al. model would purport. The Asian Pacific American students who had already reflected substantially on their racial/ethnic identity may, like their African American counterparts, place a high salience on their racial or ethnic identities long before their young adulthood. Thus, their identities may

96866_Inkelas_04

94

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 94


be developing along a different course than the one articulated in the Atkinson et al. minority identity development model. Since APA students’ racial/ethnic identification was measured during all four waves of the longitudinal study, and since higher education theory asserts that the college experience contributes greatly in shaping students’ identities (e.g., Chickering & Reisser, 1994), the predictors of APA students’ racial/ethnic identification will be examined later in this chapter, after Asian Pacific American students’ college activities have been discussed in greater detail. Thus far in this chapter, all of the analyses have focused upon the “inputs” of this study, namely Asian Pacific American students’ background characteristics, non-college influences, and their dominant ideological beliefs and racial/ethnic identification prior to college entry. We have learned that the following inputs: gender (female), generation status (recent immigrants), and high school academic achievements (low GPAs and high SAT scores) are directly associated with the racial attitude that discrimination or inequality exists within American society. However, before we can turn to the comprehensive framework which forms an Inputs-Environments-Outcomes (Astin, 1993) model, we must now investigate the “environments” in which the Asian Pacific Americans interacted during their time in college.

SECTION FOUR: ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN STUDENTS’ COLLEGIATE EXPERIENCES This section explores how different facets of APA students’ college environments may affect their views toward racial/ethnic issues. While some may argue that the higher education enterprise should not be in the business of values inculcation (e.g., D’Souza, 1991) and others have asserted that college has very little effect on students’ attitudes (Jacob, 1957), contemporary higher education researchers find that several portions of a diverse college environment have a significant impact on students’ racial attitudes, both in the short- and the long-term (Astin, 1993; Chang, 1996; Bowen & Bok, 1998). Indeed, several social scientists have found that, for values and attitude development, the college years can be some of the most impressionable years in a young adult’s life (Chickering & Reisser, 1993; Alwin, Cohen, & Newcomb, 1991). Thus, it would make sense that students’ college experiences would have some kind of impact on their attitudes toward racial/ethnic diversity. Moreover, for this study, the campus under examination is one that has a strong commitment to diversity and thus is explicit in its desire to foster racial tolerance and understanding among its students.

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 95

Results

95

Conscious of this campus’s commitment to diversity and building from prior works on the impact of college environments on students’ racial attitudes, this inquiry studies the influence of academic and social collegiate contexts on Asian Pacific American students’ views on racial/ethnic diversity. Academic college environments examined in this study include APA students’ academic majors, whether or not they indicated that they took a course with a racial/ethnic focus, their level of exposure to a diversity curriculum, and their exposure to University-sponsored diversity programming. Social college environments studied include what Weidman (1989) terms as “formal” and “informal” contexts. Formal contexts include whether APA students were involved with Asian American or Asian-ethnic group clubs or organizations reflecting other racial/ethnic groups’ backgrounds. Informal contexts include the extent to which APA students had informal interactions or conversations with friends about racial/ethnic diversity issues, and their perceptions of the climate for inter-racial interaction on campus. The College Experiences of Asian Pacific American Students The Asian Pacific American students in this study participated in a wide range of college activities. Table 4.6 reports the academic and social environments that APA students were engaged in as compared to their racial/ethnic peers. Similar to White, African American and Latino students, the largest percentage of APA students had majors in humanities or social science disciplines. However, slightly over one quarter of the APA respondents majored in the biological or physical sciences, which, percentage-wise, is nearly twice as many as students in the other racial/ethnic groups. It seems clear that this university offers many opportunities for students to attend sponsored diversity events or activities, since the overwhelming majority of students from all racial/ethnic background indicated that they had at least a little exposure to both a diversity curriculum and University-sponsored diversity programming. The majority of APA students also participated in Asian American or Asian-ethnic groups or organizations; 66 percent of APA students had some form of involvement with an Asian American or Asian-ethnic group or club, with nearly one in five indicating substantial involvement with such clubs. African American students also indicated a high amount of involvement with African American-oriented groups (80 percent), but both White students (88 percent) and Latino students (58 percent) reported no involvement whatsoever with organizations reflecting their racial/ethnic backgrounds. While Asian Pacific and African American students expressed interest in clubs and organizations focusing on their racial/ethnic groups,

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

96

2:00 PM

Page 96


Table 4.6. Differences in College Experiences among Students of Varying Racial/Ethnic Backgrounds in 1994 (in Percentages) Asian Pacific White/ African Hispanic/ American Caucasian American Latino Academic major Humanities and social sciences

32.9

39.4

47.7

32.7

Biological & physical sciences Engineering & health professions Applied social sciences Other/major not specified

26.5 27.6 12.4 0.6

15.4 25.4 18.3 1.5

12.5 23.9 15.9 0.0

14.3 24.5 24.5 4.1

11.6 61.6 26.7

9.4 55.7 34.9

9.0 50.6 40.4

6.0 46.0 48.0

Exposure to diversity curriculum Not at all A little/Some Quite a bit/A great deal

18.1 65.5 16.4

20.5 66.9 12.6

14.6 65.2 20.2

10.2 69.4 20.4

Not at all involved

32.9

87.8

20.2

58.0

Slightly involved

30.6

7.6

30.3

16.0

Somewhat involved Substantially involved

18.8 17.6

3.3 1.3

27.0 22.5

18.0 8.0

Involved with other racial/ethnic group activities 67.7 21.6 7.2 3.6

88.0 8.3 2.4 1.3

␹2=10.38; df=6; pⱕ.10

df=6; N/S

␹2=385.14;

Involvement with own racial/ethnic group activities

Not at all involved Slightly involved Somewhat involved Substantially involved

␹2=25.02; df=12; pⱕ.05

␹2=9.64;

Exposure to University-sponsored diversity programming Not at all A little/Some Quite a bit/A great deal

Chi-Square

68.2 15.3 8.2 8.2

80.0 6.0 4.0 10.0

Had informal interactions/conversations with friends about racial/ethnic diversity Not at all 2.3 4.5 5.6 A little/Some 48.8 59.6 53.9 Quite a bit/A great deal 48.8 36.0 40.4

0.0 38.0 62.0

Perceptions of the climate for inter-racial interaction on campus Little or no interaction 0.6 0.0 0.0 Some interaction 27.6 31.4 42.9 Quite a bit of interaction 60.6 61.4 54.8 A great deal of interaction 11.2 7.2 2.4

2.0 22.4 67.3 8.2

df=9; pⱕ.001

␹2=76.37; df=9; pⱕ.001

␹2=23.34; df=6; pⱕ.001

␹2=24.89; df=6; pⱕ.01

Note: For 1990 and 1994 matched sample: Asian Pacific American (n=178); White/Caucasian (n=814); African American (n=92); Hispanic/Latino (n=55)

96866_Inkelas_04

Results

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 97

97

most of those same students (68 percent for both African and Asian Pacific American students) did not become immersed in activities that involved racial/ethnic groups other than their own. However, in comparison to the 80 percent or higher of White and Latino students who expressed no involvement in the racial/ethnic organizations of groups other than their own, almost one in three Asian Pacific American students had at least a little involvement in such clubs. Thus, one might infer that APA students are primarily interested in racial/ethnic organizations that represent their own backgrounds, but nearly one-third of the APA students do get involved with clubs or activities of a more diverse nature. In addition to exposure to diversity in academic and formal social contexts, Asian Pacific American students seem to interact often informally with diverse peers and converse about racial/ethnic diversity with their friends. Similar to the other racial/ethnic groups, almost 100 percent of the APA students indicated that they had conversations with their friends about diversity issues sometime during their time in college, and nearly half of students reported that they had quite a bit or a great deal of discussions about diversity. Finally, nearly all the APA students in the study felt that there existed a positive climate for inter-racial interaction on campus, with 72 percent of students indicating that there was quite a bit or a great deal of inter-racial interaction occurring on campus. From the results presented in Table 4.6, it would appear that a larger percentage of Asian Pacific American students major in the biological and physical sciences, participate in ethnic groups or clubs that reflect their ethnic background, and interact frequently across racial/ethnic communities than students in some of the other racial/ethnic groups. Regression analyses later in this section will test if these differences have an impact on APA students’ attitudes toward racial/ethnic diversity issues. Background Characteristics That Predict APA Students’ College Activities As both the Weidman (1989) Undergraduate Socialization Model and the Astin (1993) Inputs-Environments-Outcomes model inform us, one cannot assess the effects of the college environment on student outcomes without first accounting for the possible influences that students’ own background characteristics (or “inputs”) may have on such outcomes. Indeed, undergraduates most definitely participate in their college environments differently, and often, the ways in which they interact with their environments are affected by their predispositions formed prior to college (Weidman). The next set of analyses attempt to uncover how APA students of different backgrounds experience their college environments differently. The results

96866_Inkelas_04

98

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 98


of these analyses may suggest possible indirect relationships between APA students’ background characteristics and their racial attitudes through the intermediate effects of their involvement with various collegiate activities. The multiple regression analyses of APA background characteristics on their college activities or perceptions reveal that certain background characteristics seem to bear a relationship with their participation in cocurricular diversity activities and their perceptions of the racial climate. Asian Pacific American females, students born in the U.S., students who speak or hear a non-English language at home, South Asian and Filipino students are more likely to have been exposed to a substantial amount of a diversity curriculum through specific courses, readings, lectures, and discussions. Similarly, APA females, South Asians, Filipinos, and APA students with high SAT scores are likewise more likely to have had a considerable amount of interactions and conversations with friends relating to diversity issues. Finally, APA students with mothers with high educational attainment, South Asians, Filipinos, and APA students with high SAT scores are also more likely to perceive that the campus climate is positive for interracial interactions. The greater participation in formal activities and informal interactions related to diversity among APA females is consistent with prior literature which finds that White females are more racially conscious and more multiculturally oriented than White males (Carter, 1990). Likewise, Hurtado, Carter & Sharp (1995) found that students of high ability were more likely to interact inter-racially than low ability students. Thus, the finding that APA students in this study with high SAT scores were more likely to be involved in informal interactions related to diversity and have more positive perceptions of the inter-racial climate than low scorers on the SAT is supported by prior research. The substantial majority of South Asian (Indian) Americans in this study hail primarily from predominantly White home communities and many were born in the U.S., which may make them more socially and linguistically comfortable in interacting with other students of different races or ethnicities than other Asian Pacific Americans in this study. (The relationship between generation status and exposure to formal and informal diversity activities may also be an indicator that American-born APA students are more comfortable in diverse settings.) In addition, both South Asian and Filipino Americans were more likely to participate in diversityrelated co-curricular activities and expressed a perception that the campus climate for inter-racial interaction was positive. These two ethnic groups may manifest these relationships due to their unique identities. South Asian Americans may express greater interest in

96866_Inkelas_04

Results

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 99

99

inter-racial diversity than other Asian Pacific Americans because they may not feel that they share a similar history or culture with other APA students and thus look elsewhere to find common ties. Authors Shankar and Srikanth (1998), in their book entitled, A Part, Yet Apart: South Asians in Asian America, argue that, while South Asians are often categorized as “Asian,” South Asian Americans have a unique perspective and divergence that keeps them “apart” from a pan-Asian American identity. Indeed, as we learned in a prior section, South Asian Americans were more likely than other APA students to think often about their racial/ethnic identity. Similarly, perhaps the reason why Filipino Americans were found to have greater levels of involvement with diversity-related activities is also related to their history and culture. Espiritu (1992) writes that the cultural orientation of Filipino Americans is distinct from other Asian Pacific Americans, due to early exposure to Western customs during first Spanish and later U.S. colonial rule in the Philippines. A long Spanish and Catholic tradition may compel Filipino Americans to question whether they are a part of a pan-Asian American identity or a conglomeration of Asian and Western (possibly Hispanic) cultures. Moreover, like their South Asian classmates, the majority of Filipino Americans in this study were born in the U.S., and most of them came from mostly or all White home communities, so they may also be more comfortable interacting in inter-racial settings. What is surprising, however, is the apparently paradoxical finding related to APA students’ generation status and primary language spoken at home. APA students of a generation status further away from the immigrant generation were found to have had more exposure to a diversity curriculum than those who were first generation Asian Pacific Americans. On the other hand, APA students who spoke a language other than English— and thus implying that they or their parents had been the first generation to live in the U.S.—were also more likely to have had a greater exposure to a diversity curriculum. It is important to remember, though, that this sample of Asian Pacific Americans has a very unique immigration history: 31 percent of the APA sample was born outside the U.S., 66 percent of the sample was the first generation to be born in the U.S., and only 3 percent were from a second generation status. Thus, it is very possible that a significant percentage of American-born APA students speak or hear a language other than English in their homes; in fact, 23 percent of the APA sample fits this profile. Perhaps what this puzzling finding reveals is that it is this population of APA students who are the most likely to participate in diversityrelated curricular activities.

96866_Inkelas_04

100

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 100


With a better understanding of how different Asian Pacific American students interact with their college environments, let us now turn to how APA students’ college experiences may influence their attitudes toward racial/ethnic diversity. College Activities That Influence APA Students’ Racial Attitudes Four multiple regression analyses were conducted in order to ascertain which, if any, college activities of Asian Pacific American students had an influence on any of the four racial attitudes in this study: a) support for affirmative action principles; b) support for affirmative action practices; c) beliefs in the existence of discrimination/inequality in American society; and d) gains in racial/ethnic commitment. The independent variables were divided into academic (e.g., academic majors) and social (e.g., informal interactions/conversations about diversity with friends) contexts. Regarding the first racial attitude outcome (support for affirmative action principles), when controlling for APA students’ affirmative action views in 1990 (T1), the strongest college environment predictor of APA support for affirmative action principles is related to their perceptions of the campus racial climate. Asian Pacific American students who sense that there is infrequent inter-racial interaction on campus are likely to support affirmative action in principle. The relationship between negative perceptions of the racial climate and support for affirmative action can be inferred from past research on students of color, in that previous studies have determined independently that other minority students (namely African Americans and Latinos) tend to have negative opinions of their campuses’ racial climates (Hurtado, 1992; Cabrera & Nora, 1994; McClelland & Auster, 1990), and also tend to be the most supportive of affirmative action policies (Sax & Arredondo, 1996). Perhaps Asian Pacific American students echo the sentiments of other minority students, especially those who find the climate for inter-racial interaction to be unfriendly and therefore see a need for policies that overcome these racial barriers. Although there was only one predictor in the final step of the forcedentry regression analysis, inter-relationships among several of the independent variables in the analysis seem to imply that there may be some indirect relationships among the constructs. For example, APA students who majored in humanities or social sciences disciplines were significantly linked to support for affirmative action principles until the effects of APA students’ views toward the racial climate superseded the impact of this academic major. There is a moderate and negative correlation between APA

96866_Inkelas_04

Results

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 101

101

humanities/social sciences majors and APA students with a positive perception of the campus climate for interaction (r = -.22). Similarly, APA students with frequent exposure to a multicultural or diversity curriculum were initially more likely to support affirmative action principles until its interaction with the effects of APA humanities and social science majors. Since the referent category for academic majors is engineering and health professions majors, it is more accurate to state that humanities and social sciences majors are more likely than engineering and health professions majors to support affirmative action in principle. The correlation between these two measures—APA humanities/social sciences majors and APA students with frequent exposure to a diversity curriculum—is also moderate, but this time it is positive (r = .22). Both these constructs (humanities/social sciences majors and exposure to a diversity curriculum) have been found to be predictors in prior racial attitude research in the higher education literature. Pascarella & Terenzini (1991), in a review of related research, reported that social science majors showed the strongest support for issues related to civil rights, while Astin (1993), Milem (1992), and Muir (1989) all concurred in their research that engineering majors held the most negative attitudes regarding racial understanding. In addition, Milem (1992) found that students who enrolled in ethnic studies courses had more liberal racial attitudes and had higher levels of commitment to racial understanding. Thus, there may be a relationship between certain types of majors, levels of exposure to a diversity curriculum, and perceptions of the racial climate on APA students’ attitudes toward affirmative action in principle, and these independent variables may be operating indirectly and through each other to influence this racial attitude dependent measure. The analyses presented in Chapter Five that utilize this study’s inputs-environments-outcomes comprehensive conceptual model will re-address the possible links among these college environment measures. Regarding the second racial attitude outcome, the results of the multiple regression analysis shows that Asian Pacific American students’ support for affirmative action practices follows similar patterns to their opinions on affirmative action in principle. Once again, the data reveals a strong connection between APA students who found the climate for inter-racial interaction to be negative and APA students who support affirmative action—this time being their support for the way in which affirmative action policies are carried out in higher education. In addition, APA students who had informal interactions or conversations about diversity with their friends were also likely to support affirmative action practices. The relevance of the peer interaction construct for the practice of affirmative

96866_Inkelas_04

102

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 102


action in lieu of the principle of affirmative action may imply that this college campus, which actively promotes racial/ethnic diversity issues, is having an effect on the students that engage in that culture of diversity. Pro-active college campuses may take these results to be evidence of the ability of college environments to influence students’ racial attitudes. As with APA students who supported affirmative action in principle, there appears to be an indirect relationship between humanities/social sciences majors, students with high levels of exposure to a diversity curriculum, and negative perceptions of the campus racial climate on APA students’ views toward affirmative action practices. In addition, correlations show that there is a significant relationship between APA students with high levels of exposure to a diversity curriculum and APA students who report having frequent interactions or conversations with their peers about racial/ethnic diversity issues (r = .35). The relationship among these constructs (controlling for APA student inputs) and APA students’ views toward affirmative action practices will be explored in more in-depth in Chapter Five in conjunction with the study’ comprehensive conceptual model. One of the questions posed from the review of literature was whether Asian Pacific American students manifested similar or dissimilar beliefs about American race relations and its relationship to affirmative action, and whether these beliefs were influenced by the same factors in APA students’ lives. Thus, a third outcome variable, Existence of Discrimination/Inequality in American society, was utilized in this study to examine APA students’ views about the status of American race relations. The results of the regression analysis of the contributions of the college environment in predicting this outcome reveal that two of the same college environment characteristics that influence APA students’ views toward affirmative action principles and practice—humanities and social sciences majors and a negative perception of the climate for inter-racial interaction—are significant predictors for APA students who believe that American society is still discriminatory and unequal. Because the humanities and social sciences disciplines study the human condition and the way in which it affects people, it may be that students (Asian Pacific American and otherwise) who major in these subjects become more sensitive to social inequity and stratification. Or, it may be that those students who are more sensitive to issues of discrimination and inequality gravitate toward majors that study these issues in depth. Nevertheless, for the Asian Pacific American students in this study, it seems rather clear that humanities and social science majors are more apt than their peers in other majors to identify with and support racial/ethnic issues.

96866_Inkelas_04

Results

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 103

103

In addition, these analyses may be raising an important issue about the ways in which diversity is introduced through the curriculum. It would appear that, for Asian Pacific American students, sustained educational activity in more than one course via humanities or social sciences majors influences APA students on the complexity of discrimination/inequality in the U.S. In addition, majoring in these fields seems to have a limited relationship to APA students’ views toward affirmative action as well. However, APA students’ level of exposure to a diversity curriculum, or to other University-sponsored diversity programming, do not seem to have the same impact as does the effect of students’ majors. While universities cannot and should not dictate what types of majors students should pursue, what these findings may indicate is that the introduction of diversity—at least for Asian Pacific Americans—may be more potent at the major/concentration level than through one or two ethnic studies requirements. It is also interesting to note the potency of Asian Pacific American students’ perceptions of the campus racial climate in shaping their views racial/ethnic diversity issues. For all three racial attitude outcome measures discussed thus far (affirmative action principles, affirmative action practices, and beliefs in the existence of discrimination/inequality in American society), negative perceptions of the climate for inter-racial interaction have been the strongest college environment predictor for Asian Pacific American students. Previous studies have shown that both White and minority students’ negative perceptions of their campuses’ racial climates had an impact on a wide variety of academic and psychological outcomes, including achievement, sense of belonging, and persistence (see, for example, Nettles, 1988; Hurtado, Carter & Spuler, 1996; Nora & Cabrera, 1996). The results from this study suggest that, for Asian Pacific American students, perceptions of the racial climate also have an influence on their attitudes toward affirmative action and social stratification. The final racial attitude outcome analyzed in this study is Asian Pacific American students’ estimations of their gains in racial/ethnic commitment. The regression analysis examining the contributions of college environments in predicting this dependent measure shows that two constructs have a very strong influence on APA students’ reported gains in racial/ethnic commitment: exposure to a diversity curriculum and involvement with Asian-ethnic clubs or organizations. Moreover, involvement in Asian-ethnic organizations is such a powerful predictor that it suppressed the effect of the pre-test variable. In fact, it would seem that, for the Asian Pacific American students in this study, participating in an Asian-ethnic club or organization is almost one-in-the-same as gaining commitment to

96866_Inkelas_04

104

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 104


one’s racial/ethnic group. Participation in an Asian American or Asian-ethnic club or organization either leads to APA students becoming more committed to their racial/ethnic group or solidifies the Asian Pacific American affiliation these students had before joining Asian-ethnic organizations. What APA students may gain in racial/ethnic commitment from involvement in Asian American or Asian-ethnic clubs and organizations may also be fortified by a greater knowledge of and sensitivity to other racial/ethnic groups—as acquired through their exposure to courses, readings, lectures, and discussions with a focus on racial/ethnic diversity. It would seem, then, that participation in certain campus environments has a strong influence on APA students’ sense of commitment—or identity—with their racial/ethnic group. Because this study is longitudinal, we can revisit APA students’ conceptions of their identity as well as their personal beliefs in their senior year, after they have been exposed to the facets of the college environment that may have such a strong impact on their identity. As the next section summarizes, several facets of the college environment were influential in shaping APA fourth-year students’ personal beliefs and racial/ethnic identity, and in turn, how their beliefs and identity influence their racial attitudes.

SECTION FIVE: APA STUDENTS’ DOMINANT IDEOLOGY BELIEFS AND RACIAL/ETHNIC IDENTITY REVISITED This section revisits Asian Pacific American students’ dominant ideology beliefs and racial/ethnic identification after their exposure to various facets of the college environment. To review, social science research has shown that Americans’ conceptions of the dominant, or “American dream,” ideology are largely based upon whether or not they more strongly identify with the concept of meritocracy or structural discrimination (Kluegel & Smith, 1986; Hochschild, 1995). Adherents to the concept of meritocracy generally tend to believe that, regardless of personal background, if one works hard and is persistent, one can be successful. However, believers of structural discrimination principles may feel that some individuals are constrained by the circumstances of their backgrounds, and that their life chances may be hindered in spite of their effort or initiative. In terms of Asian Pacific American racial/ethnic identity, social psychologists have reasoned that the extent to which Asian Pacific Americans identify with their racial/ethnic group is related their level of racial consciousness, as opposed to their identification with the interests and value systems of the majority (Tajfel & Turner, 1986; Atkinson et al, 1989).

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

2:00 PM

Page 105

Results

105

One might surmise, then, that if Asian Pacific American students began interacting in a more racially and ethnically diverse campus setting, or taking courses or participating in activities that focused on social inequality or structural stratification, the effects of the college environment may have an impact on their dominant ideology views and racial/ethnic identification. Consequently, APA students’ beliefs and identities, as shaped by their college experiences, might in turn help shape their attitudes toward racial issues or commitment to their racial/ethnic group. With the use of the longitudinal data, the results in this section explore whether any aspects of APA students’ personal backgrounds and/or the college environment may have an effect on APA students’ dominant ideology beliefs or extent of racial/ethnic identification. This section then turns to the question of how, if at all, APA students’ beliefs and identities after college exposure influences their views on the four racial attitude outcome measures. Changes in APA Students’ Personal Beliefs over Time Because APA students’ dominant ideology beliefs and racial/ethnic identities were assessed at more than one point in time during their college careers, we can examine how these constructs changed for Asian Pacific American students over time. Table 4.7 shows that APA students’ opinions about the nature of poverty and wealth (i.e., their dominant ideological beliefs) did change slightly over the course of their college educations. While 77 APA students in 1990 felt that it was very important that individual poverty was due to faults such as a lack of effort or thrift, only 54 of the same students felt similarly in 1994. In other words, 23 students (13 percent) ascribed less belief in the notion that poverty was due to individual failings after four years of college, most likely intimating that they may have found that other factors—such as institutionalized discrimination— played a role in impoverishment. Similarly, while only seven APA students in 1990 thought that individual failings were not a key factor in determining poverty, in 1994, 24 students (8 percent) in 1994 were more apt to believe that poverty was less often caused by individual weaknesses and is instead due to other mitigating factors. Asian Pacific American students’ opinions about the nature of wealth in American society followed similar patterns. Slightly fewer APA students (10 students, or 6 percent) felt that wealth was very importantly related to hard work and individual effort, and slightly more APA students (3 students, or 2 percent) thought there was little-to-no relationship between hard work and effort and ensuing wealth in 1994. The changes in these students’ opinions may suggest that they believe less strongly in the notion of attainment through individual merit after four years of college. However, it is

96866_Inkelas_04

28.qxp

4/28/2006

106

2:00 PM

Page 106


Table 4.7. Differences in Asian Pacific American Students’ Dominant Ideology Beliefs from 1990 (T1) to 1994 (T4) 1994 Belief that poverty is caused by fault of individual Not important N

%

Somewhat important

Very important

N

N

%

Total

%

1990 Belief that poverty is caused by fault of individual Chi-square: ␹2=18.53; df=4; p

Racial Attitudes and Asian Pacific Americans: Demystifying the Model Minority (Studies in Asian Americans: Reconceptualizing Culture, History, Politics)

PROTESTANT MISSIONARIES, ASIAN IMMIGRANTS, AND IDEOLOGIES OF RACE IN AMERICA, 1850-1924 (Studies in Asian Americans)

The Racial Middle: Latinos and Asian Americans Living Beyond the Racial Divide

Anna Sui (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Yo-yo Ma (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Daniel Inouye (Asian Americans of Achievement)

I.M. Pei (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Maxine Hong Kingston (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Speak it Louder: Asian Americans Making Music

Distinguished Asian Americans: A Biographical Dictionary

Amy Tan (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Vera Wang (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Margaret Cho (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Apolo Anton Ohno (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Isamu Noguchi (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Michelle Kwan (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Kristi Yamaguchi (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Bruce Lee (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Ang Lee (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Desi Rap: South Asian Americans in Hip Hop

A Postmodern Psychology of Asian Americans: Creating Knowledge of a Racial Minority (S U N Y Series, Alternatives in Psychology)

Americans

Columbia chronologies of Asian history and culture

Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Health of Older Americans

The Korean Americans (The New Americans)

The Seminole (The History and Culture of Native Americans)

The Hopi (The History and Culture of Native Americans)

The Soviet Jewish Americans (The New Americans)

The Dominican Americans (The New Americans)

Racial Attitudes and Asian Pacific Americans: Demystifying the Model Minority (Studies in Asian Americans: Reconceptualizing Culture, History, Politics)

PROTESTANT MISSIONARIES, ASIAN IMMIGRANTS, AND IDEOLOGIES OF RACE IN AMERICA, 1850-1924 (Studies in Asian Americans)

The Racial Middle: Latinos and Asian Americans Living Beyond the Racial Divide

Anna Sui (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Yo-yo Ma (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Daniel Inouye (Asian Americans of Achievement)

I.M. Pei (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Maxine Hong Kingston (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Speak it Louder: Asian Americans Making Music

Distinguished Asian Americans: A Biographical Dictionary

Amy Tan (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Vera Wang (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Margaret Cho (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Apolo Anton Ohno (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Isamu Noguchi (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Michelle Kwan (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Kristi Yamaguchi (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Bruce Lee (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Ang Lee (Asian Americans of Achievement)

Desi Rap: South Asian Americans in Hip Hop

A Postmodern Psychology of Asian Americans: Creating Knowledge of a Racial Minority (S U N Y Series, Alternatives in Psychology)

Americans

Columbia chronologies of Asian history and culture

Racial and Ethnic Differences in the Health of Older Americans

The Korean Americans (The New Americans)

The Seminole (The History and Culture of Native Americans)

The Hopi (The History and Culture of Native Americans)

The Soviet Jewish Americans (The New Americans)

The Dominican Americans (The New Americans)

Recommend Documents