PLACE IN RETURN BOX to remove this checkout from your record.
To AVOID FINES return on or before date due.
MAY BE RECALLED with earlier due date if requested.

 

DATE DUE

DATE DUE

DATE DUE

 

UL“. 1 3 2006

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

6/01 cJCIFlC/DateDuest-sz

 

THE INFLUENCES OF ASSETS ON THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF
AFRICAN AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS

By

Chantel Laran Sawyer Lumpkin

A DISSERTATION

Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulﬁllment of the requirements
for the degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Family and Child Ecology

2001

ABSTRACT

THE INFLUENCES OF ASSETS ON THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT OF
AFRICAN AMERICAN COLLEGE STUDENTS

By

Chantel Laran Sawyer Lumpkin

This study identiﬁed signiﬁcant differences between the assets of Black
and White college students, examined relationships between Black students’
assets and Black family’s strengths, and explored how assets inﬂuence the
academic achievement of Black college students. A sample of 173 African
American college students, aged 17-23, were administered the Michigan State
University Student Assets Survey (MSUSAS), a self-report index of college
students’ assets, risks and stressors. Assets are the positive characteristics and
experiences provided to students by parents, peers, school, community, and
selves, for the purpose of decreasing risk behaviors and increasing incidences of
successful living. Being strengths-based traits, assets are culturally equated with
coping strategies and Hill’s (1999) ﬁve strengths of Black families.

To identify the assets of African American college students attending a
predominantly White institution of higher learning, exploratory factor analyses
were conducted on student responses. Thirty-nine assets were identiﬁed as
characteristic of Black college students. The ﬁve Black family strengths and three
intervening variables (reconstructed community of support, student employment

related to major, and student employment hours worked) were then used to

operationalize the 39 assets for the purpose of developing a proposed model for
evaluating academic achievement.

Path analyses were conducted to examine the best ﬁt of causal paths.
Based on these analyses, it was noted that the assets of African American
college students signiﬁcantly differ from the assets of White students and
signiﬁcantly relate to Hill’s (1999) ﬁve strengths of Black families; and the
construct of faith was signiﬁcantly related to a reconstructed community of
support and academic achievement. Conclusions were discussed numerating

limitations of this study and implications for further research, practice, and policy.

© Copyright by
CHANTEL LARAN SAWYER LUMPKIN
2001

This dissertation is dedicated to the African American students of this study.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to acknowledge all who made this possible. To my committee
chair and advisor Dr. Francisco Villarruel, thanks for your guidance and cultural
and community input. To my major professor Dr. Joanne Keith, thank you for
seeing my assets and insisting that I pursue this topic of research. It has opened
more doors than I could have imagined. To my committee member Dr. Anne
Soderrnan, thank you for modeling great teaching and for your questions that
challenged me to think more objectively. To my committee member Dr. Dorothy
Harper Jones, thanks for your mentorship and support. You helped me to follow
my heart. To committee member Dr. Melissa Quon-Huber, thanks for helping
me to understand. You knew that I would have chosen a different path if
possible.

To all the African American students who participated in this study, thanks
for showing your strengths. Keep striving for academic achievement.

To the entire MSUSAS Research Team — thanks for pushing me out of my
comfort level into the world of quantitative research. The journey was often very
rough for all concerned, but well worth the destination. Thanks to all the Family
and Child Ecology faculty and support staff, and also to the administrative and
support staff of University Outreach Partnerships.

Last, but not least, I thank my own community of support: my mom,

grandmother, stepfather, brothers, prayer partners, friends, classmates, and

vi

God. Although I may have listed Him last, I primarily contribute my academic

achievement to having a strong foundation of faith in Christ.

vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................. xiii
LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................... xiv
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1
Statement of the problem ...................................................................... 2
Purpose of the study ............................................................................. 3
Rationale for the study .......................................................................... 4
Importance of the problem ...................................................................... 5
Theoretical model .................................................................................. 8
CHAPTER 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................................................. 14
The ecological inﬂuences of context, developmental stage
and ethnicity .......................................................................................... 14
Ecological contexts ..................................................................... 1 5
Ethnic ecologies ......................................................................... 17
Developmental ecologies ............................................................ 20
Human development: young adulthood or late adolescence ................. 24
Culture ................................................................................................... 28
African American culture ............................................................. 29
The predominantly White university culture ................................. 30
The African American college student ................................................... 34
Assets and Strengths ............................................................................ 37
Assets ......................................................................................... 37
Strengths of African Americans ................................................... 38
Faith and religious orientation ......................................... 40
Kinship bonds ................................................................. 42
Role adaptability or ﬂexibility ............................................ 42
Work ethic ........................................................................ 44
Academic orientation ....................................................... 45
Reconstructed community of support ............................... 46
Synthesis of strengths and assets .......................................................... 47
Academic achievement and success .................................................... 49

viii

Studies of African Americans in Higher Education ................................ 51

Comparative . .............................................................................. 52

Culturally sensitive equivalence measurements ......................... 53

Lacking in contextual and ecological inﬂuences ......................... 54

Deﬁcit based ............................................................................... 55

Rationale for the study ......................................................................... 57

Hypotheses ........................................................................................... 61
CHAPTER 3

METHOD ......................................................................................................... 62

Setting ................................................................................................... 62

Participants ............................................................................................ 62

Descriptives ................................................................................ 63

Recruitment ........................................................................................... 67

Mail ............................................................................................. 67

Student group membership ......................................................... 67

In class ....................................................................................... 68

Peer solicitation .......................................................................... 68

Data collection ....................................................................................... 68

Instrument ............................................................................................. 69

Type of survey ............................................................................ 69

Reliability analysis ................................................................................. 71

Procedure ............................................................................................... 75
CHAPTER 4

RESULTS ........................................................................................................ 77

Overview ................................................................................................ 77

Preliminary statistical analyses .............................................................. 78

The development of an ethnically appropriate model ............................ 80

What are the assets of African American college students? ................. 80

Hypothesis 1: The assets or strengths of African American college

students signiﬁcantly differ from the assets of White students ..... 80

Step 1: Exploratory factor analysis ................................... 80

Results ............................................................................. 99

Step 2: Determining the assets of African American college

students ......................................................................... 100
External assets .............................................................. 100
Internal assets ................................................................ 107

How are the assets of African American college students related to the
theoretical strengths of Black families? ............................................... 114
Hypothesis 2: The assets or strengths of African American college
students signiﬁcantly relate to the ﬁve strengths of faith, kinship
bonds, role adaptability, academic orientation, and work ethic. 115
Step 3: Developing a strengths-based framework of assets

........................................................................................ 115

Scale formation .............................................................. 115

Testing the ethnically appropriate model ............................................. 127
Review of the measures ........................................................... 127
Independent variables .................................................... 128

Intervening variables ...................................................... 128

Dependent variables ...................................................... 1 30

Preliminary analysis ....................................................... 130

Guidelines for testing and assessing the ﬁt of the models ................... 132

What is the relationship between assets and the academic achievement of

African American college students? .................................................... 134
Overall theoretical model .......................................................... 1 35
Findings .................................................................................... 1 38
Goodness of ﬁt ......................................................................... 138

Hypothesis 3: The ﬁve assets of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability,
academic orientation, and work ethic are indicators of academic

achievement ........................................................................................ 139
Proposed model ....................................................................... 139
Findings .................................................................................... 1 39
Goodness of ﬁt ......................................................................... 142

Hypothesis 4: Students with strong faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability,
academic orientation, and work ethic are more likely to reconstruct
communities of support, thus increasing incidences of academic success

............................................................................................................. 142
Proposed model ....................................................................... 142
Findings .................................................................................... 142
Goodness of ﬁt ......................................................................... 145

Hypothesis 5: The assets of role adaptability, academic orientation, and
work ethic inﬂuence the academic relatedness of student employment and
the number of hours worked, thus affecting academic achievement 145

Proposed model ....................................................................... 145
Findings .................................................................................... 145
Goodness of ﬁt ......................................................................... ,148
Hypothesis 6: A strong work ethic encourages the number of hours
students work negatively affecting academic achievement ................. 148
Proposed model ....................................................................... 148
Findings .................................................................................... 1 51
Goodness of ﬁt ......................................................................... 151
Summary ............................................................................................. 151
CHAPTER 5
DISCUSSION .................................................................................................. 153
Hypothesis 1: The assets or strengths of African American college
students signiﬁcantly differ from the assets of White students ............ 155

Hypothesis 2: The assets or strengths of African American college
students signiﬁcantly relate to the ﬁve strengths of faith, kinship bonds,
role adaptability, academic orientation, and work ethic ........................ 160

Hypothesis 3: The ﬁve assets of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability,
academic orientation, and work ethic are indicators of academic
achievement for African American college students ............................. 162

Hypothesis 4: Students with strong faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability,
academic orientation, and work ethic are more likely to reconstruct
communities of support, thus increasing incidences of academic success
for African American college students ................................................. 165

Hypothesis 5: The assets of role adaptability, academic orientation, and
work ethic inﬂuence the academic relatedness of student employment and
the number of hours worked, thus affecting academic achievement of
African American college students ....................................................... 166

Hypothesis 6: A strong work ethic encourages the number of hours
students work negatively affecting academic achievement of African

American college students .................................................................. 167
Limitations ........................................................................................... 168
Limits of the MSUSAS .............................................................. 168
Limits of the sample size .......................................................... 170
Limits of the developed model ................................................... 171

xi

Implications ......................................................................................... 172

Research ................................................................................... 172

Current data ................................................................... 172

Follow-up studies ........................................................... 175

Practice ..................................................................................... 1 76

Policy ........................................................................................ 1 78

REFERENCES ............................................................................................... 181

APPENDICES

Appendix A: Michigan State University Student Assets Survey (MSUSAS)

............................................................................................................... 193

Appendix B: MSUSAS External and Internal Asset Items Categorized by
Asset ..................................................................................................... 209

xii

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: MSUSAS African American Sample Descriptives ............................ 65
Table 2: MSUSAS Scale Reliabilities ............................................................. 74
Table 3: Factor Analysis of External Assets for Black Students ..................... 83
Table 4: Factor Analysis of External Assets for White Students .................... 84
Table 5: Factor Analysis of lntemal Assets for Black Students ...................... 85
Table 6: Factor Analysis of lntemal Assets for White Students ...................... 86

Table 7: External Assets of African American College Students - Items and scale
alphas ............................................................................................................ 102

Table 8: lntemal Assets of African American College Students — Items and scale
alphas ............................................................................................................ 109

Table 9: Faith - Scale Reliability, Items Loaded, and Corresponding Assets . 118
Table 10: Kinship Bonds - Scale Reliability, Items Loaded, and Corresponding

Assets ............................................................................................................ 120
Table 11: Role Adaptability - Scale Reliability, Items Loaded, and Corresponding
Assets ............................................................................................................ 122
Table12: Academic Orientation - Scale Reliability, Items Loaded, and
Corresponding Assets .................................................................................... 124
Table 13: Work Ethic- Scale Reliability, Items Loaded, and Corresponding Assets
........................................................................................................................ 126
Table 14: Psychometric Properties of the Model Variables ............................ 131
Table 15: Correlations of Model Variables ..................................................... 133

xiii

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Theoretical Model of the Assets of African American College

Students ........................................................................................................ 9
Figure 2: Overall Theoretical Model ........................................................... 12, 136
Figure 3: A Holistic Perspective ..................................................................... 19
Figure 4: Context and Development over Time .............................................. 23
Figure 5: External Assets ............................................................................... 39
Figure 6: lntemal Assets . ............................................................................... 39
Figure 7: Deﬁning Constructs of Hill’s (1999) Strengths ................................. 41

Figure 8: Conceptual Integration of Assets and Strengths of Black Families . 48
Figure 9: Best Fitting Overall Theoretical Model ............................................. 137

Figure 10: Hypothesis 3: Proposed Direct Model of Independent Variables
Predicting Academic Achievement ................................................................. 140

Figure 11: Hypothesis 3: Best Fitting Direct Model of Independent Variables
Predicting Academic Achievement ................................................................. 141

Figure 12: Hypothesis 4: Proposed Model of Variables Predicting Reconstructed
Community of Support Inﬂuencing Academic Achievement ........................... 143

Figure 13: Hypothesis 4: Best Fitting Model of Variables Predicting
Reconstructed Community of Support Inﬂuencing Academic Achievement 144

Figure 14: Hypothesis 5: Proposed Model of Variables Predicting Student
Employment Inﬂuencing Academic Achievement .......................................... 146

Figure 15: Hypothesis 5: Best Fitting Model of Variables Predicting Student
Employment Inﬂuencing Academic Achievement .......................................... 147

Figure 16: Hypothesis 6: Proposed Model of Work Ethic Predicting Hours
Worked and Inﬂuencing Academic Achievement ........................................... 149

Figure 17: Hypothesis 6: Best Fitting Model of Work Ethic Predicting Hours
Worked and Inﬂuencing Academic Achievement ........................................... 150

xiv

Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION

Speciﬁc to research conducted with youth ages 12 -18 years, Search
Institute composed a list of forty assets found to increase thriving indicators and
opportunities for success (Benson, 1997). Assets of developing individuals are
deﬁned as the positive characteristics and experiences provided jointly by
individuals and the multiple levels of their environment: their family, peers,
school, community, faith-based communities and society. Also deﬁned as
strengths, increased numbers of assets were found to directly correlate to
increased indicators of success and inversely correlate to decreased reports of
risk behavior involvement (Scales & Leffert, 1999). These patterns of positive
developmental outcomes are based on research conducted with thousands of
youth, of whom eighty-six percent were White, suburban, middle-class, and
midwestern. Therefore, questions were raised as to the applicability of the
ﬁndings to non-White youth, of differing socioeconomics and developmental
stages or age. Based on these concerns, it is posited that cultural factors, such
as ethnicity, stage of development, and environment, have inﬂuence on the types
and prevalence of assets provided to African American1 college students. It is
also posited that these assets are signiﬁcant predictors of academic success.

Using the assets framework as a foundation, a group of faculty, staff, and

students developed the Michigan State University Student Assets Survey (Keith,

 

‘ For the purpose of this study the term African American will be used interchangeably with Black
and Black American. African American is deﬁned in the American Heritage Dictionary as an
American ethnic group also referred to as Black or Black American, whose members are
descended from African people having dark skin.

Villarruel, Gardner, Lumpkin, & Daenzer, 1999) to examine community inﬂuences
on assets presented by college students transitioning from adolescence to
adulthood. To further examine the inﬂuence of ethnicity on the presence and
prevalence of assets for college students, a culturally sensitive model was
adapted from previously published research for viewing the assets of the subset
of African American college students through the lens of Hill’s (1999) theoretical
strengths of Black families. This model was then used to predict thriving
indicators of academic achievement speciﬁc to African American college

students.
Statement of the Problem

Matriculation and academic achievement have long been issues of
concern in regards to African American college students. Studies have focussed
on the numbers of African Americans entering college, attendance at
predominantly White institutions versus historically Black institutions, and rates of
attrition and graduation (Allen, Epps & Haniff, 1991; Brawer, 1996; Wilds, 2000).
In the past decade, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of
African Americans entering college, however, fewer are attaining degrees, and
most are taking longer to do so (Wilds, 2000). Based on past reports that
examined student retention and graduation rates at MSU, less than ten percent
of the incoming Black freshmen are expected to graduate in four years, and less
than thirty percent are expected to receive their baccalaureate degree within ﬁve
years of entry (MSU Women's Resource Center, 1999). While MSU graduation

rates for completion of African American students are lower than national data,

they are not dramatically different. Nationwide, degree completion time for Black
students has been reported as 19.4% in four years, 31.2% in ﬁve years, and
33.9% in six years ("More bad news", 1996/97).

While an array of reasons for “delayed” completion have been offered,
most studies of time to degree completion involving African American students
are deﬁcit-based, as they focus on the causes of attrition and lack of
achievement (Brawer, 1996; English, 1992; Jackson & Malott, 1994; Lang &
Ford, 1988; “More bad news”, 1996/97; Piotrowski & Perdue, 1998; Rowser,
1990; Sailes, 1999; Sherman, Guiles & Williams-Green, 1994; Wiley, 1989).
While these studies provide important insight, they collectively fail to offer
perception about what might be done to enhance the probability of matriculation
as opposed to prevention of dropout. Such insight would be provided through
study of assets that contribute to academic achievement, and exploration of
assets made available to the student. The ﬁndings would provide an
understanding of what can be done by the university community and individuals
to increase the success of African American students in higher education.
Purpose of the study

This quantitative study seeks to identify assets most characteristic of the
African American college student and their community, for the purpose of 1)
determining the cultural inﬂuences on the development of assets provided by the
multiple levels of an individual's ecological systems; and 2) distinguishing those
assets most indicative of academic achievement. This study is unique in that it

purports the ﬁndings will be embedded within a strengths-based culturally

sensitive model to identify the assets presented by African American students.
The ﬁndings from this investigation can then be used by college and university
administrators to develop and implement policies and practices which may
contribute to and increase the likelihood of matriculation and academic success
of African American college students attending predominantly White institutions
of higher Ieaming.
Rationale for the Study

There has been recent expansion in the use of culturally sensitive models
to assess resiliency factors (positive behaviors and competencies exhibited by
individuals despite chronic adversity) associated with Black adolescents
(McCloyd, 1999; McCond & Steinberg, 1998; McCubbin, Thompson, Thompson,
& Futrell, 1998). Culturally sensitive models often utilize holistic or ecological
frameworks, examining the bidirectional inﬂuences of the individual on the
environment and vice versa (Billingsley, 1992; Bronfenbrenner, 1988). Holistic
strengths-based assessments tend to look at ecological factors that contribute to
an individual's lack of involvement in risk behaviors for the purpose of soliciting
the active participation of the ecological systems to provide environments that
help prevent and minimize risk occurrences and encourage more positive
behaviors.

The purpose of this investigation is to shift from a deﬁcit-based focus to a
strengths-based focus and utilize a culturally sensitive and ecological paradigm
to discern the unique strengths and attributes of African American young adults

enrolled in a predominantly white institution. Speciﬁcally, this investigation

explores factors that may contribute to the success of African Americans in
higher education. This assets framework, while exploratory in nature, can
contribute to our collective understanding of what institutions of higher education
can offer to strengthen the likelihood of matriculation for African Americans
attending predominantly White institutions. Moreover, this study is unique in two
respects. First, it represents one of the initial attempts to apply an assets
framework to individuals in the late adolescence/early adulthood stage of their
lives. Second, while using an assetsframework, it attempts to adapt a culturally
speciﬁc model of developmental assets.
Importance of the problem

There is a need for research that identiﬁes the assets of developmental
stages previously overlooked in research studies; considers the ecological
inﬂuences of an individual's ethnicity in context of the racial makeup of the
institutional structure; and is proactive and achievement oriented rather that
reactive and deﬁcit focused. Such a model would focus on the strengths of
college students, ages 18-23, in the stage of transition from adolescence to
adulthood; as well as the strengths of the African American student attending a
predominantly White institution of higher learning. Such a strengths-based
model may be used to promote and encourage university, community, and
parental support of African American university students for the purpose of
decreasing risk behavior involvement and improving retention rates, academic

achievement and graduation numbers.

The need for a developmentally appropriate and culturally sensitive
strengths-based model is made more apparent in light of the limitations of current
research speciﬁc to the development of African American young adults. This
research tends to be either deﬁcit-based, comparative, lacking in measurement
equivalence, lacking in consideration of contextual inﬂuences, and/or limited in its
applicability to matriculation and academic achievement. Deﬁcit based
approaches focus on the percentage of African Americans that are involved in
risk behaviors (Jackson & Malott, 1994); the percentage of African Americans
who drop out of college (English, 1992; Kobrak, 1992; Piotrowski & Perdue,
1998; Sailes, 1993); low enrollment rates of ethnic minority students (Wilds,
2000); and causes of attrition (Allen, 1985, 1992). In addition, most of the deﬁcit-
based studies tend to be quantitative in scope, reporting the rates of enrollment
or attrition, but providing minimal insight in regards to the ecological factors that
possibly inﬂuence these rates for African American students.

Culturally sensitive equivalence measurements consider the effect of the
cultural inﬂuences on the deﬁnition of constructs being measured, and make
adjustments to increase reliability across ethnic lines (Knight & Hill, 1998). For
example, Lucero (2000) notes in her study of the cultural measurements of
assets, the changes made to the basic model by the Latino, American Indian and
Asian American communities, so that the essence of assets was understood,
measurable, and accepted.

Comparative studies contrast the measurement of one construct for one

group of subjects against the measurement of the same construct for another

group of subjects. Unfortunately, a win-lose philosophy is set as in most cases
one group is considered the norm, and the other groups are often found deﬁcient
when measured against this group (Steinberg & Fletcher, 1998). Other concerns
include failures to consider covarying variables as confounding the
measurements and the inﬂuence of context. A number of studies of ethnic
minority students list the ethnicity and other demographics as environmental
labels or “social addresses” that presuppose similar developmental experiences
and outcomes based on ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, family
structure, and so on (Bronfenbrenner, 1988). Social address models give little
regard for how the environmental contexts might inﬂuence behaviors, attitudes or
developmental processes (Rowser, 1990). Studies speciﬁc to the matriculation
and achievement of African American students have tended to be comparative
(Cabrera et al., 1999; Heath, 1992; Sodowsky et al., 1994), and or deﬁcit based
being focused on attrition or retention problems (Jackson 8. Malott, 1994; Kobrak,
1992; Lang & Ford, 1988; Piotrowski & Perdue, 1998; Sailes, 1993).

A strengths-based approach does not ignore the problems or concerns,
but rather considers them with plans of emphasizing what has shown to be
successful while believing that increasing the positive factors consequently
decreases the negative factors. The positive based focus being used for this
study will identify and examine the strengths presented by the ecological systems

of the African American college students.

Theoretical Model

Ecological systems involve the interactions of the internal characteristics
of the individual (i.e. developmental stage, gender, beliefs, values, and
behaviors), within the context of his/her external systems of family, school,
community, congregation of faith, and/or society. Particular consideration will be
given to the individual factors of cultural identity, age of development and college
student role, and the external factors related to the academic community. Figure
1 depicts the ecological framework for this study examining factors that
contribute to the presence and provision of assets that show signiﬁcant indication

of promoting academic achievement.

 

Insert Figure 1 about here

 

The integration of Bronfenbrenner (1979) and Billingsley’s (1992) models
of human ecological development underscore the unique and speciﬁc aspects of
development. Further integration of Hill’s (1999) African American strengths’
model underscores adaptive strategies and experiences provided to the
developing individual by the surrounding ecological settings. Speciﬁcally, this
model purports that assets of the African American college students are provided
jointly by the students and the overlapping settings of their ecological
environments. In the model, the microsystem is the student and his/her roles,
immediate settings, and regular activities (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). The next

proximal setting, or mesosystem, indicates the interrelations of the settings of

Figure 1
Theoretigcal Model of t_he Assets of African American Colleﬂtrﬂents. (Adapted

from Billingsley, 1992, Bronfenbrenner, 1979, and Hill, 1999).

 
    
 

EXOSYSTEM

 
 
  

MESOSYS‘I’IM

 
 

FAMILY SCHOOL

   

  
  

“'38“ \ASSETS / mag-c.
FACULTY, “0,3“ mm; “"5""? JOB
STAFF ~ . ORIENTA‘I‘IPN’

 
     
 

    
   

 
 

 

   

 

   

smouc lieu:
Annulment"

 
   
 

3/ STRONG
musmp

 
 
 

 
 
 

CHURCH

  

COMMUNITY

which the individual is an active participant (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). The
mesosystem is inﬂuenced by student status, age and ethnic culture, and includes
family, college/university, school faculty and staff, peers, church, community, and
job site (Billingsley, 1992). Based on Billingsley’s (1992) holistic perspective of
developing Black youth and families, both the microsystems and mesosystems
are presumed to be ethnically homogeneous, while the Black youth is underage
and residing at home with family. However, it is important to note that for Black
college students, these settings may be homogeneous or heterogeneous, based
on their residence while attending school and the ethnic makeup of the collegiate
environment. According to Hill’s (1999) theoretical strengths of Black families, it
is proposed that African American college students are provided with the assets
of academic orientation, role adaptability, kinship bonds, faith, and work
orientation. In this model assets indicate the strengths-based characteristics of
the systems that surround and sustain the enveloped individual, enabling the
individuals to interact effectively with their immediate settings, and providing
strengths for traversing the distal processes of the environments represented by
the exosystem and macrosystem.

This ecological model and previous research provide a basis for
addressing several research questions and hypotheses pertaining to African
American college students: What are the assets or strengths particular to African
American college age students? Which of these assets are strong indicators of
academic success? Which of these assets are possible hindrances to academic

achievement? And, which of these assets are most likely to be found as

10

characteristic of African American college students attending predominately
White universities? A series of factor analyses were calculated to examine the
presence of assets and their correlations to the ﬁve strengths of faith, kinship
bonds, role adaptability, academic orientation, and work ethic. These strengths
were operationalized by the identiﬁed assets and used as independent variables
of a culturally appropriate assets model speciﬁc to African American college
students. A path analysis model, depicted in Figure 2, was then developed to
examine the relationships between the variables as predictors of academic

achievement.

 

Insert Figure 2 about here

 

In the path analysis model, Path A examined the direct relationship
between the strengths of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability, academic
orientation, and work ethic with academic achievement. Path B examined the
relationships of the ﬁve strengths on the reconstruction of a community of
support. It was hypothesized that students indicating characteristic family
strengths were supported by family and community and thus more inclined to
reconstruct a school-based communal system of support to replace the family
and community displaced by student’s attendance and residence at college. This
reconstructed community would include faith-based entities, peers, university
personnel, and resources to support the student’s matriculation and inﬂuence

academic achievement. Path C examined the covarying inﬂuences of role

11

Figure 2;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ovenai Theoretical Mgdgl
DEFT—__j
FAITH \K
B TEE ~ «\J} N , _-
RECONSTRUCTED l
~——~ - —- a B COMMUNITY ~ ...... _E
i OF SUPPORT T h
KINSHIP
BONDS I z- ___ _ L- J
B ‘\ \“\\\A\
l MT“
ROLE —-——~~——— ___” ___-A____,_ —
DAPTABILITY
_E —'— ___--- “‘7
r STUDENT C
EMPLOYMENT __________ +
- ELATED TO MAJOR
l _— ‘ T I _-
ACADEMIC ”__M--VI~.—~~~——~-~-A--— —— T”
ORIENTATION , {C
K STUDENT I SB,
EMPLOYMENT -
HOURS WORKED J
, _ _
I WORK ”A, E'

‘ ETHIC M vvvvvv H,

 

12

 

 

ACADEMIC

 

 

 

 

 

adaptability, academic orientation, and work ethic on students’ employment
related to ﬁeld of study and number of hours worked. While it was hypothesized
that employment related to students’ major would positively inﬂuence academic
achievement, the number of hours worked were hypothesized to be inversely
related to academic achievement. Path D examined the causal relationship of
work ethic with student employment hours worked and academic achievement.
When students’ employment was inﬂuenced only by a strong belief in working to
achieve, the number of hours worked increase, and academic achievement
decreases.

The objectives of this exploratory investigation, then, were to (a)
determine the ecological inﬂuences of ethnicity, developmental stage and context
on the development of assets for African American college age students; (b)
develop a culturally sensitive framework to identify assets particular to African
American college students; and (c) identify the types and prevalence of those
assets predictive of the academic success of African American college students.
This investigation will provide a basis for understanding the ecological factors
that are thought to contribute to the academic achievement of African American

college students.

13

Chapter 2
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Based on the ecological and contextual theories of human development,
this study investigated the positive characteristics of African American college
students and the inﬂuences of those characteristics on academic success. This
chapter reviewed research that addressed issues of the ecological inﬂuences of
ethnicity, cultural context, late adolescence/young adulthood stages of
development, assets, and strengths. Also examined was previous research on
academic achievement and African Americans in higher education. The latter
topic provided further support for this study and its culturally appropriate
strengths-based focus on African American college students.
The ecological inﬂuences of context, developmental stage, and ethnicity
Human ecological theories focus upon the interdependency of human
growth and development and the contexts within which individuals interact. A
reciprocal relationship is established as the individual develops, influences, and
perhaps even facilitates the development of context. Characteristics of the larger
system may contribute to the positive development of individuals, while
simultaneously the attributes of individuals may serve to shape the institutions of
the larger system. The asset-based approach used in this study seeks to
determine which individual and institutional factors interact to increase the
probability of successful academic outcomes for African American students in

predominantly White institutions of higher learning. The following sections will

14

extrapolate theoretical parameters from various human ecological and
developmental theories that established the foundation of this study.

Ecolmical Contexts. Human ecology focuses on the development of
humans as biological organisms and social beings interacting with the multiple
levels of the immediate settings and in consideration of the context within the
larger environment (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). There are four levels or settings,
conceived as embedded concentric Circles. The developing individual exists in
the smallest, innermost circle, or microsystem. This system also contains the
immediate settings, pattern of roles, and activities that maintain frequent
interaction with the developing individual. For example, the microsystem of the
college student may include student status, college campus setting, and
academic activities. The next level of the human ecology model is the
mesosystem, which comprises the interactions between the microsystems of the
developing individual. In other words, this is where the immediate systems of
inﬂuence (eg. the family, university, peers, and community) overlap and interact.
This interaction creates a cooperative effect or socialization consistency (Benson
et al, 1998) which serves to either inhibit or promote the inﬂuence of the
developing individual. Settings in the micro- and meso- systems are referred to
as proximal processes, as they directly inﬂuence and are inﬂuenced by the
individual. The third level is the exosystem, which contains the settings of
processes. These settings do not contain the developing individual, but rather
have an indirect inﬂuence on development. Examples would include the parent's

work place, university politics, trustees, and or academic support units. Activities

15

at the parent's workplace may indirectly affect the student's economic situation,
and governing laws enacted by the trustee board may affect or restrict student’s
behavior while enrolled in school. The last level, the macrosystem,
encompasses the three sub systems, and embodies the attitudes and practices
shared in the larger society as a whole (Muus, 1996). Muss argues that the exo-
and macro- systems are distal processes, as they have indirect inﬂuences on the
developing individual.

While Bronfenbrenner (1989) focused mostly on the structure of the
human ecological model across time, as it undergirds the systemic interactions,
Bubolz and Sontag (1993) concerned themselves primarily with the process of
the interactions across systems, as they directly inﬂuence the development of the
individual and family. The family's characteristics and attributes inﬂuence how
and with whom interactions and process take place, thus structuring
interrelations with other settings in the environment. The characteristics of the
family include ethnic identity, structure, demographics, socioeconomic class, and
history. These family traits and interrelations with other systems set a precedent
for inﬂuencing the developing individual's behaviors, attitudes, values, and
interactions with the environment. For example, Hill (1999) asserts that African
American families traditionally have strong work orientations. Therefore learning
marketable skills is encouraged as knowledge and ability are essential for access
into the work setting. Consequently, academic achievement and school success

become the gateway to enriched job opportunities and higher economic status.

16

In this way a strong work orientation inﬂuences African American students to
value and to pursue an education.

Ethnic ecolm. In the human ecology model, culture is depicted as the
values, beliefs and attitudes of the larger society. Based on this theory, the
culture embodied in the macrosystem guides the interactions of the smaller
encompassed systems. In the United States, the larger societal culture is
middle-class Eurocentric. When the smaller immediate systems encompassed
by the Eurocentric macrosystem are speciﬁc to African Americans, a cultural
discordance or inconsistency of socialization (Benson et al, 1998) is created. At
which level this discordance registers or impacts the subsystems is based on the
depth of the interactions of the African American individual with the larger White
society, and the ability of the intermediate systems to mediate. For example, in
the adapted social-ecological system model depicted in Figure 3, Billingsley's
(1992) ethnic and holistic perspective is related to Bronfenbrenner's (1979)
ecological model. The microsystem is the African American developing youth
within the African American family, the intermediate system is the African
American community, and the macrosystem is the larger White, majority society.
Billingsley’s model is considered ecological as it considers the interrelations
between the developing child and his/her environments, despite his lack of
identiﬁed meso— and exosystems. Figure 3 depicts the African American child as
being sustained and supported by the African American family, who in turn is
surrounded by, sustained by and interrelates with the African American

community, which is surrounded by the larger American society. In this model,

17

the intermediate systems of the family and community structurally support and
shield the developing child. Any incongruent messages from the larger
macrosystem to the developing child, are ﬁltered by the intermediate systems,
and those that may be negatively inﬂuential (e.g. racism), are diminished by the
dynamics of the intervening family and community systems. In Billingsley's
model, the ecological structure serves to lend support and protection to the
developing African American youth. It is important to note that this web of
inﬂuence may remain intact through the developmental stage of late
adolescence/young adulthood, although the ecological structure may shift

because as college students individuals no longer reside in their protected nests.

 

Insert Figure 3 about here

 

As noted previously, the ecological structure is also inﬂuenced reciprocally
by the individuals. AS the individual develops and begins to move more
independently among society, as ethnic minority families move from
homogeneous to heterogeneous communities, and conversely as the larger
society increasingly encroaches on the family, the ecological settings, processes
and interactions, shift to adapt. In other words, as the individual develops and
changes physical settings, the childhood family and community discontinue to
serve as intermediate systems, and the individual assumes roles having more
direct interactions with the larger societal systems. As changes in ecological

settings often occur synonymously with developmental stage advancement, we

18

Figure 3
A holistic perspective. Adapted from Billingsley (1992) and Bronfenbrenner
(1979)

 
   
   
 
  
    
   
 
   
     

AMERICAN
SOCIETY

   

AFRICAN
AMERICAN
COMMUNITY

  

Politic

     
    
    
  

AFRICAN
AMERICAN
FAMILY

  
  
 

  
  

Volunteer Church

Association

Welfare

  
   
   
 
    
 
   
   
 
   
 
   

AFRICAN
AMERICAN
CHILD

 
   

Bugness MICROSYSTEM

Religion
MESOSYST EM

ammunications

MACROSYST EM

19

can expect the developing individual’s settings to change as they move through
the stages of childhood, adolescence and young adulthood. So, for the African
American young adult leaving the home of the African American family and
community to attend a predominantly White college or university, concerns may
arise regarding the shift in ecological processes and interactions, and the
provisions of support, sustenance, and mediation.

Other ecological models speciﬁc to African Americans (Harrison et al,
1990; Nsameng, 1993) note that socialization of the Black child hinges on
interdependence with family and community and the development of adaptive
strategies that counteract negative aspects of the larger social context. Adaptive
strategies are cultural patterns of personality characteristics and social behaviors
that promote the survival and well being of the individual, family, and community.
Those found most common among the four major ethnic minority groups of
African Americans, American Indians, Asian Paciﬁc Americans, and
Latino/Hispanics are extended family, role ﬂexibility, a bicultural orientation, and
socialization goals that are focused on ancestral worldviews and values (Harrison
et al, 1990). This commonality of strategies among ethnic groups suggests that
culture inﬂuences the strength-based processes used by the proximal systems -
individual, family and immediate community - to successfully interface with the
distal system of society.

Developmental ecologies. The changes to the ecological systems
corresponding to the developing individuals also mean a change in dynamics,

regarding the structure of the systems and the force of inﬂuence. In some

20

instances, once distal processes may become more proximal and immediate
inﬂuences may become more distant. Such may be the case for African
American college students living away from home and attending a predominantly
white institution of higher education. As a developing child and youth, the roles
were more dependent upon the immediate system of family (e.g. son/daughter).
As a college student living away from home, the subsequent roles are more
independent, and the immediate system of family is replaced by university
inﬂuenced systems (eg. peers, community of residence members, and school
faculty and staff). As a result, college students must readjust their roles and
settings, or reconstruct their communities to reﬂect the structure of new proximal
inﬂuences and the need for different processes and interactional strategies.
Jessor's (1994) chronosystemic and ecological model of adolescent
development depicts the growing young person over time, within the overlaps of
his/her immediate environments (i.e. family, school, and environment) and the
contexts of the more distal environments (i.e. social structure, economics, politics
and culture). The model is shown as spheres of contexts interrelated within one
large macrosystem as they move together as one entity across a time continuum.
Figure 4 depicts each of the immediate systems as equally including the
individual and overlapping with the other immediate systems. Each system is
considered for its individual interactions with the adolescent, as well as its
interactions with other proximal systems and the resulting concurrent inﬂuences
upon the adolescent. Inﬂuences of the immediate environments must also be

considered in light of their placements in and interactions with the larger socio-

21

structural, economic, political and cultural environment. Overall, the model is
depicted as moving across a continuum of time, from adolescence to young
adulthood, recognizing the developmental processes in the individual self as
varying the individuals placement and interactions with the environment. The
continuum of time also allows for time-related changes to the environmental
contexts (e.g. political leadership and policies, and societal events). It is
important to note that as the model moves across time, corresponding with the
individual’s development, the immediate structures shift and change their
positions in relation to the individual, other systems and the macrosystem. The
change in time and space inﬂuence the prominence and scope of the system’s
continued inﬂuence on the developing individual. Concurrently, the developing
individual is also forced to shift his/her perceptions, roles, strategies and systems
of support, in order to restore equilibrium. Dombusch (2000) notes that any type
of transition causes a breakdown in habitual patterns of perceptions and

activities, forcing the development of new behaviors to ﬁt the new circumstances.

 

Insert Figure 4 about here

 

Some theorists disagree with the assumption that an individual’s
perceptions or psychological strategies of support must be adapted to coincide
with development. For example, Tubbs and Boss (2000) note that the concept of
psychological presence may operate strongly enough to keep the former

immediate systems proximal despite their physical shifts to a more distal position.

22

Figure 4
_gmtext anﬂevelmment over Time. Source: Jessor, 1993.

 

    
     
   
 
   

    

 

 

,
The larger Social-Structural,
elop
Economic, Political,
Neighborhood
and Cultural Environment
>
PRE-ADOLESCENCE ADOLESCENCE YOUNG ADULTHOOD

23

Therefore, in theory, the family remains an immediate inﬂuence on the college

student despite the student's physical distant from home. This theory is based
on the developmental and psychological maturity of the individual. Whereas, an
adolescent may be perceived as needing to keep the family in physical proximity,
a young adult is considered to keep the family proximate through the
development of a strong and mature psychological presence. However, others
would argue that few college age students (18-23) have the maturity necessary
to prioritize the inﬂuence of psychologically present systems, in the midst of other
social environments (Jessor, Donovan & Costa, 1994). Rather, college students
are in a stage of adolescence which becomes extended by the university culture
and setting (Bocknek, 1980; Moffatt, 1991). This stage of development is often
referred to as post or late adolescence rather than young adulthood.
Human development: young adulthood or late adolescence

Bronfenbrenner (1979) deﬁnes human development as the phenomenon
of constancy and change in the characteristics of the person at a particular point
in time based on the individual's progressive and bi—directional interaction with
the changing physical/social environments. As individuals progress from one
stage of development to the next, their interactions with the environment
correspondingly change to reﬂect this growing maturity. At each new stage of
development, disequilibrium is created which causes individuals to incorporate
the new structures with the existing ones in order to construct new perceptions
adaptive to the next stage, and, to restore equilibrium (Terenzini, 1987). Thus

interactional changes inﬂuence the individual's development, which in turn

24

inﬂuence the dynamics of interactions. However, there is a controversy over
whether the stage of development corresponding to the ages of 18-23 should be
referred to as young adulthood or late adolescence. Although some may argue
that the choice of terminology is simple semantics, others would note that one's
worldview of human developmental stages sets forth ones expectations for
cognitive readiness and related stage tasks and behaviors.

On the one hand is Erikson's epigenetic theory of development which is
based primarily on chronological age and developmental tasks (Erikson, 1993).
His stages of man theory delineates the stage of young adulthood as beginning
at age 18 when adolescence ends, and one is legally considered an adult. In
adolescence, the tasks are to develop one's identity and a sense of conﬁdence in
who one is. Realized identity results in ﬁdelity, sustained loyalties to values,
strong sense of individuality and recognition of acceptance by society (Thomas,
2000). Perceived as a conﬁdent individual, the 18 year-old is ready to move on
to addressing the tasks of the next stage of development, that of young
adulthood. The tasks of this stage include the development of intimate,
meaningful relationships with others, and commitment to a career.

On the other hand, there are those theorists who believe that the shift from
the adolescent stage to adulthood should be based on the maturation process
rather than a Speciﬁc chronological age period (Bocknek, 1980; Rogers, 1972).
They envision individuals entering adulthood when mature enough to assume the
roles and responsibilities of full-ﬂedged citizens in society. Rogers and Bocknek

posit that this mature stage does not seem to occur for college students until they

25

have completed college and become income earners, at about age 23. College
years are associated with extended adolescence, as the developmental focus
continues to be identity formation, gaining independence, and becoming
autonomous and self-reliant (Ryan & Lynch, 1989). As a result, the stage
encompassing the ages of 18-23 is labeled late adolescence, the period when
one transitions to adulthood.

While a number of students are reported to perceive college as being
about adolescent autonomy, a time of self-governing and self-regulating fun and
games (Moffatt, 1989), others see college as a stage for coming of age and
progressing from adolescent to adult during four years of study. It is a window of
opportunity for identity development, providing exposure to diverse thoughts and
people, and opportunities to explore new roles and alternative views while en
route to identity achievement and commitment (Wicklin, 1997). As a transitional
period, late adolescence implies a sense of disequilibrium, for one is adjusting to
changes brought about from the shift from one stage of development to the next.
This transitional stage is further instigated by changes to the environmental
settings speciﬁc to the college student's shift from high school to college, from
family home to residence hall, and from roles of child dependence to roles of
adult accountability and responsibility (McCray, 1992). Based on the inﬂuence of
the transitions caused by these shifts, the college students of this study are
perceived as emerging from adolescence into adulthood. The community’s
perceptions of and interactions with the college students inﬂuence their emerging

self-identiﬁcation.

26

Whereas the previous inﬂuences were focused on the processes of
transition, other inﬂuences focus on the physical and social environmental
setting. Astin (1999) focused on the latter category and how it inﬂuences
development of the college student. His study of student involvement and
investment in schooling as a predictor of learning, found that student
psychological and physical involvement and investment was positively correlated
to personal development and student learning. University policies and practices
that foster student involvement in challenging activities and promote engagement
with faculty, staff and peers served to positively affect student development.
These practices also served to increase the student’s ﬁdelity to the university,
thus enabling completion of Erikson’s adolescent developmental stage task, and
moving students closer to adulthood.

The college student, regardless of the label of being considered in the
stage of late adolescent or young adult, is still developing or coming into his/her
own (McCray, 1992). This transition of becoming is taking place on multiple
levels: psychosocial, sexual, cognitive, emotional, moral, economical and for late
bloomers, physical. Based on ecological theories, the college student's
development is inﬂuenced directly by his/her immediate settings of family, peers,
and community, and indirectly by pre-college attributes (Astin, 1999; Schmidt &
Hunt, 1994). Pre-college attributes include student’s social address or
socioeconomic characteristics, as well as culture, high school setting (school
size, school type, school diversity), high school grades and test scores, and

parent’s educational attainment. When the past and present settings are

27

ethnically or culturally congruent, interactions are predicted as being supportive
of the individual's development. However, when the settings are ethnically or
culturally incongruent, adaptive measures become necessary to support the
college student’s development and eventual success.
Culture

“Like a ﬁsh in water, culture surrounds an individual” (p. 363, Sussman,
2000). This fact often makes it difﬁcult to distinguish between the nature of
culture as being a descriptor of the supportive characteristics or a label for the
process that governs one's thinking, beliefs and subsequent actions. Culture can
be deﬁned as ethnic designation, age, gender, individual and family
demographics, beliefs, values, and behaviors. As a process, culture inﬂuences
behaviors, beliefs and the formation of values. Furthermore, culture is inﬂuenced
by such factors as time, geography, economics, history, gender, learning and
politics. For example, the status of college student denotes a particular culture.
The school type and size, location, politics, characteristics of the students and
historical era inﬂuence the college student culture. In turn, the college student
culture inﬂuences students' values, academic behaviors, tastes in clothes and
music, and beliefs (Moffatt, 1991). There are also subcultures within the larger
college culture and on each campus, based on class standing, gender, major,
and ethnicity. While noting the importance of considering cultural inﬂuences on
development, Bronfenbrenner (1988) also warns that simplistic cultural groupings
become social addresses and may assume errant consensus if the interaction of

contexts is not taken into consideration.

28

African American Culture. Skin color, African ancestry and a history of
forced immigration to the United States designate African American culture.
Although Blacks have come to the United States from a number of different
countries, the majority designated as African American were "forced to
immigrate” when brought over as slaves from Africa (Ogbu, 1992). As
involuntary immigrants (Ogbu, 1981), African Americans historically have had
limited opportunities and resources. However, the race as a whole, has
remained resilient in spite of sub-optimal conditions and opportunities resulting
from the long-lasting effects of racism, oppression, and poverty. This resilience
has been credited to a worldview that emphasizes the strengths of religious
beliefs, faith in those beliefs, family bonds, extended kinship networks, communal
support, work ethic, and education orientation (Billingsley, 1992; Boykin, 1991;
Hill, 1999; Hines & Boyd-Franklin, 1982; Hudgins, 1992); and the ability to
remain ﬂexible and adapt to diverse roles for the purpose of survival (Billingsley,
1992; Harrison et al, 1990; Hill, 1999).

The African American culture inﬂuences family structure, individual
development, economics, social interactions and coping skills. In a process
referred to as enculturation (Barker & Hill, 1996), the cultural values and
practices of families are transmitted from one generation to the next. The
transmissions occur through experiences, ethical teachings, modeling, and
interactions with proximal processes. As a result, African American children
learn identity, self-esteem, and autonomy as they develop into mature individuals

that are interdependent with their family and community.

29

In Billingsley's model (Figure 3), the most immediate proximal inﬂuence for
the developing African American child is the African American family. Both the
child and family are surrounded and sustained by the Black community, which in
turn serve as a buffer for interactions with the larger White society. Using this
model, the assumption is made that prior to college, the developmental niche
(Super & Harkness, 1986) for African American students was central to,
congruent with, and supportive of the student's culture. However, the
advancement to college may cause a Shift in the structure of the immediate
settings. This is especially true when African American students leave home to
reside at and attend a predominantly white institution of higher education. In
effect, the Black student’s ecological placement Shifts outward, crossing over the
protective boundaries previously provided by the family and communities into a
microcosm of the larger society in the form of the predominantly White university
(Epps et al., 1991; Swanson & Spencer, 1999). This new setting can result in the
loss of culturally congruent proximal support systems, increased stress, and a
higher reliance upon developing new support systems and/or individual strengths
(Dombusch, 2000).

The predominaLntlv White university culture. The frame of reference and
contextual and social inﬂuenCeS of the immediate settings have major bearing on
the development of late adolescents. As an entity, institutions of higher
education have a culture, recognizable standards of expectations, and patterns
of behavior that govern, reqUire and evaluate speciﬁc beliefs, knowledge,

competencies, and skills (Ogbu, 1999). These standards and behaviors are

30

inﬂuenced and shaped by the cultural norms of society. For "predominantly
White universities", the term generally reﬂects the racial composition as well as
the pedagogical beliefs. The frame of reference for predominately White
institutions of higher Ieaming tends to be Eurocentric and middle-class, with
emphasis placed on independence, competitiveness, youth, and intellect in the
areas of math, science and linguistics (Boykin, 1991; Feagin, Vera & lmani,
1996; Kunjufu, 1986; McLoyd & Steinberg, 1998). Logic is primarily
dichotomous, either one or the other, right or wrong (Baldwin & Hopkins, 1990;
Nichols, 1976), hence the prevalence of standardized tests requiring convergent
thinking and one correct answer. By contrast, the African American culture
emphasizes interdependence and communalism, cooperation, respect for
maturity and elders rather than admiration of youthfulness, and spirituality
(Boykin, 1991; Kunjufu, 1986; McLoyd & Steinberg, 1998). Logic is diunital, the
consideration of both sides, and the union of opposites (Baldwin & Hopkins,
1990; Nichols, 1976), often resulting in high scores on tests of divergent thinking
(Hayles, 1991; Nemeth & Kwan, 1985). It should be noted that these cultural
dimensions are foundational pillars of historically Black colleges and universities
(Allen, 1992; Allen, Epps, & Haniff, 1991; Pascarella et al, 1996). In the
predominantly White academic setting, the Eurocentric viewpoint is typically set
as the standard for evaluating all student academic performance and educational
Ieaming (McCubbin et al, 1998), and any deviation from the norm is often
considered to be substandard. Not surprisingly, students of color are often

judged to be at a deﬁcit.

31

The culture of the university setting affects pedagogical beliefs regarding
expectations of student abilities and Ieaming climate (Davis, 1998; Feagin et al,
1996). When pedagogical beliefs regarding the intellectual abilities of Black
students reﬂect a bias, a climate of prejudice and discrimination is established
(Cabrera et al., 1999). Such climates are nonsupportive of student learning, and
serve as promoters of psychological and socio-cultural stressors (Astin, 1999;
Wilson & Stith, 1993). On such campuses, faculty members are often perceived
as expecting less academically from Black students believing them to be
intellectually inferior as a result of test scores normed on White students. Low
expectations have been shown to result in decreased student interest, few
opportunities for faculty-student interaction, and minimal student involvement
with academic activities which encourage matriculation and achievement (Astin,
1999; Cabrera et al, 1999). Attrition and eventual withdrawal are increased when
students perceive the learning climate as prejudiced and discriminative. College
climates that foster positive experiences through support for academic
achievement, sense of community and adjustment to college, subsequently
encourage social-psychological growth persistence and degree completion
(Cabrera et al, 1999; Pascarella et al, 1996).

As noted earlier, the term "predominantly White university" refers to the
racial composition as well as the pedagogical beliefs. The term ethnic minority is
used to indicate that the numbers of individuals belonging to a speciﬁc racial or
ethnic category are few. At MSU, the student racial composition is 15.6% racial

and ethnic minority (Harrison, 2000). Sussman (2000) asserts that cultural

32

distinctiveness increases the salience or central inﬂuence of one's socio—cultural
identity, speciﬁc to racial differences, especially at points of cultural transition or
conﬂict. Cultural identity salience inﬂuences behavior conforming to the cultural
identity. Interestingly, ethnic and cultural identity may not have been a primary
concern for the developing individual prior to entering the racially diverse college
setting, whereas now it takes precedence. Sussman also notes that members of
the dominant group may experience role confusion contrasting to the identity
salience experienced by members of the minority group. Subsequently, the
salience of the one group and the role confusion of the other affect the campus
climate, cultural perceptions, interactions and inﬂuences.

For African Americans, predominantly white institutions of higher
education represent a context that may or may not be congruent with their
cultural values, norms, and beliefs. Some would assert that the context has
primary inﬂuence on behavior and outcomes, and therefore the individual needs
to adapt to the environment. This could account for the African American college
students attending predominantly White institutions of higher education who
assimilate to the context by completely renouncing the values, norms and beliefs
particular to Blacks in favor of "acting White" (Fordham & Ogbu, 1986). At the
other extreme, are African American students who choose to attend historically
Black colleges and universities because they are perceived to preserve and
support their cultural values, beliefs and practices, and thus, provide a congruent
ethnic context (Allen et al, 1991; Chavous, 2000; Pascarella et al, 1996).

However, these examples are extremes. There are still numbers of African

33

American college students who attend predominantly white institutions of higher
education and try to maintain an equilibrium or reciprocal relationship between
their cultural beliefs and their context. Equilibrium supports acculturation,
allowing the African American college student to retain the cultural strengths or
assets of one's ethnic/racial identity, while Ieaming to successfully interact within
the incongruous context of the predominately White institution.
The African American college student

Previously it was noted that ethnicity, developmental stage, and ecological
context inﬂuence a student's development. In this study of African American
college students, cultural focus is being placed on age and ethnicity of the
students within the context of the predominantly White university. Ethnicity
inﬂuences students' worldviews, perceptions of society, and perceptions of how
they relate to society (Baldwin, 1990; Gilchrest, 1994; Hatter & Ottens, 1998).
Culture also inﬂuences age and stage of development, and effects one's
behaviors, thoughts and maturity (Bocknek, 1980; Erikson, 1993; Jessor, 1993).
Context is the systematic social variables presented by the setting and
environment, which inﬂuences ecological and development (Lerner & Tubman,
1991 ). The three interacting characteristics speciﬁc to the African American
college student inﬂuence perceptions, development, and behavior.

Although the majority of African American undergraduates tend to be
between the ages of 17-23, their overall average age may be slightly higher than
the mean age of White students. This is probably due to the fact that Black

students are four times as likely as White students to require six to seven years

34

to complete a four-year degree ("More bad news," 1996/97). In a study of
graduation rates conducted at MSU (MSU Women's Resource Center, 1999)
only 6% of the Black students completed their degrees in four years. The ﬁve-
year rate for completion was 27%. The six-year rate was 45%.

Regarding the stage of development, African American college students
are emerging from childhood dependence and emerging into adult responsibility
and accountability in the areas of self-identiﬁcation, economic survival,
socialization, decision-making, values, spirituality, and volition or will (McCray,
1992). This is a stage of human developmental transition and cultural transition.
As a student, developmental emphasis is placed on cognition, thinking processes
and learning for the purpose of facilitating economic growth. As an individual,
emphasis is placed on the psychosocial areas of self-identiﬁcation, decision-
making, and autonomy. The African American culture emphasizes
interdependence over independence, so autonomous growth and self-
identiﬁcation are expected to occur within social contexts of family, community,
and culture.

As a stage of cultural transition, African American college students are
shifting immediate settings, thus affecting their roles, activities and relations to
the immediate settings. For example, in the family setting, the developing
individual was the protected and dependent child. Interactions with outside forces
inﬂuencing the child's well being (eg. the school staff and community members)
were indirect, being ﬁltered through the parents and other family members. In

the college setting, the developing individual is seen as an independent and

35

autonomous being, expected to make decisions for self, and to act on his/her
own behalf. AS part of the transition to adulthood, students are expected to
directly interact with school personnel and community members. Thus these
settings become a part of the student's micro and mesosystems, displacing the
proximal position of the family and other childhood related settings.

Based on Sussman’s (2000) ﬁndings that culture becomes more salient in
culturally incongruent settings, it can be hypothesized that culture does not play a
primary factor in the developmental transition from dependent child to
interdependent adult when the college setting is ethnically congruent with the
family setting. However, when the two settings are incongruent, (e.g. having
different values, perceptions of and expectations for the student) culturally
adaptive strategies become pertinent to the student's ability to adapt to the new
roles associated with the transition to adulthood in the college setting.

Imperative to the survival and successful transition of African American
college students is the presence of positive-based culturally sensitive systems
which protect and support the developing individual (Harrison et al., 1990; Ogbu,
1981 ). These cultural patterns of personality characteristics and social behaviors
that promote the survival and well-being of the individual include (a) extended
family, (b) role ﬂexibility, (C) a bicultural orientation, (d) socialization goals, and
(e) focus on ancestral worldviews and values (Harrison et al, 1990). These
strengths were assumed to be present in pre-college years, as adaptive
strategies commonly used by the family, community, neighbors, childhood

friends, and congregation of faith. Now that the student has moved out of the

36

immediate physical realm of the settings that nurtured his/her growth through
adolescence, new communities of support and adaptive strategies must be
constructed corresponding to the student's age of development, gender,
academic year, ﬁeld of study and immediate physical setting.

Assets and Strengths

Adaptive strategies associated with ethnic minority families are akin to
developmental assets (Benson, 1997; Leffert et al., 1998) and the strengths of
Black families (Hill, 1999; Hudgins, 1992). Assets are deﬁned as positive
experiences and characteristics provided to developing individuals, thus enabling
them to resist risk factors and achieve success (Scales & Leffert, 1999). The
strengths of Black families are ﬁve basic adaptive strategies found common
among and pertinent to the psychosocial survival and success of Black or African
American families (Hayles, 1991; Hill, 1999). This study examined the assets
framework through the lenses of the strengths of Black families, for the purpose
of identifying assets most prominent and prevalent among African American
college students, and most predictive of their academic success.

AM. Search Institute identiﬁed forty assets related to their work on
adolescent (12-17 years of age) development. The forty assets are arranged in
two dimensions, external and internal. Each of the two dimensions further divide
into four categories of assets. The external assets are boundaries and
expectations, empowerment, support and constructive time use. The internal
assets are commitment to learning, positive values, positive identity and social

competencies. Finally, each category lists four or more speciﬁc assets for a

37

dimension total of twenty. Figure 5 lists the twenty assets that fall under the
category of external assets and Figure 6 lists the twenty internal assets. The
environments, which sustain the developing individual -family, community, school
and congregation of faith - are considered responsible for providing the external
assets. Their inﬂuence helps to model, support and nurture the individual's
development of lntemal assets. In essence, assets are the positive experiences
and supports provided to individuals by their environments and relationships,
resulting in the development of positive characteristics, competencies, and
internal values. Increased numbers of assets inversely correlate to risk factor

behaviors and directly correlate to increased indicators for success.

 

Insert Figures 5 and 6 about here

 

Criticisms of the assets model include its age limits speciﬁc to the
corroborating research, the preclusion that asset development is only provided
from birth till age 18 years (Leffert et al., 1998), and its lack of consideration for
cultural inﬂuences regarding the types, numbers and prevalence of assets. For
the purpose of this study, the asset framework was interpreted through a cultural
lens in order to provide a translation speciﬁc to African American college
students (Lucero, 2000).

Strengths of Africa_n Americans. Strengths is the term used by Hayles
(1991) to connote the distinctive ethnic capacities and competencies of African

Americans. Strengths is also the term used by Hill (1999) to denote the adaptive

38

Figure 5

Qternal Assets. Source: Leffert et al., 1998.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

EXTERNAL ASSETS
Boundaries and Empowerment Support Construch've Use
Expectations of Time
- Community values - Family support
Family boundaries youth - Positive family Creative activities
School boundaries - Youth as communication Youth programs
Neighborhood resources - Other adult Religious
boundaries - Service to others relationships community
Adult role models - Safety - Caring Time at home.
Positive peer neighborhood
inﬂuence - Caring scth
High expectations climate
- Parent
involvement in
schooling
Figure 6
Internal Assets. Source: Leffert et al., 1998.
INTERNAL ASSETS
Commitment to Positive Identity Positive Values Social
Learning Competencies
- Personal power - Caring
Achievement - Self-esteem - Equality and social Planning and
motivation - Sense of purpose justice decision-making
School - Positive view of - Integrity Interpersonal
engagement personal future - Honesty competence
Homework - Responsibility Cultural
Bonding to scth - Restraint competence
Reading for Resistance skills
pleasure Peaceful conﬂict
resolution

 

39

 

 

strategies that help African American families to be resilient and to overcome.
Hill notes ﬁve strengths speciﬁc to the African American family: faith, kinship
bonds, role adaptability, work ethic and academic orientation. Although separate
components or strengths, they are perceived as interacting reciprocally (Alston &
Turner, 1994). The chart in Figure 7 provides an overview of the ﬁve strengths
and their deﬁning constructs. Each of the strengths are respectively explored

further in the text following.

 

Insert Figure 7 about here

 

Faith and religious orientation. Hill (1999) operationally deﬁnes faith as a
strong religious attitude, belief and commitment to those beliefs. Faith
emphasizes a positive outlook for the future, increasing the ability to persevere
and endure (Alston & Turner, 1994). Speciﬁc to the developing student, faith
makes meaning and derives value from life (Wicklin, 1997). Based on the work
of Fowler, faith, for the college student, may be deeply held and strongly felt, but
untested. In other words, students may report having strong faith or religious
beliefs, yet their beliefs are not applied to their actions.

Among Black Americans, spirituality and the Black church are found to be
major sources of social support and determinants of future success (Hill, 1999).
The majority of all Blacks report regular involvement in religious activities.
Approximately 75% 'of all blacks belong to a speciﬁc church; over 65% report

attending church regularly, at least once per month; 93% report praying

40

Figure 7

Deﬁning Constructs of Hill’s (1999) Strengths

 

Black Family
Strength

Deﬁning Constructs

 

Strong Faith

Strong religious attitude, belief, and/or commitment
Involvement in religious activities

Social support and resource

Positive outlook for future

Perseverance and endurance

Meaning of life

 

Strong Kinship
Bonds

Kinship networks

Extended family relations

Significant non-related persons

Support and assistance from relatives

Family and community networks

Ties based on common residence and/or common future
plans

 

Strong Role
Adaptability

Flexible roles

Multiple roles and involvement

Adult role models

Holistic perspective

Enhanced sense of self-worth and self-esteem
Develops, problem solving and life skills
Assumes responsibility

 

Strong Work Ethic

Future orientation

Self-management skills

Improved self-reliance

Increased neighborhood stability
Entrepreneurial and self-employment abilities

 

 

Strong Academic
Orientation

 

High educational and occupational aspirations
Educators who assist in attainment of aspirations
Parental participation

High educational and occupational expectations
Broad range of social and economic support
Positive role models

Socialization skills

Socialization activities and programs

Healthy social relationships

High self-esteem

High academic performance

 

41

 

frequently; 82% watch or listen to religious programs; and 74% read religious
material. Religious participation is directly correlated to increased levels of
educational attainment, increased levels of economic advancement, marriage
and family survival rates, and lowered incidences of substance abuse and other
risk factors (Hill, 1999; McAdams, Booth, & Selvik, 1981; Steward & Jo, 1998).

Kinship Bonds. Kinship bonds are the extended family relationships and
ties forged by shared blood and genetics, shared sociocultural pasts and future
plans, and or similar life experiences (Alston &Turner, 1994; Hill, 1999).
Billingsley (1992) notes that kinship ties are the intimate relations formed with
other people who are related by blood, marriage, formal and informal adoption,
appropriation (unions based on decision i.e. “ﬁctive kin”), common residence, or
Shared social structure. Kinship bonds are akin to social capital; relationships
and networks that provide resources to community members for effective living.
Kinship bonds imply a communal connection and support for members of the
family.

For students, kinship bonds include the blood ties to the family of origin,
as well as ties to roommates, sorority/fraternity members, mentors, faculty, staff
and local church members. This new community or ﬁctive family provides role
models, support, connections and opportunities to share concerns and to help
others. Kinship bonds provide the foundation for ﬂexible roles.

Role Adaptability or ﬂexmtv. The ability to adapt to the responsibilities of
one's life conditions increases the probability for survival (Alston & Turner, 1994;

Hill, 1999). Role adaptability requires ﬂexibility in the perceptions of one's duties

42

and roles in regards to the subsistence of the individual and family. Whereas in
some cultures, familial roles are strictly adhered to and determined by gender
and age, the inclination of Black families is to modify prescribed roles for the
beneﬁt of the family. For example, single-parent Black families have often
succeeded against odds, because the mother adapted her parental role to
include duties attributed to the father as head of the household. While she
worked, a grandparent, aunt, uncle, neighbor, or older sibling may have taken on
the role of mothering to care for the younger children. Or in some cases, older
school-aged siblings took on jobs to help contribute to the economic running of
the household.

On a positive note, role ﬂexibility has been found to increase resilience
and adjustment to adverse life conditions, decrease tension and role overload,
and promote self-esteem. Adaptability in roles is perceived as a coping strategy
which may account for the ﬂexibility of cognitive structures among ethnic minority
students (Wilds, 2000). This ﬂexibility increases divergent thinking, problem
solving, and perceptions of evaluation criteria. However, role adaptability has
been found to have negative consequences as well (Hill, 1999). For instance,
role confusion may result for the parentiﬁed child: the older sibling who takes on
the responsibility of caring for younger children in the family or contributing to the
economic survival of the family. For college students who work to help ﬁnance
their education, tensions arising from excessive work hours and student
responsibilities may create conﬂicts that result in having to choose one role at the

demise of the other.

43

Work Ethic. Hard work, as well as academic achievement is perceived as
the avenue to economic mobility, and therefore a strong work standard or
principle is common among Black families (Hill, 1999). Despite myths that
Blacks do not want to work and would rather collect welfare, McCabe and Barnett
(2000) concluded from their study of African American adolescents that securing
a future career was deemed more important than establishing future
relationships. Hill also notes that Blacks have always worked although most are
in underpaid labor positions. Statistics Show that the majority of Black families
currently work, and 52% of Black families listed as living below the poverty line in
1989 did not receive public assistance, even though eligible to do so. This is
accredited to emphasis on self-reliance and unwillingness to be a part of the
welfare system. In addition, Blacks were found to be more willing to take on
lower paying jobs than Whites, to be employed as laborers or unskilled workers,
and to actively seek employment even after multiple rejections (Aston & Turner,
1994).

While a strong work orientation is noted to improve self-reliance and self-
worth, and, to provide opportunities for economic and social mobility, for the
college student work can prove to be both an asset and a risk factor. As an
asset, part-time work on campus and/or related to the student’s ﬁeld of study can
serve to increase the student’s interaction with peers and faculty, thus promoting
ties and commitment to the school and academia (Astin, 1999). On the other
hand, Astin also notes that as students work more hours, they reportedly studied

fewer hours, attended fewer Classes, and or achieved lower grades.

44

Consequently, they were more likely to drop out or take longer to complete their
graduation requirements (Brawer, 1996). A negative relationship between work
off-campus and academic achievement was also found (Astin, 1999). As
students worked more hours off-campus, they were less likely to reside on
campus, have the time to get involved with campus activities or connect
personnel, and to perceive a need for academic studies.

A_9_ademic Orienmn. High academic orientation is the aspiration and
commitment towards educational achievement (Hill, 1999). It is the behavior that
supports the attitude of commitment towards academic achievement, the energy
devoted to the academic experience (Astin, 1999). Hill further deﬁnes academic
orientation as having six components. (a) Black parents, teachers, and society
have high educational aspirations for Black youth. (b) Black students have high
aspirations for self that are supported by their beliefs and practices. (c) Peers
approve, support, encourage and in most cases share student’s goals and
aspirations. (d) Students have high self-esteem. (e) Students have a strong
personal racial identiﬁcation and a dual reference (multiracial worldview) or in-
group (pro-Black) orientation. And (f) students have both high internal and
external locus of control. The internal locus supports personal orientation and
aspirations, providing the student with the belief that they can accomplish
whatever they aspire to, while the external locus is the recognition that outside
forces help determine the achievement of the internal locus. High levels of both
are considered to provide optimal adjustments to discriminatory ideologies and

practices.

45

In a study speciﬁc to the academic achievement of African American
youth (Cose, 1998), faith, parental and community support, mentors, and
productive involvement in community were also found to be components of
educational success. A strong academic orientation includes a commitment to
Ieaming, time spent studying, active participation in student organizations, and
frequent and meaningful interactions with faculty members and other students.
Along with a strong work ethic, academic orientation is seen as the avenue
towards economic and social mobility.

Reconstructed commuLnitv of support. Although not included as an asset
or culturally recognized strength, an additional adaptive strategy speciﬁc to the
African American college student attending a predominantly White institution of
higher learning is the development of a reconstructed community of support.
This would include the physical residence while attending college, social
networks (e.g. peers, and speciﬁc student groups and organizations), academic
networks (e.g. academic advisor, departmental faculty and staff), and work
setting-based relationships and interactions. When the student shifted from
adolescent to late adolescent, and from residing at home to attending a
residential school away from home, the structures of the micro- and mesosystem
consequently changed, requiring that consistent structures be adapted and new
ones be created to support the continued development of the individual.

Reconstructed communities that emphasize the salience of the campus
and the attainment of education facilitate involvement in campus activities,

commitment to the school, and retention (Astin, 1999). However, retention tends

46

to suffer when students move off campus, and or ﬁnd full-time employment or are
employed off-campus, as campus involvement decreases.
Synthesis of strengths and assets

For the purpose of this study, Hill’s strengths categories were compared
with Search Institute’s assets to establish a model for examining the assets of
African American college students. Assets are the positive characteristics and
experiences provided to developing individuals and enabling them to resist risk
factors and to succeed. Although assets research has been speciﬁc to
adolescents, its basis in human development theory has provided researchers
the basis for examining assets at other stages of development (i.e. early
childhood, school-age, and parenthood) (Leffert et al., 1997; Roehlkepartain &
Leffert, 2000). Strengths, as discussed here, are the cultural assets of African
American families: the characteristics and experiences provided to Blacks
enabling one to be resilient and successful. An integrative model was
conceptualized in Figure 8, which compared the deﬁning constructs of strengths
with the 40 assets. Based on face validity, the forty assets were regrouped
under the categories of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability, work ethic and
academic orientation. This model provided a basis for exploring and investigating
the assets of African American college students Speciﬁc to academic

achievement.

 

Insert Figure 8 about here

 

47

Figure 8

Conceptual Integgtion of Assets and Strengths of BlackFinilies. Adapted from
Hill (1999) and Leffert et al (1998).

 

48

Academic achievement and success

This study examined assets within ethnic and developmental framework to
determine their inﬂuences on the academic achievement of African American
college students. Academic achievement is a concept typically measured by
grade point average, the receipt of academic honors, awards and scholarships
acknowledging high scholarly accomplishments, and continued matriculation and
graduation. Cokley (2000) states that grade point average, as an indicator of
academic success was more Signiﬁcant for Blacks attending predominantly White
institutions than for Blacks attending historically Black colleges and universities.
For the latter group, success was better discerned by the quality of the student’s
interactions with faculty. Academic achievement may also include measurement
of student involvement in activities related to one's major ﬁeld of study,
internships, support and high expectations for success, aspirations for success,
and career goal plans (Jackson & et al., 1996; Sedlacek, 1987; Stamps, 1988).
The ability to successfully relate to and interact with one's environments is
equated with academic achievement, college retention, graduation, and the
realization of career plans (Astin, 1999).

Studies of academic achievement have focused on the measurements of
success, as well as components that inﬂuence, support, and encourage
readiness to achieve and academic attainment. For example, factors that
contribute to perceived readiness to excel academically include pre-college
attributes of high scores on scholastic entrance exams, high school setting, and

parents' educational attainment (Delicio & et al., 1993; Sherman, Giles, &

49

Williams-Green, 1994). Environmental parameters that inﬂuence academic
achievement include size of school, type of school (public or private), geographic
location of school, campus resources (library, computer, transportation), diversity
of the student body and representative diversity of faculty, and perceived climate
of the school (Allen, 1985; Wiley, 1989).

A number of researchers identify multiple factors as attributing to the
academic success of African American students. Maton and Hrabowski (1995)
found academic success to be related to a balanced integration of academia and
social involvement, interactions with and support from the school environment by
way of school personnel monitoring and advising, and self motivation. Hayles
(1991) attributes academic success to an achievement and future oriented
personality, motivation to achieve nurtured by family and friends, strong ethnic
identity and self—determination, and value for social equality and independence
for all. In a study of academically successful Black youth, Cose (1998)
questioned graduating high school seniors about their lives and the traits that
helped them to achieve success. The characteristics of parental support, adult
mentors, strong faith and productive involvement with the community were
reported as key components.

Also found was a number of studies that placed focus on the hindrances
to achievement and the factors that contribute to attrition and school drop out
rates. These studies focus attention on attrition rates and causes, low grades,
low retention rates, and lack of direction and commitment to a particular major

(Jackson & Malott, 1994; Lang & Ford, 1988), lack of support and

50

encouragement from institutional personnel, perceived climates of prejudice and
racism, and low expectations. Steele (1992) states that more than half of Black
college students fail to achieve academically because they are devalued: not
treated as students possessing good prospects. Sadly, the studies Speciﬁc to
the academic achievement of African American students have tended to focus
primarily on the negatives that lead to attrition and drop out versus the positives
that contribute to academic success.
Studies of African Americans in Higher Education

There are four noticeable trends with the majority of research pertaining to
African Americans in higher education. Studies are comparative, conceptually
biased, deﬁcit-based, or lacking in consideration of contextual inﬂuences. First,
and in most cases, studies are focused on, and normed on, White students.
Black students are frequently used as a comparative group in these studies, and
in comparison to the contrast group appear to be less successful (McCubbin et
al., 1998; Steinberg & Fletcher, 1998). Second, studies normed on White
students and then used cross-culturally are conceptually biased, often lacking in
cultural reliability (Knight & Hill, 1998; McLoyd & Steinberg, 1998). Third, most
research speciﬁc to African Americans in higher education tends to be deﬁcit
based, focusing on the negative. Often times the highlighted shortcomings are
attributed to genetic or cultural inﬂuences (Taylor, 2000) presupposing an
inherent deﬁciency among the subjects. Finally, the Black students are usually
viewed as existing in vacuums, devoid of contextual inﬂuences (Rowser, 1990),

or on the other extreme, their social addresses (i.e. social economic status,

51

urban residence, or family structure) are over-represented as determinant
contexts (Bronfenbrenner, 1988).

Comparative. Comparative studies usually contrast the measurement of
one construct for one group of subjects against the measurement of the same
construct for another group of subjects. Ethnicity, race, gender, class or primary
language usually determines the groups. For example, there are studies which
compare and contrast the worldviews of university students based on ethnicity
(Baldwin & Hopkins, 1990; Berkow, Richmond, & Page, 1994; Cooke, Klopf, &
Ishii, 1991), the perception of college campus climate relative to prejudice and
discrimination (Cabrera, Nora, Terenzini, Pascarella, & Hagedorn, 1999), and the
risk behaviors of Black and White youth (Deater-Deckard, Dodge, Bates, & Pettit,
1998). Unfortunately, in a majority of comparative studies, a win-lose philosophy
is established with one group being set as the norm for the construct measured,
and the other groups being weighed against the norm. In most cases the norm
group is the majority culture, and by default the compared minority group is found
to be deﬁcient.

When studies set the European American students as the norm, they
consciously or unconsciously predeterrnine the ethnic minority's behaviors and
attitudes as abnormal or deﬁcient (Steinberg & Fletcher, 1998). Whenever a
disadvantaged contrast group is set against an advantaged control group, the
expectation is that the control group will appear more favorable, and
consequently the determined disadvantaged student is found in default.

Ironically, the same factors that distinguish the student as being disadvantaged

52

are often considered only as categorical controls, rather than examined as
mediating factors. In other words, ethnicity or gender are viewed as categorical
variables having little affect upon the predicted outcome. As a result, studies that
compare Black and White students often negate the inﬂuences of cultural
differences regarding beliefs, perceptions, values and behaviors. Studies
speciﬁc to the matriculation and achievement of African American students have
tended to be comparative (Cabrera et al., 1999; Heath, 1992; Sodowsky et al.,
1994), and or deﬁcit based being focused on attrition or retention problems
(Jackson 8. Malott, 1994; Kobrak, 1992; Lang & Ford, 1988; Piotrowski 8. Perdue,
1998; Sailes, 1993).

Qpljpgllv sensitive equivalence measurements. Often times, the
constructs deﬁned within the norms of one group are not perceived the same by
another group; therefore the measurement used to assess the construct is said
to lack reliability across ethnic lines (Knight & Hill, 1998). For example, Lucero
(2000) notes in her study of the cultural measurements of assets, that when the
list of 40 assets were translated literally for use with Latino and Asian families,
the essence of assets were lost, and the model was not accepted by the
community. The forty assets were normed on studies conducted with hundreds
of thousands of youth, of which 86% were White, middle-class, and suburban.
As a result, the assets have a decided Eurocentric ﬂavor, and the ethnic
communities often lacked understanding of the importance of assets as building
blocks of positive youth development. However, when the cultural concepts of

each group were applied to the assessment and provision of assets,

53

communities were found to understand, adopt, and apply its concepts to promote
the positive development of their youth.

Culture mediates cognitive understanding, perceptions and interpretations,
values and behaviors (Guerra & Jagers, 1998; Kunjufu, 1986; Lucero, 2000). For
example, Fassinger and Richie (1994) noted that when measuring achievement
among Black and White women, the traditional deﬁnition of achievement was
deﬁned as high academic or vocational outcomes based on the perceptions of
White middle class males. When the deﬁnition was adjusted to pertain to
women, achievement was found to be multidimensional rather than a Simple
outcome measure. Also, further adjustments Showed that the areas in which
women achieve and the methods used to achieve varied across ethnic and
socioeconomic lines.

Lgckigqin contextual and ecological inﬂuences. A number of studies of
ethnic minority students list ethnicity and other demographics as environmental
labels, without regard for how the environmental contexts might inﬂuence
behaviors, attitudes or developmental processes (Rowser, 1990).
Bronfenbrenner (1988) referred to these labels as "social addresses", noting that
they provide information regarding a particular point in time, but often lack
information regarding their inﬂuence as intervening structures or environmental
processes. For example, in studies that measure psychological processes, it
might be noted that the Black youth subjects reside in a female-headed single-
parent family. This social address is often noted as synonymous with poverty,

lack of resources, and lack of father inﬂuence. However, this assumption is often

54

untrue and lacking in validity. Without noting other moderating aspects of the
environment (eg. amount of contact with father, mother's employment, family
income, marital status of parents and or family size), little relevance should be
given to the conclusion simply based on the social address.

Deﬁcit pasecL A number of studies regarding African American college
students focus on the rates, causes and interventions speciﬁc to attrition (e.g.
Allen, 1992; English, 1992; Jackson, 1996; Kobrak, 1992; Piotrowski & Perdue,
1998). These studies are considered to be deﬁcit based, as they focus on the
negatives, intervention and remediation of problems, rather than on the positives
in relations to those who persist (Leffert, 1998). Very few studies actually focus
on the successful African American students and the positive factors, which
inﬂuence that success.

Studies show that ethnic minority students are those most likely to have
high attrition and low retention rates (Brawer, 1996; MSU Women's Resource
Center, 1999). African Americans tend to have the lowest retention rates of all
the ethnic minority groups. One reason for this trend is attributed to a lack of
sufﬁcient socio-environmental support provided to the ethnic minority student by
the university and community. Thus, if the university and community are
committed to promoting the retention and graduation of all matriculating students
it is Important that culturally-focused, strengths-based research be conducted
that identiﬁes the achievement focused strengths and supports of the African

American student.

55

Although the data provided may be factual, deﬁcit based approaches lack
consideration of the strengths and resiliency factors that inﬂuence African
American students to achieve. Focus is placed on the percentage of African
Americans that are involved in risk behaviors (Jackson & Malott, 1994), or who
drop out (English, 1992; Kobrak, 1992; Piotrowski & Perdue, 1998; Sailes, 1993),
rather than on the traits of those who do succeed. Deﬁcit based approaches
focus on what is missing and what needs to be ﬁxed, rather than assessing what
is right and working. It is a "glass half empty" philosophy. For example, Wilds
(2000) notes that undergraduate enrollment rates for African American students
rose to 39.8% in 1997, college graduation rates increased to 14.4%, and
enrollment in graduate programs increased 10.0%. However, rather than
focusing on the facilitators of the increases, comparisons were made to other
minority groups, noting that despite the growth rates, African Americans still trail
all other groups in either the percentage of increase, or in the attainment of
degree. Emphasis on the deﬁcits fails to provide a guide for promoting success.
A strengths-based approach does not ignore the problems or concerns, but
rather de—emphasizes them in favor of focusing on the positives proven to be
successful. The belief is that by encouraging the positive the negative will
consequently be remediated. Based on this assumption academic achievement
might be better served if focus was placed on the characteristics identiﬁed with
student success, rather than emphasizing the characteristics that are most

typical of attrition (Allen, 1985, 1992; Jackson et al., 1996).

56

The present study was designed to negate the research problems
mentioned above. It examines the cultural assets of African American college
students within and ecological framework, for the purpose of identifying factors
predictive of academic achievement. Assets is a strength-based developmental
theory of promotion and prevention. The ecological foundation of this study
provides consideration of contextual structures and interactions. Integration of
the assets and strengths models provides a culturally sensitive equivalence
measure that was normed on the Black college students.

Rationale for the Study

Based on insights from the literature review, this study investigated the
ecological interactions of culture and assets speciﬁc to the academic
achievement of African American college students enrolled in a predominantly
White university. Previous studies regarding African American students have
been ﬁrst, focused on adolescents rather than college age students. As the two
life span stages presume different physical settings and developmental tasks and
expectations, the characteristics of the context speciﬁc to the college age student
must be considered for its inﬂuences on behavior, values, and expectations. It is
expected that as young adults college students exhibit the attitudes, behaviors,
and values learned from their immediate systems of family, school, community,
and church. According to ecological theory, these behaviors and attitudes shift to
accommodate changes to the frequency and prominence of interactions between
the developing individual and external systems. For example, when students

enter college, the academic setting displaces the previous position of parents

57

and family. After becoming the proximal inﬂuence on the college age student,
different external factors are provided to the college students causing
adjustments to be made to the internal factors characteristic of the student,
thereby inﬂuencing behavior. Studies are needed which examine the attitudes
and behaviors of students in context of these developmentally inspired shifts in
inﬂuences affecting lntemal and external characteristics and behaviors.

Second, a majority of studies regarding African American students have
been lacking in cultural appropriateness in regards to assessing the impact of
ethnicity on behavior and attitude. The designation of African American is more
than a social address or control variable category. Rather it denotes a
description of common attitudes, behaviors, experiences and racial
characteristics. As Kunjufu (1986) notes, culture inﬂuences attitudes, which in
turn inﬂuence behaviors. Studies are needed which consider ethnic cultural
norms and examine their inﬂuences on individual and social behavior and
attitudes.

Third, a majority of studies regarding African American students are
concerned primarily with risk-behaviors and deﬁcits. Even the examination of
academic achievement has been deﬁcit based and reactive, focusing on factors
which contribute to attrition and those who fail to achieve. Strength-based
studies are needed which examine the traits of the individual and the setting
which are indicative of achievement.

Finally, a majority of studies regarding African American students have

questionable validity and reliability due to being comparative or culturally biased.

58

Comparative studies use measures normed on White students to study Black
students, usually resulting in the Black students being found deﬁcient. Culturally
biased studies assume one deﬁnition or correct answer for the construct
measured, negating multiple responses and cultural inﬂuences on meaning.
Findings from such studies may not be applicable to the population, as the
measures may not accurately assess what it proposes to evaluate for that
sample. Therefore, consideration must also be given to cultural inﬂuences on the
development and norrning of a measurement tool and to the ethnic makeup of
the sample population.

This study attempted to address these four methodological/theoretical
shortcomings by examining the inﬂuence of developmental stage and ethnic
culture on the presence of assets and their effect on the outcome of academic
success speciﬁc to African American college students. To measure the presence
of assets, ﬁndings from an instrument developed to assess the assets of college
students were analyzed, speciﬁc to the African American students. A culturally
appropriate model was then developed based on the ﬁve factors of Hill’s (1999)
Black family strengths: faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability, academic
orientation, and work ethic. Then, based on the literature review ﬁndings
examining the interrelation of these factors, a structural equation model
predictive of academic achievement was tested.

Four pathways were suggested for examining the interrelations of faith,
kinship bonds, role adaptability, academic orientation, and work ethic, as

indicators of academic achievement for African American college students.

59

Figure 2 (shown on page 12) shows the four path diagrams depicted on the
overall theoretical model. Path A depicts direct paths from the ﬁve strengths to
academic achievement, assessing the direct affect of faith, kinship bonds, role
adaptability, academic orientation and work ethic on academic achievement.
Path B is based on research that indicates students having strong religious
beliefs and involvement, parental support, ability to adapt, and motivation to
achieve to be more likely to build social networks that support academic
achievement. Thus it is postulated that strong faith, kinship bonds, role
adaptability, academic Orientation, and work ethic would result in the
reconstruction of a community of support in the college community setting. This
reconstructed community would consist of peers, academic personal and
resources, and university community members (i.e. faith-based leader and /or
landlord), which serve to support the students in their striving for academic
achievement. Path C diagrams the relationships between work ethic, academic
orientation and role adaptability positively inﬂuencing the relation of students’
employment to their ﬁeld of study and the number of hours worked, which then
positively inﬂuences academic achievement. This is based on research
regarding student’s employment which indicates that students with strong work
ethics tend to believe in working to ﬁnance their educational goals and/or to gain
hand’s on experience were more likely to be employed or hold internships while
attending school. When the position was related to the academic major, or on-
campus, academic achievement was supported. When a strong work ethic was

not combined with other strength factors, the resulting student employment was

60

shown to result in longer work hours per week, disassociation from school

community and student role, and increased incidences of school drop out.

Hypotheses

Based on the literature review, six hypotheses were predicted.

Hypothesis 1: The assets or strengths of African American college
students signiﬁcantly differ from the assets of White students.

Hypothesis 2: The assets of African American college students
signiﬁcantly relate to the ﬁve strengths of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability,
academic orientation and work ethic.

Hypothesis 3: The ﬁve assets of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability,
academic orientation and work ethic are indicators of academic achievement
(Path A).

Hypothesis 4: Students with strong faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability,
academic orientation, and work ethic are more likely to reconstruct communities
of support, thus increasing incidences of academic success (Path B).

Hypothesis 5: The assets of role adaptability, academic orientation, and
work ethic inﬂuence the academic relatedness of student employment and the
number of hours worked, thus inﬂuencing academic achievement (Path C).

Hypothesis 6: A strong work ethic positively encourages the number of
hours students work and negatively affects academic achievement (Path D).

The chapter to follow explains the methods used to examine each of the

hypotheses.

61

Chapter 3
METHOD

The purpose of this exploratory investigation was to identify assets most
characteristic and indicative of academic achievement for African American
college students. Of particular interest for this investigation was (a) the testing of
a hypothetical model that incorporates ethnicity (i.e. African American), and (b)
the development of a framework that examined the impact of institutional
structures on the matriculation of ethnic minority college students. In order to
carry out the objectives of this research most effectively, a descriptive cross-
sectional survey design was explored (Fink, 1995).
Setting

Data for this study were collected as part of a larger study at a land grant
state institution. With a total student population of 43,340 students (Harrison,
2000), approximately 15.6% or 6,771 of the students were listed as racial and
ethnic minorities. Approximately half of ethnic minority students were identiﬁed
as African American, based on the reported rate that 8.2% of the total student
body was African/Black American (Hardy & Treadwell, 1999).
Participants

This exploratory investigation focused solely on the African American
student responses to the Michigan State University Student Assets Survey
(MSUSAS). At the time of this study, 1415 students had completed the
MSUSAS. Of that number 178 or 12.6% of the respondents, were African

American. This sample size provided an over-representation of the African

62

American student population at MSU, which was reported as 8.2% of the total
student body (Hardy & Treadwell, 1999).

All responses used were from self-identiﬁed African American
undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 23 years. Students younger
than 18 and older than 23 who responded to the MSUSAS were excluded from
this study because they are viewed as being in different developmental life
stages. This resulted in the exclusion of three students: two. ages 24 and 25, and
a third student who did not provide year of birth. Graduate student responses
were also excluded as their experiences were considered to differ from those of
the undergraduate student. This resulted in the exclusion of two students. In
total, ﬁve survey responses were excluded, resulting in a total sample of 173.

Descriptives. Survey responses used in this study were from 173 African
American students ages 18-23, which was 12.26% of the total respondents to the
MSUSAS. All descriptive data for the samples were calculated from replies to
the personal demographic section of the MSUSAS. Because of the limited
number of African American students enrolled at MSU, the sample included a
broad range of undergraduate students regarding class standing and age.

Table 1 shows the descriptives for all African American respondents,
including the ﬁve students excluded for age or year of study classiﬁcation.
Students ages were calculated by subtracting the year of birth from 2000, the
year the survey was completed. The mean year of birth was 1979, equaling an
average age of 21 for the sample. Thirteen of the males, 59%, were 21 or 22

years of age. F ifty-one percent of the females were either 19 or 20 years of age.

63

Two respondents were 24 and 25 years of age, and one respondent incorrectly
entered the year the survey was administered as the year of birth, resulting in a
missing data entry. Students older than 23 and those with missing data
regarding age were excluded from this study as they are considered to be in a

different developmental life cycle stage than the 18-23 year olds.

 

Insert Table 1 about here

 

The responses over represented the female student population, which is
53.7% overall on campus (Estes, 2000). Only 12.4% of respondents were male.
Of the students excluded from the ﬁnal study due to age greater than 23 years,
or graduate student standing, two were male and three were female.

Checking the appropriate box coinciding with freshman, sophomore, junior
or senior indicated class standing. Graduate students were not intended to
complete the survey, and there was no box for them to check. However, two
graduate students did respond, both writing in their class standing on the side of
the instrument. Despite both graduate students being 22 years of age, they were
excluded from this study, as it was perceived that their college experience would
differ from the experiences of the undergraduates. Sixty-one percent of the
undergraduates were either sophomores or juniors. The large sophomore
representation was expected as the MSUSAS was initially disseminated solely to

the sophomore population.

64

Table 1
MSUSAS African American Sample Descriptives. N=178.

Sample % of All Survey

 

Size Responses
Total 178 12.57%
Year of Birth Age
1982 18 1 1 06.2%
1981 19 45 25.3%
1980 20 39 21 .9%
1979 21 44 24.7%
1978 22 30 16.9%
1977 23 6 03.4%
1976 24* 1 0.6%
1975 25* 1 0.6%
Missing data* 1 0.6%
Gender
Male 22 12.4%
Female 156 87.6%
Class Standing
F reshman 49 27.5%
Sophomore 61 34.3%
Junior 42 23.6%
Senior 24 13.5%
Graduate* 2* 1 .1 %*
Residence while attending MSU
Residence halls 138 77.5%
University apartments 18 10.1%
Off-campus housing 20 11.5%
Parents home 2 1.1%

* Students excluded from the study due to age or graduate student standing.

65

Table 1 also shows that 88% of the 178 responses lived in university
housing: 138 in the residence halls and 18 in student apartments. Twenty
students lived off-campus. Only two students maintained residence with their
parents while attending school.

This study was inclusive of all students who indicated their ethnicity as
being African American. The MSUSAS item for ethnicity provided for multiple
answers, thus allowing students of multiple ethnicities to check all applicable
categories. Of the student sample, N = 173, 15 students inferred they were
multiracial or mixed by choosing more than one ethnic category. Thirteen of the
ﬁfteen indicated they were biracial, with two also checking the box for Asian-
American, six checking Caucasian or White, two checking Indian-American
(India/Indian subcontinent ancestry), one checking Latino/Hispanic! Chicano, two
checking native American or Alaskan Native, and one checking International
student. The two remaining students indicated their ethnicity as being multi-
racial. One checked their ethnic identity as being African American, Asian
American, Caucasian, Native American and Polynesian/Paciﬁc Islander. The
other Checked boxes indicating their ethnic identity as including African
American, Caucasian, Indian-American and Native American. Based on the

“One Drop Rule”2

, all students with African ancestry in their lineage are
categorized as African or Black American. This provided justiﬁcation for retaining

the 16 students of mixed ancestry in this study.

 

2 The “One-Drop Rule” stipulates that any person with one-drop of Black blood in their ancestry
be categorized as Black or African American. This rule began as an economic rationalization
during Slavery as a means of increasing the slave numbers. It remains as a foundational basis

66

Recruitment

Participants were recruited to complete the MSUSAS in four ways: by
mail, through student group membership, in class, and peer solicitation.

_Maﬂ. The MSUSAS was initially disseminated to all sophomore students
residing in the immediate East Lansing area by campus mail or US. postal
service, during the spring 2000 semester. Forty-seven of the returned mail
responses were from African American students. Students responding by the
deadline were eligible for entry in a prize drawing consisting of cash and gift
certiﬁcates.

Student group membership. To shore up the responses from the African
American students, various student organizations were approached during both
the spring and fall 2000 semesters for disseminating the survey among its
student members. Organizations included the Ofﬁce of Minority Student Affairs
(OMSA), the Black Student Alliance (BSA), and the Black Graduate Student
Association (BGSA). OMSA provided an on-campus ofﬁce location as a pickup
and drop off point for the survey. Students attending the BSA meeting were
provided a campus mail envelope for returning the completed survey. BGSA
members serving in the capacity of Minority Aides in the residence halls, or
teaching assistants in the classrooms took multiple surveys and campus mail
return envelopes for dissemination to the African American students. This
method produced approximately 80 of the responses. Incentives were provided

in the form of prize drawings for cash and gift certiﬁcates.

 

for federal categorization of races in North America (Heisler, 2001; What is “The One-Drop
Rule”?, 2000; Wright, 1994).

67

In addition, a separate study of the assets speciﬁc to the student athletes
at MSU was conducted during the fall semester of the 2000-2001 academic year.
Of the initial surveys completed and returned by student athletes during the fall
2000 semester, eight of the respondents were African American. Their
responses were included in this sample. Incentives were provided in the form of
prize drawings for cash and gift certiﬁcates.

Mg To share up the responses from all ethnic minority students,
various professors volunteered to provide the MSUSAS to their students as an
optional class assignment. Those students returning the completed survey by
the assigned time were eligible to receive extra credit points towards their ﬁnal
grades. Approximately 20 of total responses from all participating classes were
African American.

M solicitation. One professor asked students in his classes to pass the
survey along to their ethnic minority peers. For each completed survey returned
by the students they were given an extra credit point towards their ﬁnal grade.
Approximately 25 of the returned surveys were from African American students.
Data Collection

Students were asked to return the completed surveys either directly to the
Collegiate Employment Research Institute (CERI) ofﬁces via campus mail or
United States postal service, or to the person or ofﬁce from which the survey was
received. The latter surveys were then fonIvarded to CERI for data entry. All
completed surveys were entered and coded by work-study students employed by

CERI and two of the students from the MSUSAS research team. A faculty

68

member of the survey research team supervised the students. The survey
responses were compiled into four groups: sophomores, athletes, Greeks, and
students of color, and assigned group code numbers for easy classiﬁcation.
Each group’s responses were entered into a separate computer data ﬁle. For the
purpose of this study, the data speciﬁc to the African American students were
extracted from each group and merged to form one ﬁle. Statistical measures
were run on this ﬁle to provide data for this study.
Instrument

The measurement tool used for this study was the Michigan State
University Student Assets Survey (MSUSAS) (Keith, Villarruel, Gardner,
Lumpkin, & Daenzer, 1999). A copy of the questionnaire is provided in Appendix
A. This survey was designed to measure the assets of college aged students by
a team of MSU researchers, graduate and undergraduate students, and
community members, for the purpose of strengthening the university and
community supports provided students to allay risk behavior involvement and
encourage academic achievement. The design team included two professors
from the department of Family and Child Ecology, the faculty director of the
Collegiate Employment Research Institute (CERI), a city council member, three
undergraduate students enrolled in psychology and family-community services,
and myself as the project manager and graduate research assistant.

Type of sgnﬁv. The MSUSAS is a 248-item questionnaire measuring the
assets and risks behaviors of college students. The construct formatting of the

survey is similar to the §e_arch lnstitgte’s Proﬁles of Stu_dent Life: Attitge a_ng

69

Behavior Q_uestionnair_e_ (ABQ) (Benson, 1990; Blyth, 1993), with the MSUSAS
divided into three dimensions of internal assets, external assets, and risk
indicators! behaviors. The ﬁrst sixty-ﬁve items (1-65) of the MSUSAS are listed
under external assets. One hundred thirty-six items (66-201) are listed under
internal assets. The remaining 47 items deal with risk attitudes and behaviors,
stress factors and management, and suggestions for improving the college
experience. There are also 26 personal demographic items. This study focused
on student responses to the external and internal assets, items 1-201, and on
their responses to personal demographic items.

The MSUSAS’ 201 asset items are broken into the two dimensions of
internal and external assets. These items are grouped into nine constructs that
measure support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations, constructive time
use, commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies, positive
identity, and family and peer inﬂuences. The remaining 47 items of the MSUSAS
measure factors pertinent to college age individuals in regards to risk factors and
behaviors, stress factors and stress management.

Except for sixteen of the questions, all items measuring assets or risks
were rated on a four-point or ﬁve-point Likert scale. Some had ﬁve-point ratings
regarding frequency of occurrence (i.e. 1 = never, 2 = seldom, 3 = some of the
time, 4 = frequently, and 5 = always). Others had a four-point rating of
agreement or satisfaction (i.e. 1 = strongly dissatisﬁed, 2 = dissatisﬁed, 3 =
satisﬁed, and 4 = very satisﬁed) with the ﬁfth place indicating the item as not

applicable. There were also Likert scale questions that measured importance

7O

(i.e. not important to extremely important on a ﬁve-point scale); probability (i.e.
deﬁnitely would not to deﬁnitely would on aﬁve-point scale); and stress (i.e. no
stress to most stressful on a ﬁve-point scale. A number of the questions asked
for the indication of actual numerical accounts (i.e. no days to 25-30 days on a
ﬁve-point scale). Twelve of the questions were categorical yes/no items. Two of
the questionnaire items asked respondent to check all that apply, and the last
item was an open-ended question requesting suggestions for improving the
student experience.

The demographics section of the survey contained 26 items related to the
student's identity characteristics (eg. ethnicity, age, and gender), class standing,
residence, family information (eg. birth order and father’s and mother’s
education), types of ﬁnancial assistance, and reasons for attending MSU. Four
of the demographic items allowed for multiple answers as they asked the
respondent to check all that apply. One of these multiple items was the question
regarding ethnicity. Of the 178 total responses from students who checked
African American ethnicity, 16 also checked additional ethnic categories.
Fourteen of the Sixteen checked one additional ethnic category. The remaining
two students checked four and ﬁve categories respectively. All respondents
indicating at least one ethnic category as being African American were included
in this study, based on the “One-Drop Rule”.

Reliability Analysis
The MSUSAS asset items were grouped into two dimensions of assets,

external and internal, which closely parallel the Search lnstitute’s ABQ (Benson,

71

1990). Figures 5 and 6 list the dimensional categories and subscales for the
A80. As the MSUSAS was adapted to include developmental aspects
characteristic of college age students, there were changes made to this original
list of assets components. For example, an additional category of family and
peer inﬂuence was added to the external categories of positive experiences
provided to students by their family, peers, community, school, and communities.
This resulted in ﬁve external categories of support, empowerment, boundaries
and expectations, constructive time use, and family and peer inﬂuence. The
internal categories or positive characteristics of the students were divided into
four categories of commitment to Ieaming, positive values, social competencies,
and positive values.

Each of these categories encompasses three to seven subscales.
Support consisted of other adult relationships, caring community, and caring
school climate. Empowerment involves young adults being valued by
community, young adults being seen as resources, a feeling of safety, and
service to others. The subscales of boundaries and expectations were school
and community boundaries, high expectations, and positive peer inﬂuence.
Constructive time use included religious community and activities, how time was
used, and creative activities and programs. Family and peer inﬂuence consists
of parent, family and peer support, family boundaries, and positive family
communication. Commitment to learning involves achievement motivation, study
habits, learning engagement, and bonding to school. Positive values consist of

caring, equality and social justice, integrity, honesty, responsibility, and restraint.

72

Social competencies include planning and decision making, interpersonal
competence, communication competence, cultural competence and identity,
resistance skills, and peaceful conﬂict resolution. Positive identity embodies
personal power, self-esteem, sense of purpose, and a positive view of the future.

Each of the subscales consisted of two or more MSUSAS items, except
for the four subscales of caring, positive family communication, responsibility,
and sense of purpose. These subscales were measured by a singular survey
item. As these subscales and corresponding items were strongly equated to
similar singular ABQ items and or distinctively reﬂective of a college age
developmental characteristic, they were retained in the MSUSAS.

To examine the validity of the constructs measured by the MSUSAS
instrument a reliability analysis was conducted on the MSUSAS scales using the
responses from all students. Prior to calculations, necessary items were reverse
coded in a positive direction. Table 2 lists the categories, number of items, and
the internal consistency or reliability coefﬁcient for each category. The Cronbach
alpha or reliability score measures the extent to which items obtained in a scale
relate to each other. Measurements of .70 or higher are standard determinants

of acceptable scale reliability (Spector, 1992).

 

Insert Table 2 about here

 

Overall, Table 2, shows the MSUSAS scales to have strong internal

consistency with Cronbach’s alpha scores ranging from .9348 to .5611 and an

73

Table 2
MSUSAS Scale Relia_bilities

 

Cronbach’s

Category # of Items measured alpha

Support 34 .7368
Empowerment 16 .8268
Boundaries and Expectations 21 .6692
Constructive Time Use 26 .5611
Family and Peer Inﬂuences 18 .7074
Commitment to Learning 44 .7571
Positive Values 16 .8594
Social Competencies 57 .9348
Positive Identity 19 .8712

74

alpha score mean of .7693. All scales except boundaries and expectations and
constructed time use had acceptable reliability indicated by alphas higher than
.70. The lower alphas may be due to the divergent subscales listed under these
two categories. To improve the alphas, additional items were reverse coded if
they registered negative correlations. It should be noted that in a few instances,
reverse coding of items led to lower or negative alphas. While other steps were
also considered for their potential to improve the alpha scores, including the
removal of items that were indicated to increase the scale alpha if deleted and
the addition of factors to increase the number of items loading on a scale, no
items were deleted or added.

The purpose for examining the MSUSAS scales was to establish reliability
for using the instrument to assess the assets of college students, and establish a
basis for cultural adaptations. The alpha mean score of .7693 indicates that the
instrument does have signiﬁcant internal consistency and thus is appropriate for
use in this study.
Procedure

The objectives of this exploratory investigation were to (a) determine the
ecological inﬂuences of ethnicity, developmental stage and context on the
development of assets for African American young adults; (b) develop a culturally
sensitive framework to identify assets particular to African American young
adults; and (c) identify the types and prevalence of those assets predictive of the
academic success of African American college students. Of particular interest for

this investigation is (a) the testing of a hypothetical model that incorporates

75

ethnicity (i.e. African American), and (b) to develop a framework that examines
the impact of institutional structures on the matriculation of ethnic minority college
students. In order to carry out the objectives of this research most effectively two
statistical measures were used. A series of factor analyses were conducted on
the African American students’ responses to the MSUSAS, to a) determine
statistical signiﬁcance of ethnicity on responses to the MSUSAS; b) develop a
culturally based framework of assets; and c) test the reliability of the resulting
culturally based model. Using the results from factor analyses, a path analysis
model was designed to test the hypotheses regarding the inﬂuences of assets on
academic achievement.

The following sections will present the speciﬁc hypotheses and associated
results. Prior to presenting the speciﬁc results, descriptive data from the
exploratory factor analysis, which was conducted to explore whether factors

between Black and White students were different, are presented.

76

Chapter 4
RESULTS
Overview

The purpose of this exploratory investigation was to identify the assets
most characteristic of African American college students and most indicative of
academic achievement for African American college students in a large
predominantly White institution. Of particular interest for this investigation was:
(a) the testing of a hypothetical model that incorporates ethnicity (i.e. African
American), and (b) the development of a framework that examines the impact of
institutional structures on the matriculation and academic achievement of African
American college students. With these interests in mind, this investigation was
guided by three research questions: 1) What are the assets or strengths
particular to African American college students? 2) How are these assets related
to Hill’s (1999) strengths of Black families? 3) How are these assets related to
the academic achievement of African American college students?

Data analysis for this study consisted of two parts: 1) the development
and testing of an ethnically appropriate model and 2) the hypothesis testing of
variables predicted to indicate academic achievement. The ﬁrst section presents
hypotheses and ﬁndings associated with identifying the assets of African
American college students and correlating them to the ﬁve Black family strength
(Hill, 1999) factors of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability, academic orientation,
and work ethic. The second section tests the resulting ethnically appropriate

assets model to determine its relation to academic achievement.

77

Three statistical measures were used in the data analysis. Exploratory
factor analysis was used to identify the assets of African American and White
college students. Conﬁrrnatory factor analysis or reliability testing was used to
correlate assets to the ﬁve strengths of Black families, with resulting scales being
considered as a frame for an ethnically appropriate model. Various paths
predicting the model’s ﬁt as a predictor of academic achievement were
hypothesized and examined using structural equation modeling. Speciﬁc
hypotheses and ﬁndings are presented in each section. Conclusions and
implications based on the ﬁndings are presented in the discussion chapter to
follow.

Preliminary Statistical Analyses

Prior to examining the research questions and associated hypotheses
preliminary descriptive statistical analyses were conducted to describe the study
sample and to Show statistical validity for the MSUSAS instrument. Speciﬁcally,
frequencies were calculated to determine the characteristics of the sample and
reliability analyses were calculated on the nine3 MSUSAS asset scale categories
to determine internal consistency. Refer to Appendix B for a listing of the
MSUSAS external and internal asset measurement items grouped by designated
assets category.

The sample descriptives were detailed in Table 1, presented in the

previous chapter. In review, there were 1415 total responses to the MSUSAS. Of

 

3 Note: Search Institute (Benson, 1990) initially identiﬁed six asset categories, which were later
expanded to eight categories (Benson, et al., 1998). A ninth category of family and peer support
was added to the MSUSAS (Keith, et al., 1999) when the survey was adapted for use with young
adults/college students.

78

this number 178 self-categorized as African/Black American, and 1049 self-
categorized as CaucasianNVhite American. Based on the demographic question
requesting students to indicate ethnicity by checking all that apply, all students
who checked African American or Black were considered to be Black students,
even if other ethnic categories were also indicated. This inclusion decision was
based on the “one-drop rule”, a foundational basis for federal categorization
(Heisler, 2001; Wright, 1994). Only students indicating Caucasian or White
American as their sole ethnicity are considered to be White.

As the MSUSAS was intended to assess the assets and risks of late
adolescent or young adult college students ages 18-23, students not in that age
range were excluded from the analyses. This resulted in ﬁve Black and 23 White
students’ responses being removed from this study. The resulting N was 173 for
Black students and 1026 for White students.

Cronbach alphas or internal consistency reliability measures were
calculated on the MSUSAS scales and are shown in Table 2, which was also
discussed in detail in the previous chapter. Overall, the MSUSAS was shown to
have internal consistency as alpha scores ranged from .9348 to .5611, and the
alpha score mean was .7693. Measurements equal to or greater than .70 are
standard determinants of acceptable scale reliability (Spector, 1992). Thus, the
MSUSAS was deemed a reliable and valid database, providing a pool of
responses and items for developing a culturally sensitive model for accessing the
assets Of African American college students. A copy of the MSUSAS is included

in Appendix A.

79

The Development of an Ethnically Appropriate Model

Three progressive steps were taken to develop an ethically appropriate
model. 1) Exploratory factor analyses were conducted on the external and
lntemal assets of Black and White students to examine differences in responses
based on ethnicity. 2) Thirty-nine asset subscales were developed based on the
factor loadings speciﬁc to the Black students. 3) An ethnic model speciﬁc to
African American college students was developed by grouping the items from the
39 asset subscales according to Hill’s (1999) ﬁve strengths of Black families:
faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability, academic orientation and work ethic.
What are the assets of African American college students?

Hypothesis 1: The assets or strengths of African American college
students signiﬁcantly differ from the assets of White students.

Step 1: Exploratogy factor analysis. Using SPSS, exploratory factor
analyses were conducted on the external and internal assets for both Black and
White students for the purpose of examining signiﬁcant differences based on
ethnicity, and to provide statistical support for examining an alternative
framework speciﬁc to African American college students. All factor analysis
procedures used a principle components extraction method with varimax rotation.
In order to assess the inﬂuence of ethnic cultural differences, two sets of
exploratory factor analyses were run separately for the Black and for the White
students. These two sets were then compared. It is important to note that this is
not a comparative study. However, contrasting the factor analyses for the two

groups provides statistical support for using culturally appropriate parameters to

80

examine the assets of African American students. The ﬁrst set explored the
external assets, or items related to the positive characteristics or experiences
provided to the students by their university, family, peers, community, and faith
based congregation. Speciﬁcally, these were MSUSAS items 1-65e, referred to
in Appendix A. The second set explored the lntemal assets or positive
characteristics provided by the individual. These were MSUSAS items 66-201,
also referred to in Appendix A.

Tables 3 and 4 show the external assets of Black and White students, and
Tables 5 and 6 Show the internal assets of Black and White students. External
assets are the positive experiences and characteristics provided to the
developing individual by his/her environments of family, peers, school,
congregation of faith and community. Examples of such experiences and
characteristics include the provision of support, opportunities to contribute, and
expectations to achieve. Such characteristics encourage and empower students
to succeed. Internal assets are the positive characteristics attributed to the
individual. These characteristics include positive values, positive identity, a
commitment to Ieaming, and social competencies. Internal characteristics are
believed to develop in correlation to the provided external asSets. Appendix B
lists the MSUSAS items according to their asset categorization as measurements
of support, empowerment, boundaries and expectations, family and peer support,
commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies, and positive
identity. In the tables, a lower case ‘r’ placed before an item number indicates

that the item was reversedto read positively.

81

 

Insert Tables 3, 4, 5, and 6 about here

 

In each table, the factor component column indicates the asset loaded and
its hierarchical position. For example, the external assets for Black students
(Table 3) listed in order of priority and including alphas were as follows. 1)
Community welcomes young adults is evidenced by students’ concerns and
opinions being heard and students feeling welcomed by the community of East
Lansing (a = .9064). 2) Peer importance is evidenced by students indicating the
the importance of helping friends and others, and the availability of peers as
sources of advice, feedback, support and encouragement (a = .8741). 3) Peer
risk involvement concerns students’ reports that their friends smoke Cigarettes,
drink alcohol, use drugs, and have been in trouble with the law. Also loading on
this factor was students’ frequency of communicating with parents and drinking
while underage (a = .7841). The frequency of communication with parents was
found to signiﬁcantly correlate at the .05 level of signiﬁcance (.162) to friends’
use of drugs and at the .01 level of signiﬁcance (.205) to friends drinking alcohol.
4) Black students had two separate listings indicating caring school climate. This
ﬁrst one is related to students’ reports of satisfaction with MSU resource centers
(or = .7519). 5) Students’ speaking with MSU and community personnel about
important issues and concerns evidences students’ relationships with MSU
personnel (at = .6992). 6) Family and peers caring if students smoke Cigarettes

or drink alcohol implies the presence of familial and peer boundaries (or = .8272).

82

Table 3

Factor Analﬁis of External Assets for Black Students. N = 173

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Factor % of
Component Items Variance Alpha
Community welcomes 53h, 53g, 53e, 53a,
1 young adults 53b, 53f, 53c, 53d, 41 8:170 9064
. 19, 20, 22, 21, 18, 15,
2 Peer Importance 14’ 37,36 7.263 .8741
3 Peer risk involvement 58' 57' 5363' 6' 549' 5.929 .7841
Caring school climate — . .
4 related to resource centers 89, 8e, 8d, 8k, m, 81 4.068 .7519
Relationships with MSU .
5 personnel 7h, 79, 7], 7f, 7k, 7l, 54l 3.571 .6992
Family and peer
6 boundaries 17, 13, 12, 16 3.232 .8272
Parental social support and
7 advice 1d, 1c, 1b, 1e 2.973 .7654
Student activity
8 participation - related to 62, 7b, 7d, 7C,61, 54m 2.637 .7124
living on-campus
9 Safe and carigq communiy 48, 49, 8m, 9 2.504 .6273
10 Young adults as resources 47, 46, 45 2.480 .6806
11 Expectations 32, 31, 25 2.350 .5581
12 MSU rules 27, 26, 8| 2.144 .5293
13 Peer resources 5, 4, 3 2.001 .6332
Caring school climate —
related to psychological
14 caring, support and school r10, 11, r30 1.911 .4323
boundaﬁes
15 Religious importance 39, 7e, 38 1.886 .6529
Constructive time use -
16 computer use and 54d, 54i, 54e 1.809 .5647
socializigg
17 C°".St'”°t"’e “me use ' 65e, r65a, r8c 1.733 .4269
settrngs
18 C°"‘°".’”°t"’e "me use ' 54k, 54j, 54b 1.706 .3903
athletIcs and games
19 Balanced life 64, r35 1.623 .4461
20 C°"s"“°t"’e "me ”59' r65b, r65c, 44, 54h 1.501 .4452
Empowerment

 

 

 

83

 

Table 4
Ector Analysis of ExternajAssﬁ for White Sttgents. N = 1026.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Factor % of
Component Items Variance Alpha
1 Community values young 53c, 53a, 53b, 53h, 6.675 .9155
aduhs 53g,53a,53d,53f
2 Other adult relationships 7I, 7h, 79, 7j, 7i, 7d, 6.285 .8532
7m, 7k, 7f, 7e, 70
3 Positive peer inﬂuence 19. 22, 20, 21, 18, 15, 4.731 .8565
14, 7n
4 Parental support 10, 1d, 1e, 1b, 1a 4.071 .9435
5 Risk involvement of friends 58, 57, 56, 6, 60, 54 3.873 .8406
6 Boundaries and 32, 33, 31, 27, 26, 34, 3.229 .7654
expectations 37, 36
7 CarIng school clImate - 8e, 89, 8 d, 8k 2.359 .8270
resource centers
8 Religious involvement 39, 38, 40 2.135 .6492
9 ConstructIve tIme use 65 c, 65d, 65b, 65e 1.961 .6338
durIng Sprm break
10 FamIly and peer 12’ 13’ 17’ 16 1.864 .6801
boundanes
11 Carly community 41, 42, 43, 44 1.783 .6654
12 Young adults as resources 47, 46, 45 1.618 .7229
13 School boundaries 29, 28, 30, 35 1.519 .6353
14 Safety 49, 48 1.433 .7363
15 Caring school climate - 1.409 .5247
housing, transportation, 8b, 8|, 8]
cafeteria
16 Yourgadult activities 65a, 63 1.284 .5692
17 Parental expectatrons and 23’ 24’ 25 1.200 .6577
famIly boundarIes
18 Constructive time use - 54'. 54b, 54k 1.187 .4592
athletics
19 Student activity 1 .173 .4674
participation -— related to 62, 7b, r50
livinﬂff campus
20 Peer support 5, 4 1.1 14 .6731

 

 

 

 

 

84

 

Table 5

actor Analysis of Internal Assets for Black Students N = 173.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

'70 of
Factor Component Items Variance Alpha
. . 157,153,154,152,155.
1 Eggmt‘gfgm" 148, 162, 158, 149, 161, 11.435 .8472
96 167,191,169
Positive identity 195, 197, 143, 142, 189 4.723 .7671
Equality and social
justice 117,115,116,166,118 4.114 .7971
Restraint behaviors
4 and inﬂuence 98a, 98b, r130, 98c, 82, r185 3.459 .7257
5 Cultural identity 175, 172, 173 3.082 .6991
Interpersonal
6 competence 159, r134, 160, r199, 179 2.817 .7413
7 Self-esteem 198, 196, 193, 177 2.523 .7088
8 Integrity 123, 125, 128, 133, 144 2.448 .7214
9 Adaptability skills 137, 186, 194, 146 2.411 .6145
10 Social skills 187, 188, 108, 163 2.373 .6673
11 Group orientation 132, 131, 97, 165 2.184 .4778
12 |C°mlmtmem ‘° 77, 78, 84, 168,70 2.039 .5302
earnIng
Learning
13 engagement 91, 90 1.923 .8235
14 3:15;“ res'Stana’ 182, 183,181, 184 1.779 .7448
Achievement
15 orientation 105,104, 176, 102 1.759 .5918
16 Coping skills 140,141, 138, 139 1.693 .7224
17 A°“Pe"‘i’me”t 100, 101, 86 1.658 .5111
motIvatIon
18 :1 83:2” ”'9‘” °f 200, 201, 106, r129 1.599 .4208
19 Positive values 126, 122, 127, 124 1.561 .6650
Interpersonal
20 interaction with 93, 92, r114 1.499 .5518

 

faculty

 

 

 

85

 

 

Table 6

Factor Analysis of Internal Assets for White Students, N=1026.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Factor % of
Component Items Variance Alpha
115,119,122,118,117,
Positive values, 120, 116, 132, 113, 127,
commitment to 106, 130, 124, 131, 108,
1 Ieaming, and 107, 121, 111, 126, 112, 18500 9‘85
parental inﬂuence 114, 128, 129, 125, 109,
123,134,133,110,135
193,190,191,201,194,
Positive identity and 200, 196, 198, 187, 192,
2 interpersonal 188, 186, 180, 199, 177, 6.570 .9444
competencies 197, 185, 189, 179, 184,
178, 195, 176, 171
138, 154, 157, 158, 149,
148,137, 139, 155, 161,
3 Social competence 152, 153, 140, 162, 150, 4.995 .9284
145,159,160,141,156,
169, 146, 164
Peaceful conﬂict
resolution and
4 planning and 143, 144, 142, 136 3.646 .8140
decision makinL
Commitment to
5 learning — resources 74, 75, 73, 69, 66, 71, 68, 72 3.077 .8021
and plans
Commitment to
6 learning - study 84, 87, 85, 83, 77, 96, 78 2.600 .7227
habhs
Learnm 91, 90,92, 93 1.902 .7198
engagement
Restraint 98b, 98c, 98a 1 .71 1 .7098
Commitment to
9 "53'9"“? " 100, 101, 99, 103, 102 1.593 .6813
achievement
motivation
10 Cultural competence 165, 166, 168, 167, 163 1.479 .8081
11 Cultural identity 175, 173, 172, 174, 170 1.378 .7687
12 Resistance skills 182, 181, 183 1.293 .8135
13 No items loaded ----- 1.195 --

 

 

 

 

 

86

 

7) Parental social support and advice is given in regards to the areas of career,
academics, social issues, and health (a = .7654). A fifth aspect of parental
support regarding ﬁnancial assistance did not load for Black students, although it
did load for White students. This infers that Black students are not dependent on
their parents for ﬁnancial support while attending college, and ﬁnancial
assistance is received through other means. 8) Student activity participation was
related to on-campus residence hall living for Black students. For White
students, this factor was related to preference for off-campus residence. 9)
Students perceived MSU as providing a caring environment, were satisﬁed with
classrooms, and felt safe (a = .6273). 10) Young adults were perceived as
resources when provided opportunities to make the school and community a
better place (or = .6806). 11) Parental expectations that students’ will continue to
follow their rules, and self expectations of getting arrested if getting into trouble
are related to adhering to residence rules (a = .5581). 12) The clear rules set by
MSU and university housing establish school boundaries (or = .5293). 13) Peer
resources are evidenced by the numbers of adults and close friends students
have access to for support (a = .6332). 14) This second listing of caring school
climate is related to the psychosocial caring evidenced in professors’ behaviors,
support and school boundaries (or = .4323). 15) Religious importance for Black
students was equated with the importance of being spiritual or religious,
frequency of Speaking with faith-based leaders about important concerns, and
regular attendance to religious activities (a = .6529). 16) The last ﬁve factors all

deal with some aspect of constructive time use. The ﬁrst is related to computer

87

use and socializing (a = .5647). 17) Constructive time use is related to settings
of home with family and friends, and not at student vacation “hot spots” during
spring break, or satisfaction with the computer labs (a = .4269). 18) Constructive
time use is related to time spent observing or engaged in intramural sports,
playing video games, and exercising (a = .3903). 19) Having a balanced life was
inversely related to just going along with what friends tell students to do (a =
.4461). 20) Studying and working during spring break were negatively related to
students having clear roles and watching television in this last listing of
constructive time use (a = .4452).

The external assets for White students (Table 4) in order of priority with
factor reliability score (a) were as follows. 1) Community values young adults
based on their concerns and opinions being heard (a = .9155). 2) Other adult
relationships are implied by the number of MSU and East Lansing personnel
sought out by students for discussing concerns and important issues (on = .8532).
3) Positive peer inﬂuence is evidenced by reports that students’ friends are
important sources of feedback, support and encouragement (or = .8565). 4)
Parental support is provided to students in the_academic, career, health and
stress, social, and ﬁnancial realms (a = .9435). 5) Risk involvement of friends
concerns students’ reports that their friends smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol, use
drugs, and have been in trouble with the law (on = .8406). 6) Boundaries and
expectations are based on the school rules, and inﬂuences regarding students’
adherence to them (on = .7654). 7) As with the Black students, there were two

separate listings of caring school climate for the White students. This ﬁrst one is

88

related to students’ satisfaction with MSU resource centers (on = .8270). 8)
Religious involvement includes the importance of being religious, attendance to
religious activities, and feeling pressured to attend services different from own
faith (or = .6492). 9) There were two separate listings for constructive time use.
This ﬁrst is related to spring break activities of study, service to others, work, and
time spent at home with family and friends (a = .6338). 10) Family and peers
caring if students smoke cigarettes or drink alcohol implies the presence of
boundaries (or = .6801). 11) Students’ reports of having a caring relationship with
East Lansing indicate a caring community (a = .6654). 12) Young adults are
viewed as resources when they are given opportunities to make the community
better (a = .7229). 13) School boundaries are set by MSU rules (or = .6353). 14)
Students report feelings of safety on campus and in the community (a = .7363).
15) This second caring school climate listing is related to students’ satisfaction
with MSU housing, transportation and cafeterias (a = .5247). 16) Participation in
young adult activities are reported by students’ vacationing in “hot spots” during
spring break and participating in Greek social life while on campus (a = .5692).
17) Students report parental expectations that they will continue to value family
boundaries and rules while in college (0: = .6577). 18) This second constructive
time use grouping is related to the amount of time spent engaged in or watching
intramural sports and university athletics, and exercising (a = .4592). 19)
Students report on participation in residence hall activities, frequency of Speaking

with residence advisor, and preference for living off-campus in East Lansing (a =

89

.4674). 20) The number of close friends students have attending MSU assumes
a level of peer support (01 = .6731).

Only two external assets factors loaded identically for Black and White
students, family and peer boundaries and young adults as resources. Items also
loaded identically on the latter factor for the two groups of students. Based on the
hierarchy of loading and percentage of variance Black students gave more
credence to the importance of both factors, as family and peer boundaries loaded
sixth with a variance of 3.2%, and young adults as resources loaded tenth with a
variance of 2.5%. Comparatively, for White students family and peer boundaries
loaded tenth with a variance of 1.9% and young adults as resources loaded
twelfth with a variance of 1.6%.

Overall, the factor loadings for White students were more consistent with
the Search lnstitute’s (1996) asset categories, whereas the loadings for Blacks
were more inclusive of varying aspects of assets and strengths. Being more
exclusive to the assets categories, factors loading for White students contained
only those items directly related to the initial item. For example, for White
students, community values young adults is exclusive to items measuring
students’ feelings regarding their concerns being heard and addressed. Other
adult relationships are exclusive to measuring the frequency of students’ talking
with MSU and East Lansing personnel about issues and concerns. Safety is
exclusive to feeling safe on campus and in East Lansing after dark. For Black
students, community welcomes young adults included the aspect of young adults

being valued by the community as part of being made to feel welcomed and

90

accepted. Relationships with MSU personnel identiﬁed school faculty and staff
and community members students spoke with about concerns and issues as well
as time spent engaged in and watching university athletics. It has been
suggested that this latter item alludes to a relationship with coaching personnel
or other athletic related mentors. Also for Black students, the safety factor
included satisfaction with classrooms and the school providing a caring
environment.

In addition, White students gave prominence to relationships with non-
related school-based adult and parental supports. This is evidenced in the
hierarchy of the factor loadings and the amount of variance accounted for in the
top loadings. White students also emphasized physical structures and settings as
determinants of caring school climate, while Black students emphasized the
psychosocial relationships with professors and students’ own behavior as
determinants of a caring school climate. In addition, Black students gave more
prominence overall to aspects related to peers rather than to relationships with
aduhs.

Tables 5 and 6 list the factor components of internal assets for Black and
White students respectively. The listing of internal assets for Black students
(Table 5) listed in order of loading are as follows. 1) Communication competence
is evidenced by students’ reports of interpreting nonverbal communication,
getting their point across, being a good listener, considering all sides and
choosing words carefully before speaking (or = .8472). 2) Positive identity was

evidenced by the conceptual reversal of items related to feelings of unhappiness

91

and loneliness, having temper tantrums, feeling like injuring someone, and
avoiding angry people. The resulting alpha was .7671. 3) Equality and social
justice was indicated by students’ respect for personal rights, support of equal
rights, and consideration of others’ feelings (or = .7971). 4) Restraint behaviors
and inﬂuences were measured by students’ frequency of participation in illegal,
dangerous or hurtful activities. These three activities and attending class drunk or
high were inversely related to mother’s consistent presence and inﬂuence and
students’ avoidance of riotous crowds (a = .7257). 5) Cultural identity was
measured by the ability to explain one’s cultural background, having ties to
cultural roots, and comfort in discussing culture with others (a = .6991). 6)
Interpersonal competence was related to making friends easily, ﬁtting in with
others, feeling comfortable initiating conversations with strangers, and being
popular among other students. Two items loading negatively on this factor (134
and 199) both measured level of agreement for the same statement: “I have
trouble ﬁtting in with others”. After dropping item 199 and reversing item 134 the
resulting alpha was .6994). 7) Self-esteem, personal power and resistance skill
were measured by students’ satisfaction with self, conﬁdence in self, and ability
to say ‘no’ to friends (a = .7088). 8) Integrity was measured by students’
likelihood of lying, cheating and getting into arguments (at = .7214). 9)
Adaptability skills were equated with students learning from mistakes, peaceful
conﬂict resolution, making self-critical evaluation in order to better selves, and
personal power (a = .6145). 10) Social skills were identiﬁed as calmly talking

and listening to others’ points of view even when angry, hanging out with people

92

of different cultures, and liking college for its social aspects ((1 = .6673). 11)
Students enjoying being with others, feeling like part of a group of friends, and
Ieaming best within a group setting indicated group orientation. Also loading
negatively on this factor was the enjoyment of being with people of other
ethnicities (item 165). Reverse coding of this item resulted in an alpha less than
.20. lnputting all items as positive resulted in an alpha of .4778. 12)
Commitment to Ieaming is indicated by class attendance, preparation for classes,
and learning from other cultures (a = .5302). 13) Learning engagement is
indicated by students leading class discussions and speaking up and out in class
(a = .8235). 14) Resistance skills are indicated by friends behaviors of not
drinking and driving, doing anything illegal, never purposely hurting others, or
letting student do either (a = .7448). 15) Achievement orientation was indicated
by students’ membership in professional organizations, knowledge of degree
needs for gainful employment in ﬁeld of study, plans to continue schooling, and
avoidance of people who might hinder student (a = .5918). 16) Coping skills
were equated with keeping a cool head in emergencies, seeing the humor in life,
and feeling capable of coping and bouncing back from mishaps (or = .7224). 17)
Achievement motivation was related to awareness of educational needs, being
provided challenging and supportive courses, and working well with others (a =
.5111). 18) Positive view of the future was equated with being optimistic about
future, believing life has purpose, and enjoying college overall. Negatively
loading on this factor, indicating an inverse relationship was the consistent and

inﬂuential presence of father in the student’s life. When father’s presence was

93

examined as a positive factor, the resulting alpha was .1508. When father’s
presence was reverse coded the resulting alpha for the four factors was .4208.
Mother’s presence was an inﬂuence on student’s restraint behaviors and loaded
with factor 4. 19) Positive values was measured by students telling the truth,
making decisions based on beliefs, accepting responsibility for actions, and
standing up for beliefs ((1 = .6650). 20) Interpersonal interactions with faculty
was measured by students sending email to faculty and visiting faculty during
ofﬁce hours (a = .6972). Also negatively loading on this factor was item 114 “if I
received a low grade my parents would be upset”. When reverse coded and
retained in the scale the alpha drops to .5518.

The internal assets of White students (Table 6) in order of priority are as
follows. 1) Thirty items loaded on the ﬁrst factor, including 12 items related to
positive values (items 115,119, 122, 117, 116, 127, 124,121, 126, 128, 125,and
123); nine items related to commitment to learning (items 113, 106, 108,107,
111, 112, 114, 109,and 110); six items of social competencies (items 118, 120,
132,134, 133, and 135); and three items related to positive identity and Speciﬁc
to predicting self-esteem (items 130, 131,and 129). The alpha (or) for this scale
was .9485. 2) The second factor loading was also a listing of multiple items, with
11 items measuring positive identity and 13 items measuring interpersonal
competencies. Positive identity included items of self-esteem (193, 194, 198,
192), positive view of the future (201), sense of purpose (200), and personal
power (190, 191, 196, 197, 195). Interpersonal competence included items of

peaceful conﬂict resolution (187, 188, 186, 189), resistance skills (185, 184, 177,

94

178,176), interpersonal competence (180, 199, 179) and cultural identity (171).
Alpha = .9444. 3) Twenty-three items loaded on the third factor of social
competence. Items 173, 148, 157, 158, and 162 measured planning and
decision-making. Items 152, 159, 160, and 154 measured interpersonal
competence. Items 149,155, 156,and 161 measured communication
competence. Items 150, 153, 164, 169 measured cultural competence. A single
item, 140, measured peaceful conﬂict resolution. Items 145, 146, and 138
measured personal power, and items 139 and 141 indicated a positive view of
the future. Alpha = .9284. 4) Peaceful conﬂict resolution and planning and
decision making Skills were measured by students’ reports of temper outburst,
arguments, and stopping to think before acting (a = .8140). 5)

Commitment to learning loaded on three factors. In the ﬁrst emphasis is placed
on having access to and using a computer for email, summer employment
related to major, plans to study abroad, involvement with university government,
and grades (or = .8021). 6) In the second factor of commitment to learning items
are related to study habits, and attending and preparing for classes (on = .7227).
7) Learning engagement involves participating in class and interacting with
faculty (or = .7198). 8) Restraint is measured by the frequency of which students
participate in activities considered to be illegal, dangerous, and/or hurtful (a =
.7098). 9) The third factor of commitment to Ieaming measures students’
motives to achieve (a = .6813). 10) Cultural competence is indicated by students
hanging out with, communicating with, and learning about people of different

ethnicities and cultures (a = .8081). 11) Cultural identity includes having the

95

ability and comfort to explain one’s cultural roots and ties (a = .7687). 12)
Resistance skills are indicated by friends behaviors of not drinking and driving,
doing anything illegal, or letting student do either (a = .8135). 13) No items
loaded on this component despite it accounting for 1.195% of the variance.
Black students had a minimum of 20 distinct lntemal assets factors in
comparison to 12 factors providing evaluative items for White students. In
addition, assets for Blacks were more diversely seriated than the assets for
Whites. For example, 29% of the variance for White students’ internal assets
were classiﬁed within three formal asset categories of positive values, positive
identity, and social competence. In comparison, the same amount of variance for
Black students’ internal assets were classiﬁed within six factors of
communication competence, positive identity, equality and social justice,
restraint, cultural identity, and interpersonal competence. In addition, Black
students’ individual assets were integrative of factors which included the varying
assets categories, whereas White students’ assets were more exclusive to
particular categories as deﬁned in the classiﬁcation listing of MSUSAS items,
which are included in Appendix B. For example, the factor of restraint for White
students was speciﬁc to three items related to low frequency of participating in
activities considered to be illegal, dangerous or hurtful. For Black students, the
factor of restraint included these illegal activities, class attendance behaviors
(attending Class in a drunken or “high” state), avoidance of riotous crowds, and

mother’s presence as an inﬂuence.

96

Overall, Black students (Table 5) place emphasis on the social
competencies of communication, peaceful conﬂict resolution, interpersonal skills,
and cultural competence, whereas White students (Table 6) place emphasis on
the academic characteristics of commitment to learning. This is determined by
the order of loading and number of factors loaded on each table speciﬁc to those
themes. The order of loadings indicates the importance and weight of the
concept in comparison to the other concepts.

It is also important to note in the comparisons of the assets loadings for
Black and White students the number and order of items loading for each factor.
The order of the items loading for each factor also indicates the importance and
weight of the item in comparison to the other items. For example, the factor of
community values young adults loaded ﬁrst on external assets for both Black and
White students. Noted are the order of items listed and a slight difference in the
number of items. For White students, only those items pertaining to community
members hearing and addressing students’ concerns are listed. Also,
professional staff (53c) and East Lansing community (53e) are considered most
likely to hear opinions and speak to concerns. In addition to feeling that
community members heard and addressed their concerns Black students also
perceived that East Lansing residents made them feel a welcomed part of the
community. Black students also prioritized East Lansing police and ofﬁcials
(53h) and MSU police (539) as most likely to hear opinions and Speak to

concerns.

97

Also considered was the percent of variance explained by the factor, and
the signiﬁcance of the alpha score. The percentage of variance or eigenvalue
represents the proportion of the factor in regards to the other components
(Spector, 1992). In other words, the ﬁrst factor accounts for as much of the
proportion or variance possible. The second factor accounts for as much of the
residual variance or weight possible, and so on. Variances greater than one
(>1.0) have strong intercorrelation, whereas items equal or less than one have
poor or no correlation with other items (Spector, 1992). The number of factors
loading with variances greater than 1.0 is indicative of multidimensionality of
concepts.

Table 3 (Black students’ external assets) had 37 components extracted
and 32 factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.0, in comparison to table 4’s
(White students’ external assets) 32 extracted components and 23 factors with
eigenvalues greater than 1.0. Table 5 (Black students’ lntemal assets) had 43
components extracted and 32 factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.0, whereas
table 6 (White students’ lntemal assets) only had 26 components load and 16
factors with eigenvalues greater than 1.0. Based on the number of extractions
and the proportional variance of factors represented by the eigenvalues, the two
tables for the Black students (tables 3 and 5) indicate a larger variance of
components unaccounted for in the tables and suggests a greater depth of
dimensionality.

The alpha column indicates the internal consistency reliability score

showing the signiﬁcance of the scale measured. Reliabilities equal to or greater

98

than .70 are considered to be statistically signiﬁcant. When indicated that
reversing an item would improve the alpha and reversing the item was
conceptually appropriate negative loading items were reverse coded to indicate
inverse relationships and improve the alpha score to a statistically acceptable
level. As the exploratory factor analyses were intended to provide descriptive
data regarding the inﬂuence of ethnicity on factor loadings, no items were
deleted, even when indicated that the deletion of speciﬁc items would improve
the alpha score. Factors were also retained based on their distinctive theoretical
relevance to the research regarding African American college students and/or
assets. Therefore included in the tables are a few scores with reliabilities much
lower than the signiﬁcant .70.

M. The exploratory factor analyses were run for two reasons: 1) to
explore whether factors between Black and White students were different and
establish statistical relevance for examining the assets most characteristic of
Black students, and 2) to delineate the asset characteristics of Black college
students for the purpose of developing an ethnically appropriate assets model
and testing hypotheses relating assets to academic achievement. Findings
Showed great Similarities in the external assets provided to both groups of
students, but major differences in the internal assets. Seven of the top ten
external assets were quite Similar for both groups, indicating the importance of
community, parents, peers, and school as providers of positive experiences for
all college students regardless of ethnicity. However, differences in how some of

these experiences were perceived (e.g. caring school climate being inferred from

99

physical resources and psychosocial behaviors of faculty) and in the internal
assets were based on ethnic groups. Therefore ethnic culture must be
considered for its inﬂuence on what assets are provided to students, how they
are likely to be perceived by students, and how they are identiﬁed as personal
characteristics of students.

Overall, the factor analyses ﬁndings Showed statistically signiﬁcant
differences in the number of external and internal asset factors loading for each
group, the order in which factors loaded, and the number of and order of items
loading for each factor. It was hypothesized that the assets or strengths of
African American college_students were signiﬁcantly different from the assets of
White students. Thus the null hypothesis of hypothesis 1 is rejected and
statistical relevance is established for examining the assets Speciﬁc to Black
college students.

Step2: Determinithhe assets of African American college students.
Thirty-nine factor scales of assets were extracted by using the factor loadings of
the exploratory factor analyses speciﬁc to African American college students.
Eighteen external assets were drawn from the factors in Table 3. These are the
positive experiences and characteristics provided to students by their peers,
family, school, community, and faith community. The remaining 21 assets were
drawn from factors in Table 5, and are considered internal assets. These are the
positive values, competencies, attitudes, and ideals characteristic of the student.

External assets. Table 7 provides a listing of the 18 external asset factors

of African American college students. Included in the table are the items that

100

loaded on each factor with their associated scale alphas. Also listed are any
items that were removed from or added to the initial factor loadings. Deleting or
adding factors was usually done to improve the deﬁning factor and/or the factor
alpha. An overview of the assets is provided in the text that follows. Internal

assets are shown in table 8 and discussed in the section that follows.

 

Insert Table about 7 here

 

The external assets were based on the factor loadings presented in the
previous section. Few changes were made to this original listing. The four
constructive time use factors were combined to form two separate factors of
constructive time use and creative activities- spring break. One item (43) was
added to the factor of caring school climate as it was judged to measure
dimensions of a psychological caring school climate, slightly improving the alpha
to .4607. Only one item (8L) was deleted from school boundaries, thus
improving the alpha to .6402. Eight items with reliabilities of .4461 - .6529 were
retained as they address important theoretical aspects of assets related to
African American college students. For example, expectations (on = .5581),
school boundaries (or = .6402), peer support (a = .6332), religious involvement ((1
= .6529), constructive time use (a = .5150), and creative activities (01 = .5692) are
all Search Institute asset categories (Leffert et al., 1998). However, the deﬁning

concepts loading on these factors are inﬂuenced by culture. The factors caring

101

Table 7
External Assets of African American college students - Items and scale alphas.

Factor 1: Community welcomes young adults. Alpha = .9064 (9 items)

53H. I feel my concerns and opinions are heard and addressed by East
Lansing Police and ofﬁcials.
53G. I feel my concerns and opinions are heard and addressed by MSU Police.
53E. I feel my concerns and opinions are heard and addressed by East
Lansing community.
53A. I feel my concerns and opinions are heard and addressed by MSU faculty.
53B. I feel my concerns and opinions are heard and addressed by MSU
administration.
53F. I feel my concerns and opinions are heard and addressed by my
community of permanent residence.
530. I feel my concerns and opinions are heard and addressed by MSU
professional staff.
530. I feel my concerns and opinions are heard and addressed by MSU
support staff.
41. East Lansing residents make me feel a welcome part of the community.
Factor 2: Peer importance. Alpha = .8741 (9 items)
19. I feel my friends listen to me
20. My friends and l are supportive of each other during difﬁcult times.
22. My friends care about me.
21. My friends encourage me to do and be my best in everything I do.
18. My friends are a very important part of my life
15. I can go to my friends for advice.
14. l relate well to my peers.
37. Helping other people is important to me
36. Helping other people is important to my friends.
Factor 3: Peer risk involvement. Alpha = .7841 (8 items)
58. My friends smoke marijuana.
57. My friends do/use illicit drugs.
56. My friends smoke cigarettes.
60. My friends drink alcohol.
6. How many of your friends have been in trouble with the law?
546. How many hours per week do you normally spend Partying (drinking)?
r34. While underage, my friends and I do not or did not drink alcohol.
2. How frequently do you communicate via phone, mail and/or in person with

your parents while at school?

102

Factor 4: Caring physical school climate Alpha = .7519 (6 items)

1C.

18.
1E.

8G. How satisﬁed have you been with the Learning Resource Center?
8E. How satisﬁed have you been with the Human Resource Center?
8D. How satisﬁed have you been with the Counseling Center?
8K. How satisﬁed have you been with the Writing Center?
r7l. How often do you speak with the Learning Resource Center about
important issues, concerns or your future?
8|. How satisﬁed have you been with the Olin Health Center?
Factor 5: Relationships with MSU personnel Alpha = .6992 (7 items)
7H. How often do you speak with MSU support staff Center about important
issues, concerns or your future?
76. How often do you speak with the graduate assistant about important
issues, concerns or your future?
7J. How often do you speak with the landlord about important issues,
concerns or your future?
7F. How often do you speak with the department faculty about important
issues, concerns or your future?
7K. How often do you speak with the boss/supervisor about important issues,
concerns or your future?
7L. How often do you speak with MSU Police about important issues,
concerns or your future?
54L. How many hours per week do you normally spend engaged in or watching
university athletics?
Factor 6: Family and peer boundaries Alpha = .8272 (4 items)
17. My friends don't care if I smoke cigarettes.
13. My family doesn’t care if I drink.
12. My family doesn’t care if I smoke.
16. My friends don't care if I drink alcohol.
Factor 7: Parental social support and advice Alpha = .7654 (4 items)
10. Which type(s) of support do you receive from your parents? Career advise

Which type(s) of support do you receive from your parents? Academic
advice

Which type(s) of support do you receive from your parents? Social advice
Which type(s) of support do you receive from your parents? Health stress
issues

103

Factor 8: Student activity participation Alpha = .7124 (6 items)

62. I participate in dorm/residence hall sponsored activities.

7B. How often do you speak with the Resident Advisor about important
issues, concerns or your future?

70. How often do you speak with Adult neighbors about important issues,
concerns or your future?

7C. How often do you speak with Community Members about important
issues, concerns or your future?

61. I regularly participate in structured extracurricular activities, eg. music,
dance or art

54M. How many hours per week do you normally spend participating in events
sponsored by university organizations or clubs?

Factor 9: Safe and caring community Alpha = .6273 (4 items)

48. As a whole, I feel safe while on campus

49. I feel safe walking in the East Lansing community after dark

8M. How satisﬁed have you been with the following MSU classrooms?

9. Overall, MSU provides a caring and encouraging environment.

Factor 10: Young adults as resources Alpha = .6806 (3 items)

47. I am given lots of opportunities to make the MSU community a better
place

46. I am given lots of opportunities to make the East Lansing community a
better place

45. I care about the community of East Lansing

Factor 11: Expectations Alpha = .5581 (3 items)

32. I stay away from trouble because I don’t want to get arrested.

31. l adhere to the rules set by my residence hall or other place of residence

25. My parents trust me to follow their values even while I am away at college.

Factor 12: MSU rules Alpha = .6402 (2 items)

27. MSU sets clear rules about what I can and cannot do.
26. I understand what is expected of me, as a student, by MSU.

Item deleted from factor:
8L. How satisﬁed have you been with the following MSU University Housing?

104

Factor 13: Peer resources Alpha = .6332 (3 items)

5. How many of your close friends attend MSU with you?

4. How many close friends do you have?

3. Other than your parents, how many adults do you access for advice and
suppod?

Factor 14: Caring psychosocial school climate Alpha = .4607 (4 items)

r10. I have felt put down or been embarrassed by my professors at MSU.

11. I can go to adult family members for help and support when I need it.

r30. I worry that I will get into trouble due to my behavior here on campus.

*43 I feel my needs are met by the social systems in my community of
residence as a student.

* = Item added to scale

Factor 15: Religious importance Alpha = .6529 (3 items)

39. I regularly attend religious activities

7E. How often do you Speak with Faith based leaders about important issues,
concerns or your future?

38. Being spiritual or religious is important to me

Factor 16: Constructive time use Alpha = .5158 (6 items)

54D. How many hours per week do you normally spend retrieving, reading and
answering email?

54I. How many hours per week do you normally spend surﬁng the internet?

54E. How many hours per week do you normally spend socializing with
friends?

54K. How many hours per week do you normally spend engaged in or watching
intramural sports?

54J. How many hours per week do you normally spend playing video games?

54B. How many hours per week do you normally spend exercising?

Factor 17: Creative activities — spring break Alpha = .5692 (3 items)
653. On Spring Breaks, how often do you work?

65C. On Spring Breaks, how often do you study and do coursework?
65D. On Spring Breaks, how often do [provide] service to the community?

105

Factor 18: Balanced life Alpha = .4461 (2 items)

64. l effectively balance school, work, family, friends, and fun
r35. I usually just go along with what my friends tell me to do.

106

psychological school climate (a = .4607) and balanced life (a = .4461) were
retained as they were factors unique to the sample population.

Overall, the external assets of African American college students include
ﬁve factors measuring aspects of support (caring physical school climate, caring
psychosocial school climate, other adult relationships evidenced by relationships
with MSU adults, parental social support and advice, and peer resources for
support); three factors measuring aspects of empowerment (community
welcomes and values young adults, safe and caring community, and young
adults as resources); ﬁve factors measuring aspects of boundaries and
expectations (peer importance and inﬂuence, peer risk involvement, family and
peer boundaries, expectations, and school boundaries in the form of MSU rules);
and ﬁve factors measuring aspects of constructive time use (student activity
participation, religious importance, constructive time use, creative activities, and
balanced life).

lntemal assets. Table 8 provides a listing of the 21 internal asset factors
of African American college students. Included in the table are the items loading
on each factor and associated scale alphas. Also listed are any items that were
removed from or added to the initial factor loadings. Items were deleted if factor
reliability ﬁndings indicated that removing the item would improve the alpha to
acceptable levels and if removal of the item did not change the construct
meaning. Items were added if they were conceptually compatible with the
deﬁning factor and they either improved upon or retained the integrity of the

alpha score. An overview of the assets is provided in the text that follows.

107

 

Insert Table 8 about here

 

The internal assets were based on the factor loadings presented in the
previous section regarding the exploratory factor analysis ﬁndings. All factors
were retained. However, seven items were deleted and two items were added to
factors to reﬁne the deﬁning characteristics and improve the alpha score. Item
199 was deleted from interpersonal competence increasing the alpha to .6994.
Items 168 and 70 were deleted from commitment to learning to improve the
alpha to .5865. Item 86 was deleted from achievement motivation and the alpha
improved to .6188. Item 86 was then added to group orientation and item 165
was deleted from group orientation, increasing the alpha to .6149. Items 168 and
165 were combined to create factor 30, cultural competence. This factor had an
alpha score of .6634. Item 129 was deleted from positive view of the future and
its alpha improved to .5993. Item 114 was deleted from interpersonal with faculty
increasing the alpha to .6972.

Eight items with reliabilities of .5865 - .6634 were retained as they address
important theoretical aspects of assets related to African American college
students. For example, social competence/skills (a = .6673), commitment to
learning (a = .5865), achievement motivation (or = .6188), positive view of the
future (a = .5993), positive values (or = .6650), and cultural competence (or =
.6634), are all Search institute asset categories (Leffert et al., 1998). The

deﬁning concepts loading on these factors are pertinent to this study for they are

108

Table 8
lntemal Assets of African American college_students - Items and scale alphas.

 

Factor 19: Communication competence Alpha = .8472 (13 items)

157

I consider all sides of the situation before making decisions

153 I am good at interpreting non-verbal communication

154 I listen to others and ask them questions about what they’ve said

152 I talk over problems with a friend

155 I clearly present my ideas to groups of people

148 I choose my words carefully before I speak.

162 I am good at planning ahead

158 I consider possible consequences before choosing to act

149 I get my point across when I talk with people.

161 I have been called a good listener

167 I can adapt to other cultures when I need to.

191 I can explain how I am feeling (e.g. angry, happy, worried, depressed)

169 I feel comfortable explaining my religious or spiritual beliefs to others

Factor 20: Positive identity Alpha = .7671 (5 items)

195 I often feel unhappy, sad or depressed

197 I often feel lonely

143 l have temper outbursts I can’t control

142 I often feel like beating or injuring someone

189 When someone is angry with me, I will avoid him/her at all costs.

Factor 21: Equality and social justice Alpha = .7971 (5 items)

117 I respect other people’s ways of looking at things, their lifestyles, and their
attitudes

115 I respect other people’s personal and civil rights

116 It is important that I support equal rights and opportunities for all people

166 I know how to talk to people from other races without insulting them.

118 I consider other people’s feelings when making decisions

Factor 22: Restraint behaviors and inﬂuence Alpha = .7257 (6 items)

98A How frequently do you participate in activities that are considered illegal?

98B How frequently do you participate in activities that are considered
dangerous?

r130 Overall, my mother was a constant and inﬂuential presence in my life.

98C How frequently do you participate in activities that are considered hurtful?

82 I come to class drunk or high

r185 I avoid riotous crowds and behaviors

109

Factor 23: Cultural identity Alpha = .6991 (3 items)

175 I can explain my own cultural background
172 I have strong ties to my cultural roots.
173 I feel comfortable talking to others about my culture.

Factor 24: Interpersonal competence Alpha = .6994 (4 items)

159 I make friends easily

r134 l have trouble ﬁtting in with others

160 I am comfortable initiating conversations with strangers
179 I believe I am popular among other students

Item removed
r199 I have trouble ﬁtting in with others

Factor 25: Self-esteem Alpha = .7088 (4 items)

198 I often feel satisﬁed with myself the way I am

196 I often feel sure of who I am (what kind of person I am)
193 I can name three or more good things about myself
177 I have no problem saying “no” to my friends

Factor 26: Integrity Alpha = .7214 (5 items)

123 To get ahead, sometimes you have to lie, steal or cheat.
125 Sometimes I bend the truth so I can get my way.

128 I am likely to cheat in class to get a better grade.

133 I avoid getting involved with others

144 I frequently get into arguments

Factor 27: Adaptability skills Alpha = .6145 (4 items)

137 I am good at Ieaming from my mistakes

186 I would rather discuss a problem with someone instead of hitting or
avoiding them.

194 I can name three things at which I’d like to be better

146 I can turn down a sexual advance if I’m not interested

110

Factor 28: Social skills Alpha = .6673 (4 items)

187 When I am in an argument, I try to listen to the other person’s point of

view.

188 If someone is mad at me, I will go to him/her and ask about it in a calm
manner.

108 I like college for the social atmosphere

163 I hang out with people from different racial/ethnic backgrounds.

Factor 29: Group orientation Alpha = .6149 (4 items)

132 I enjoy being with other people
131 I feel part of a group of friends
97 I learn best with study groups
"86 I work well with others

Item removed
*165 I enjoy being with people who are of a different ethnicity than I am.
** Items added

Factor 30: Cultural competence Alpha = .6634 (2 items)

**168 I try to learn about other cultures.
"165 I enjoy being with people who are of a different ethnicity than I am.
** Items added

Factor 31: Commitment to Ieaming Alpha = .5865 (3 items)

77 I attend all Class sessions
78 I complete all class readings before class sessions
84 I adequately prepare for exams and presentations

Item removed
*168 I try to learn about other cultures.
*70 I would accept a poor grade before dropping a class

Factor 32: Learning engagement Alpha = .8235 (2 items)
91 I lead class discussions
90 . I speak up/out in class

111

Factor 33: Resistance skills Alpha = .7448 (4 items)

182 My best friends never drink and drive

183 My best friends never let me drive drunk

181 My best friends never ask me to do anything illegal

184 My friends would never physically hurt someone on purpose.

Factor 34: Achievement orientation Alpha = .5918 (4 items)

105 It is important for me to have student membership in at least one
professional organization

104 I will need a post baccalaureate degree or specialization certiﬁcate to
qualify for gainful employment in my ﬁeld of study

176 I stay away from people who might get me in trouble

102 I plan to continue my schooling after I receive my Bachelor’s degree

Factor 35: Coping Skills Alpha = .7224 (4 items)
140 I can keep a cool head in emergencies

141 I see the humor in life even when things are not going well

138 I feel capable of coping with most of my problems

139 I feel I can bounce back quickly from bad experiences

Factor 36: Achievement motivation Alpha = .6188 (2 items)

100 I am aware of the education or training needed for my career options
101 I am provided with Challenging and supportive courses

Item removed

86 I work well with others

Factor 37: Positive view of the future Alpha = .5993 (3 items)
200 My life has purpose

201 I am optimistic about my future

106 Overall I enjoy college

Item removed
*r129 Overall, my father was a constant and inﬂuential presence in my life.

112

Factor 38: Positive values Alpha = .6650 (4 items)
126 I tell the truth even when it is not easy.

122 I make decisions based on what I believe

127 I accept responsibilities for my actions even when I make a mistake.
124 I stand up for what I believe even when it is unpopular to do so.

Factor 39: Engagement with faculty Alpha = .6972 (2 items)

93 I send email to faculty
92 I visit faculty during ofﬁce hours

Item removed
*r114 If I received a low grade my parents would be upset.

113

inﬂuenced by culture. The factors adaptability skills (or = .6145), group
orientation (or = .6198), achievement orientation (or = .5918), and interpersonal
with faculty (01 = .6972), were retained as they were factors unique to the sample
population.

Overall, the internal assets of African American college students include
eight factors measuring aspects of social competencies (communication
competence, interpersonal competence, adaptability Skills, social
competence/skills, group orientation, resistance Skills, coping skills, and
interpersonal with faculty). Four factors measured aspects of having a positive
identity (positive identity, cultural identity, self-esteem, and positive view of the
future. Four factors measured the aspects of positive values (equality and social
justice, restraint behaviors and inﬂuences, integrity, and positive values. Four
factor factors were related to a learning commitment (commitment to learning,
learning engagement, achievement orientation, and achievement motivation).

In summary, 39 assets were identiﬁed as characteristic of African
American college students. Eighteen factors were classiﬁed as external assets,
positive experiences and characteristics provided to the college students by their
school, community of residence, peers, and family. Twenty factors were
classiﬁed as internal assets, characteristics, values, and skills belonging to the
students. The relatedness of these assets to the identiﬁed strengths of Black
families are further examined in the next section.

How are the assets of African American college students related to the

theoretical strengths of Black families?

114

Hypothesis 2: The assets of African American college students
significantly relate to the ﬁve strengths of faith, kinship bonds, role
adaptability, academic orientation, and work ethic.

Step 3: Developing a strengths-based ﬁamework of assets. This section
explains the ﬁnal step taken to develop an ethnically appropriate model based on
a strengths based framework of assets. In the previous section 39 asset
subscales were created using the ﬁndings from the exploratory factor analysis of
the external and internal assets of Black students. This section examines how
these assets were used to operationalize the ﬁve strength categories of faith,
kinship bonds, academic orientation, work ethic and role adaptability based on
the theoretical model which was depicted in Figure 8. Five scales of ethnically
appropriate assets were created. Conﬁrrnatory factor analyses were run on each
of the scales to determine reliability. These scales were then designated as the
independent variables of the structural equation model shown in Figure 2, and
tested in a following section of this study.

Scale Formamm. Five primary scales were derived from Hill’s (1999)
model of Black family strengths. They are faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability,
academic orientation, and work ethic. Conceptually, faith is deﬁned as belief in a
higher spiritual power, religious attitude, commitment to those beliefs (Hill, 1999),
and religious activities (Scales & Leffert, 1999). Hill also notes that faith is
evidenced by a positive outlook on life, coping skills which support perseverance
and endurance, and meaning for life. Kinship bonds are the secure relationship

ties one has with family, extended family, peers and other signiﬁcant non-related

115

adults. It is a social support system or network of people related by blood or
common circumstances. Role adaptability is the capacity to be ﬂexible and
adaptive to various role assignments, which are based on developmental stage
of life span, environmental conditions, and assumed survival needs. Successful
role adaptation is modeled by adults, and promotes an enhanced sense of self
worth and self-esteem. Academic orientation is deﬁned by the emphasis of value
placed on obtaining an education, and the undertaking of obtaining an education.
Hill (1999) deﬁnes academic orientation as having six components: aspirations,
approval, familial and peer support, self-esteem, and locus of control. Work ethic
is deﬁned as the importance of steady employment and the expectation that one
must labor to subsist and achieve socioeconomic advancement (Hill, 1999).

The ﬁve scales of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability, academic
orientation, and work ethic were operationalized using the aforementioned
deﬁnitions, the mnceptual model depicted in Figure 8, and the asset factors or
subscales from Tables 7 and 8. Conﬁrrnatory factor analyses were run on each
of the resulting scales to determine the interreliability of the scales.

Preliminary conﬁrmatory analysis of the 39 assets as factors loaded on the
five scales of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability, academic orientation, and
work ethic resulted in extremely low alphas. This result was attributed to the
inclusion of nonrelated items at the subscale level. A second analysis was run
on the constructs of the scales at the item level. Individual Items were initially
included in each scale based on face validity. Reliability analyses were run to

examine the relatedness of the items. Negatively loading items were reversed

116

and non-signiﬁcant items were deleted to improve upon the alpha measurement.
Results from this second analysis are described below.

Tables 9 - 13 show the scale reliabilities along with items loading and
associated assets for each of the ﬁve scales of faith, kinship bonds, role
adaptability, academic orientation, and work ethic. Scale reliability scores were
calculated on the items listed in the table. Also listed are the assets
corresponding to each item.

Table 9, faith, has a scale reliability of .8123 for a total of 29 items. Faith
is the measure of religious attitude, belief, and commitment; involvement in
religious activities, social support and resource; positive outlook for the future;
and perseverance and endurance. Items that were judged to identify with these
characteristics were loaded on 13 asset constructs: religious involvement,
communication competence, equality and social justice, restraint, self-esteem,
adaptability, social competence, resistance skills, achievement orientation,
coping skills, positive view of the future, positive values, and integrity. All assets,
except for religious involvement, were considered to be internal assets or positive
characteristics of the student. The Single asterisk (*) indicates the item was

reversed coded for the purpose of inclusion in the scale.

 

Insert Table 9 about here

 

Table 10, kinship bonds, has a scale reliability of .7340 for a total of 31

items. Kinship bonds is deﬁned as including family, community, and peer

117

Table 9

Faith — Scale Reliability, Items Loaded, and Corresponding Assets

Scale
Scale Name Reliability Items Loaded
Faith .8123 38, 39
169
1 15, 116, 1 17

98A, 983, 98C, 185
177

186

187, 188
181,182,183,184

176
140,141, 138,139
201

124, 126
r123, r125, r144

r = item was reversed to read positively

118

Corresponding Asset

Religious involvement

Communication
competence

Equality and social
justice

Restraint
Self-esteem
Adaptability skills
Social competence
Resistance skills

Achievement
orientation

Coping skills

Positive view of the
future

Positive values
Integrity

networks, extended family relations, signiﬁcant non-related persons, support and
assistance from relatives, and ties to others based on common residence or
future plans. Corresponding items were loaded on 13 asset constructs:
community values young adults, positive peer inﬂuence, peer risk involvement,
other adult relationships, family and peer boundaries, parental support, student
activity participation, young adults as resources, peer support, caring
psychosocial school climate, constructive time use, balanced life, and
engagement with faculty. Excepting the last subscale of engagement with
faculty, all assets were external factors, indicating they are experiences provided

to the student by his or her ecological systems.

 

Insert Table 10 about here

 

Table 11, role adaptability, has a scale reliability of .7652 for a total of 30
items. Role adaptability is deﬁned as student’s having the ability to be ﬂexible as
they take on multiple roles and maintain involvement in multiple areas. Role
ﬂexibility requires students to have adult role models, a holistic perspective, an
enhanced sense of self-worth and responsibility, and high self—esteem, while
developing problem solving and life skills. Items believed to characterize role
adaptability represent aspects of 16 asset constructs. Seven of these constructs
were listed as internal assets: other adult relationships, student activity
participation, expectations, school boundaries, constructive time use, balanced

life, and caring psychosocial school climate. Ten constructs were listed as

119

Table 10

Kinship Bonds — Scale Reliability, Items Loaded, and Corresponding Assets

Scale Name

Kinship Bonds

Scale
Reliability

.7340

Items Loaded

41

14, 18, 19,20, 21, 22

r2, 6, r34, 549,56, 57,
58, 60

3

12,13,16,17
1b,1c,1d,1e
62

45

4, 5
11, 43
54e
92, 93

r = item was reversed to read positively

120

Corresponding Asset

Community values
young adult

Peer inﬂuence
Peer risk involvement

Other adult
relationships

Family and peer
boundaﬁes

Parental support

Student activity
participation

Young adults as
resources

Peersuppon

Caring psychosocial
school climate

Constructive time use

Engagement with
faculty

external assets: communication competence, positive identity, equality and social
justice, restraint, cultural identiﬁcation, self-esteem, adaptability skills, social
competence, group orientation, and positive view of future. An asterisk (*)
indicates the item was originally deleted from the corresponding asset category,
but added to the scale based on the face validity of the concept measured and its
uniquely signiﬁcant relationship to the scale. For example, item 129 (overall, my
father was a constant and inﬂuential presence in my life) had a negative and non-
Signiﬁcant relationship to other factors measuring a positive view of the future.
However, a consistent relationship between fathers and developing individuals
has been equated with enhanced self-esteem and emotional balance (Barras,

2000; Pruett, 2000).

 

Insert Table 11 about here

 

Table 12, academic orientation, has a scale reliability of .7422 for a total of
36 items. Academic orientation is deﬁned as students having high educational
and occupational aspirations and expectations, which are supported by
participation in related programs and activities, socialization skills, healthy social
relationships, social and economic support, and positive adult role models. Items
thought to characterize academic orientation were loaded on 18 asset constructs.
Five constructs were listed as external assets: safe and caring community,
school boundaries, caring psychosocial school climate, constructive time use,

and creative activities. The remaining 13 assets were categorized as internal

121

Table 11

Role Adaptability — Scale Reliability, Items Loaded, and Corresponding Assets

Scale

Reliability Items Loaded

Scale Name

Role Adaptability .7652 54L

54M, 61

31, 32
26, 27

r30

54k
64

153,167,191
189,195,197
118,166

130
172,173,175
193,196,198
137,194

163

131

*129

r = item was reversed to read positively

Corresponding Asset

Other adult
relationships

Student activity
participation

Expectations
School boundaries

Caring psychosocial
school climate

Constructive time use
Balanced life

Communication
competence

Positive identity
Equality and social
justice

Restraint

Cultural identity
Self-esteem
Adaptability Skills
Social competence
Group orientation

Positive view of the
future

* indicates item was deleted from corresponding asset category.

122

assets: communication competence, restraint, interpersonal competence,
integrity, social competence, cultural competence, group orientation, learning
commitment, learning engagement, achievement orientation, achievement
motivation, positive view of the future and engagement with faculty. An asterisk
(*) indicates the item was originally deleted from the corresponding asset
category, but added to the scale based on the face validity of the concept
measured and its uniquely signiﬁcant relationship to the scale as a whole. In
table 12, item 114 (if I received a low grade my parents would be upset) was
found to have a negative relationship with other factors measuring student’s
engagement with faculty. Deleting it from the asset factor improved the alpha.
Item 114 was then added to the factor assessing academic orientation as it
addresses issues pertaining to the inﬂuence of parental expectations. Inclusion of

item 114 improved the alpha.

 

Insert Table 12 about here

 

Table 13, work ethic, has a scale reliability of .6452 for a total of 13 items.
Work ethic includes future orientation, self-management skills, self-reliance, and
entrepreneurial and self-employment skills. Work ethic is positively inﬂuenced by
and also increases neighborhood stability. Items corresponding with
characteristics of work ethic loaded on seven asset constructs. Three
corresponding internal assets are: communication competence, positive view of

the future, and positive values. Caring physical school climate, safe and caring

123

Table 12

Academic Orientation - Scale Reliability, Items Loaded, and Corresponding

Assets

Scale

Reliability "ems Loaded

Scale Name

Academic .7422 8M, 9
Orientation

8L
r10

54C, 54D, 54I
650

148, 149, 152, 154,
155, 158

r82
159, 160

r128,137
108

165, 168
86, 97
77, 78, 84
90, 91

102,104,105
100,101

106

*114

r = item was reversed to read positively

Corresponding Asset

Safe and caring
community

School boundaries

Caring psychosocial
school climate

Constructive time use
Creative activities

Communication
competence

Restraint

Interpersonal
competence

Integrity

Social competence
Cultural competence
Group orientation,
Learning commitment
Learning engagement

Achievement
orientation

Achievement
motivation

Positive view of the
future

“Engagement with
faculty

* Indicates item was deleted from the corresponding asset factor.

124

community, young adults as resources, and creative activities, are the

corresponding external assets.

 

Insert Table 13 about here

 

Tables 9-13 show the asset items related to the scales of faith, kinship
bonds, role adaptability, academic orientation, and work ethic. Although ﬁndings
from the exploratory factor analysis determined the subscale groupings that
formed the 39 assets, the scale groupings were theoretically driven and ﬁndings
were conﬁrmed with reliability testing. Excepting the scale of work ethic (a =
.6452) all alpha scores were signiﬁcant as they were greater than .70.

Hypothesis 2 states that the assets of African American college students
signiﬁcantly relate to the ﬁve strengths of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability,
academic orientation, and work ethic. The null hypothesis implies that there is
not a signiﬁcant relationship between the 39 assets and the ﬁve strengths. As
scale reliabilities for four of the ﬁve factors were above .70, and the fifth factor
was borderline at .6452, the null can be rejected. Thus the frame for an
ethnically appropriate model of assets speciﬁc to African American college
students is established.

In summary, three progressive steps were taken to answer the guiding
question relating to the assets or strengths particular to African American college
students, and to develop an ethically appropriate model. In step one, exploratory

factor analyses were conducted on the MSUSAS responses for Black and White

125

Table 13

Work Ethic — Scale Reliability, Items Loaded, and Corresponding Assets

Scale Name

Work Ethic

Scale
Reliability

.6452

Items Loaded

157, 162

200

122, 127
r8D, r8E, r8G, r8l, r8K

48

47
650

r = item was reversed to read positively

126

Corresponding asset

Communication
competence

Positive view of the
future

Positive values

Caring physical school
climate

Safe and caring
community

Young adults as
resources

Creative activities

college students and compared. The ﬁndings provided statistical support for
rejecting the null of H1, and further showed that ethnicity inﬂuences assets. In
step two, 39 assets were identiﬁed based on factor loadings speciﬁc to the Black
students in step one. Step three involved the theoretical grouping of assets
based on ﬁve scales of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability, academic
orientation, and work ethic. These scales form the frame of an ethnically
appropriate assets model, which was tested and is presented in the section that
follows.
Testing the ethnically appropriate model

Two basic themes have guided this study: 1) identifying the assets of
African American college students, and 2) exploring how these assets are related
to academic achievement. The ﬁrst theme was addressed in the previous
section, resulting in the development of an ethnically appropriate assets
framework speciﬁc to African American college students. This section will
examine the use of the frame as an indicator of academic achievement.
Review of the measures

Based on the ﬁndings of the previous sections an ethnically appropriate
framework for examining assets was developed. The framework consisted of
ﬁve scales, faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability, academic orientation, and work
ethic. These factors were used as the independent or exogenous variables of an
ethnically appropriate model predicting academic achievement. Three more
factors, reconstructed community of support, student employment related to

major, and student employment hours worked, were later introduced as

127

endogenous variables. Based on published research, these factors were
believed to intervene between the dependent variable of academic achievement
and the predicting factors of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability, academic
orientation and work ethic.

Independent variables. The faith scale measures students’ religious
beliefs, skills for peaceful conﬂict resolution and restraint, the importance of
helping others, positive view of life and the future, and values of social justice
and equality. Kinship bonds are the empowering and inﬂuential relationship ties
and interaction students have with peers, parents, faculty, and the community.
Role adaptability is the capacity to be ﬂexible and adaptive to various role
assignments, which are based on stage of development, cultural identity, and
survival or thriving needs. Successful role adaptation is modeled through rules,
and promotes an enhanced sense of competence, self worth, and self-esteem.
Academic orientation is measured by students’ bonding with the school, learning
engagement, study habits, access to and use of resources, and competencies.
Work ethic is measured by work related activities, values of honesty and integrity,
planning and decision making skills, satisfaction with resources and supports,
and feelings of security and safety.

Intervening variables. Introduced in this section are three intervening or
endogenous variables: reconstructed community of support, student employment
related to major ﬁeld of study, and student employment hours worked per week.
Reconstructed community of support was deﬁned as students’ school related

network of individuals and resources who share common goals, values, and

128

norms, and whom provide support and encouragement. This variable was
measured by items 7B-7M (how often do you speak with the following [MSU
related] people about important issues, and/or concerns for your future?) and
RLIVTY (reversed demographic item asking students to indicate where they were
living while attending MSU). The items 7B-7M measure the active networks
students have which are related to MSU and the East Lansing community. The
item measuring where student lives while attending MSU measures the physical
community of individuals who share common goals, values, and norms. For
example, students residing in university housing are perceived as being physical
and psychological members of a community of students. The reliability score for
this scale was .7884.

The remaining two intervening variables measure the quality and quantity
of students’ employment. The quality of student employment is perceived as
being related to the students’ major ﬁeld of study. Major related student
employment was measured by dichotomous items 66 (my summer employment
is related to my declared major) and 67 (my employment during the school year
is related to my declared major). Although the reliability for score for these two
factors was <70 at .6204 this scale was retained as no other items were related
to school major.

The quantity of student employment was measured by the number of
hours students were employed per week as ascertained in MSUSAS item 55

(how many hours per week do you work?) Students indicated on a scale of 1-5

129

if they worked 0 hours == 1; 1-7 hours = 2; 8-16 hours = 3; 17-29 hours = 4; or 30
or more hours = 5. As this is a single item scale, the reliability is 1.00.

Demndent variable. The dependent variable of academic achievement
was measured by students’ grade point average as self reported in the MSUSAS
demographic section. Grade point averages ranged from a low 1.66 to a high of
3.86, with a mean of 2.64 being equal to a letter grade of C. The reliability for
this one-item scale was 1.00.

Preliminagy analysis. Prior to analyses of the data, missing values for the
variables were replaced by the system mean to provide a ﬁnal data set sample of
173. Using this transformed data set the nine model factors were recomputed
based on the scales developed previously. Table 14 depicts the psychometric
properties of the variables used in the model. Listed are the respective
reliabilities, means, standard deviations, and range of response scores. Two
items, student employment hours worked per week and academic achievement
based on grade point average have reliability scores of one (1 .0) as they are

one-item measures.

 

Insert Table 14 about here

 

Table 15 Shows the correlations for each variable. Calculations were
conducted on SPSS, which limits variable labels to eight characters. Therefore
abbreviations were used for all variables except faith: KINSHIP = kinship bonds;

ROLEADAP = role adaptability; ACADOREN = academic orientation;

130

Table 14

Psychometric Prcmrties of t_he Model Variables.

 

RANGE
VARIABLE REég‘gi'R'éTY MEAN SD OF
SCORES
FAITH .8123 97.54 8.683 76-117
KINSHIP BONDS .7340 74.019 9.486 5299
ROLE ADAPTABILITY .7652 90.891 8.516 70110
ACADEMIC ORIENTATION .7422 116.045 9.136 91-138
WORK ETHIC .6452 28.574 4.644 1741
RECONSTRUCTED
COMMUNITY OF SUPPORT .7941 25.166 6.714 1555
STUDENT EMPLOYMENT -
RELATED TO MAJOR .6063 .547 .736 0-2
STUDENT EMPLOYMENT -
HOURS WORKED PER 1.00 2.503 1.219 15
WEEK
ACADEM'C ACH'EVEMENT 1.00 2.645 .605 1.66-3.86

- GPA

N=173

131

WORKETHC = work ethic; RECOMSPT = reconstructed community of support;
STUEMPMJ = student employment related to major; STUEMPHR = student
employment hours worked; and ACADACHV = academic achievement.
Signiﬁcant correlations are indicated by * (one asterisk) if signiﬁcance is at the
.05 conﬁdence level and ** (two asterisks) if at the .01 conﬁdence level.
Signiﬁcant relationships provided guidance for hypothesizing alternative path
diagrams in the structural equation model proposed to test the inﬂuence of

assets on academic achievement of African American college students.

 

Insert Table 15 about here

 

Guidelines for testing and assessing the ﬁt of the models

The relationships among the independent, intervening, and dependent
variables were examined using Amos 4.0 (Arbuckle, 1997) software program
which speciﬁes and evaluates structural equation models as path diagrams. To
determine the measure of ﬁt for each model, the probability value (p) for the chi-
square statistic (X2) or discrepancy term, Norrned Fit Index (NFI) and Root Mean
Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) were examined. Statistically signiﬁcant
X2 at p< .05 indicates that the model does not ﬁt the given data. Based on Bollen
(1989) NFI measurements of ﬁt are interpreted as an ideal ﬁt if 1.00; excellent ﬁt
if 0.90-0.99; average ﬁt if 0.85-0.89; and poor ﬁt if <0.85. RMSEA measurements
are interpreted as an excellent ﬁt if 0.00-0.05; moderate ﬁt if 0.05-0.08;

acceptable ﬁt if 0.08-0.10; and poor ﬁt if >0.10. MacCullum, Browne and

132

ooo.? 57o mid Fmoo-
ooo.? oNNo I 5...? .

ooo.? V3.0

ooo.?

:oo

vmoo-

wood

wood 2.

ooo. P

onto

std- ..

nwoo

word.

wood 3

ooo...

28.5-8 .96. mod 65 .6 E8588 2 88.650 .
2.8.5-8 .26. 5o 65 .6. E8556 o 8.8.2.8 ..

wood

quor t.

_boo

word.

«and t.

NNNo z.

ooo.?

>IO<O<O< wards—mph main—Suhm .EwZOOmm OIhmme; 2m00<0< n_<o<m._Om

oooo.

rotor

Nvoo

omoor

omoo

9rd

mNNo z.

ooo.?

EImZ?

need

oo...o- .

mmoo

memo 3

memo 2.

wood 2.

hood 3

No.20-

ooo. v
I._._<.._.

>IO<O<0<

wmIaﬁmhw

mos—QSEFw

.szOOmm

01kmxm0>>

szo<0<

n_<n_<m..0m

Q_Imzi

I._._<n.

 

m.o_nm:m> Enos. Lo mcozﬂotoo

or OBOE.

133

Sugawara (1996) also determine RMSEA guidelines rejecting close ﬁt and not-
close ﬁt. Given an excellent ﬁt based on RMSEA < .05, if both the RMSEA lower
bound (RMSEALO) and higher bound (RMSEAHI) are below 0.05, reject the not-
close ﬁt and do not reject the close ﬁt. If the conﬁdence interval bounds
represented by RMSEALO and RMSEAHI straddles 0.05, neither the close fit nor
not-Close ﬁt can be rejected. If both the RMSEALO and RMSEAHI are above
0.05, the close ﬁt can be rejected, but the null hypothesis of not-close ﬁt cannot
be rejected. Rejecting the not-close ﬁt hypothesis provides a stronger support for
conﬁrming (Crano & Mendoza, 1987) a close ﬁt of the theoretical model.

Power estimates were also examined to determine the power of rejecting any
hypothesis about ﬁt (MacCallum, Browne, & Sugawara, 1996). These estimates
were based on RMSEA, degrees of freedom (df) and sample size (N). In
general, when df and N are both large (e.g. df = 100, N = 500) the power
estimates for closeness of ﬁt is a perfect 1.00. When both are low (e.g. df = .081,
N = 100) power is extremely low, and the likelihood of rejecting any hypothesis is
diminished.

Following are the proposed overall and subsequent path models in
relation to their respective hypotheses. For each the best ﬁtting models,
measure of ﬁt ﬁndings and power estimate are evaluated based on the foregoing
guidelines.

What is the relationship between assets and the academic achievement of

African American college students?

134

Overall theoretical modal. The overall theoretical model shown in ﬁgure 2
depicts the hypothesized relationships between all independent, intervening and
dependent variables. Path A depicts a direct model or direct relationship
between the independent variables of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability,
academic orientation, and work ethic, with the dependent variable of academic
achievement. Path B depicts reconstructed community of support as an
intervening variable inﬂuencing the relationship between independent variables
faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability, academic orientation, and work ethic, and
dependent variable academic achievement. Path C diagrams the relationship
between independent variables role adaptability, academic orientation, and work
ethic with dependent variable academic achievement when mediated by student
employment as it relates to the student’s ﬁeld of study and the number of hours
worked. Path D diagrams the relationship between independent variable work
ethic with dependent variable academic achievement when inﬂuenced by the
number of hours students are employed per week. Except for Path D, all other
paths were hypothesized to positively relate to academic achievement. In the
latter path the_number of hours students work was believed to negatively

inﬂuence academic achievement.

 

Insert Figures 2 and 9 about here

 

Models of ﬁt calculations were run on the proposed models using Amos

4.0. Prior to processing analysis, Amos requires that unobserved variables

135

Figure 2:
ngall Theoredci Model

 

 

 

 

 

FAITH M A
B TKT\~\E i
k“ _T—‘ ____-,___.____,__i ‘T \ﬂ
RECONSTRUCTED
" “——- 3 COMMUNITY \3.
OF SUPPORT \5
KINSHIP
BONDS I
“ _ B
A
—7 B \o
B
ROLE A _ _,
ADAPTABILITY C
r STUDENT c ACADEMiC
EMPLOYMENT ..__H_»
RELATED TO MAJOR ACH'EVEMENT

 

 

ACADEMIC A ___LLM.--._,
ORIENTATION V" C

 

 

 

 

C D
STUDENT
EMPLOYMENT "‘———’
HOURS WORKED
"_ I
WORK Mix/Ada, f,
ETHIC ﬂower”,

 

136

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 9
Best-ﬁtting Overall Theoretical Model

CBEFPEA

 

 

 

 

 

     
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Otto—Lt
1 .00
FAITH .93 1 .00
f .1 3
//6<)1RECC%NsmhiJlgyTED
KINSHIP W”
BONDS OF SUPPORT _
ITOQ l
l
\DAPToPl-Blm 1 00 00
.(\24 STUDENT
ACADEMIC
EIIPLOYNENT
RELATED TO MAIOR ACH'EVENENT
ACADEMC .23
ORIENTATION
STUDENT
EMPLOYMENT
HOURS WORKED
WORK '95
ETHIC
EEO

137

accounting for unexplained variances be added in relation to all endogenous
variables. Hence the error variables with mean (0) and variance (1) parameters
indicated as noted in the proposed model. After running the initial analysis,
covariant relationships between observed variables were diagrammed based on
the modiﬁcation indices. Using the probability (p < .05) test for signiﬁcance of
regression weights non-signiﬁcant paths were deleted. Subsequent tests were
run until modiﬁcation indices were exhausted. The resulting model was
examined for its goodness of ﬁt.

Findings. Figure 9 shows the best ﬁtting overall model with only
statistically signiﬁcant paths retained. The independent variables were all
Signiﬁcantly related to each other, with faith and role adaptability correlating to
each of the other variables. Kinship bonds were related to only two other
variables, faith and role adaptability. The inverse relationship between faith and
kinship bonds, indicating that when one inCreased the other decreased, was the
only negative covariant relationship. Only four causal paths were signiﬁcant.
Faith and work ethic were found to have a positive inﬂuence on reconstructed
community of support. Role adaptability negatively inﬂuenced the number of
hours students worked. Student employment related to major ﬁeld of study was
positively related to the number of hours students were employed. No proposed
paths linking either the independent or intervening variables to academic
achievement were retained, as they were not signiﬁcant.

Goodness of ﬁt. The resulting overall model shown in ﬁgure 9, indicates a

best ﬁt for the given data [X2 (df 8, N = 173) = 12.55, p < .001, NFI = .998,

138

RMSEA = 0.058 (RMSEALO = .000, RMSEAHI = .115)]. Based on the RMSEA
bounds guidelines pertaining to RMSEA conﬁdence intervals straddling >05, and
low power estimates, neither the close ﬁt nor the not-close ﬁt may be rejected.
Therefore the theoretical model is nonconﬁnned. Realizing the removal of
variables may change the regression weights and signiﬁcance, thus inﬂuencing
the goodness of ﬁt, further analyses of the proposed paths were conducted in
separate path models.

Hypothesis 3: The ﬁve assets of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability,
academic orientation, and work ethic are indicators of academic
achievement.

Proposed Modal. Path A is diagramed in Figure 10 and shows a direct
relationship between each of the independent variables of faith, kinship bonds,
role adaptability, academic orientation, and work ethic, with the dependent
variable of academic achievement. Amos 4.0 requires that unobserved
predictors or factors be added to endogenous variables to account for error
measurements. Error variables are assigned a mean of 0 (zero) and a variance

of one (1). Figure 11 shows the best ﬁtting model with path coefﬁcients.

 

Insert Figures 10 and 11 about here

 

Findings. Only faith was found to have a signiﬁcantly positive inﬂuence on
academic achievement. Signiﬁcant covariant relationships were also found

connecting the independent variables.

139

Figure 10

Hypothesis 3; Proposed Direct Model of Independent Variables Predicting
Academic Aphievement

 

FAITH

 

 

i KINSHIP BONDS
l-

 

 

##__ﬁﬂ ._.__.— so.

_ l
‘ ROLE l—————— —— —‘ m ——_+ ACADEMIC l
__ADAPTABILITY ACHIEVEMENT l

“M- _. H---ﬂ--,__d_ -l

 

 

 

 

ACADEMIC
i __ ORIENTATION

 

 

1 WORK ETHIC

 

 

140

Figure 11
Hypothesis 3: §est Fitting Direct Model of lndegndent Variables Predicting
Academic Achievement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

\31 \ OWEN
wag
\ 3% l

 

 

141

Goodness of Fit. The best ﬁtting model for H3, shown in ﬁgure 11,
indicates a moderate ﬁt of the model to the given data based on the non-
signiﬁcance of the chi-square probability (p = .490) and ﬁt measures [X2 (df 6, N
= 173) = 5.4, NFI = .999, RMSEA = .000]. However, based on the conﬁdence
interval (RMSEALO = .000, RMSEAHI = .094) and low power estimate
measures, neither the close ﬁt hypothesis nor the null hypothesis of not-Close ﬁt
can be rejected. Therefore, the model is nonconﬁnned.

Hypothesis 4: Students with strong faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability,
academic orientation, and work ethic are more likely to reconstruct
communities of support, thus increasing incidences of academic success.

Promsed model. Proposed Path 8, diagrammed in ﬁgure12, predicts that
each of the independent variables will have a causal inﬂuence on students’
reconstruction of communities of support intended to increase incidences of
academic success. Amos 4.0 requires that unobserved predictors or factors be
added to endogenous variables to account for error measurements. Error
variables are assigned a mean of 0 (zero) and a variance of one (1). Figure 13

shows the best ﬁtting model with path coefﬁcients.

 

Insert Figures 12 and 13 about here

 

Findings. Only faith and work ethic were found to have signiﬁcant
inﬂuence on the reconstruction of a community of support. However, academic

achievement was not signiﬁcantly related to reconstructed community of support.

142

Figure 12

Hypothesis 4: Proposed Model of Variables Predicting Reconsmned CommuLnity
of Support lmlencmAmgemic Achieveme_nt

 

 

 

FAITH
KINSHP
1 Boos
l _____ _
i _-_,__ _
l ROE __ _ -__- }
‘ AOAUTABUTY J
mm
W J TTTTTT . mum I
OFaPPmT i y
l ORIENTATION
(_____ ___
EIHC

143

Figure 13
l_-l_ypothesis 4: Proposed Model of Variables Predicting Reconstrdcted Commdnitv
of Support lnﬂu_encing Aca_d_emic Achievement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FAm-l
KlNSl-IP
Bows '17
was We“
ROLE .13 _ __ _ L90
ADAPTABIU‘IY MC
my
Wm J . Him“
OHENTATTON
.28
WORK
El'l-IC

 

 

 

144

Goodness of ﬁt. The best ﬁtting model for H4, shown in ﬁgure 13,
indicates a moderate ﬁt of the model to the given data [1:2 (df 11, N = 173) =
11.36, p > .001, NFI = .998, RMSEA = .0139]. As the conﬁdence interval
straddles 0.05 (RMSEALO = .000, RMSEAHI = .0819) and the power estimate is
low (df = 11, N=173) neither the close ﬁt hypothesis nor the null hypothesis of
not-Close ﬁt can be rejected. Therefore the model is nonconﬁnned.

Hypothesis 5: The assets of role adaptability, academic orientation, and
work ethic inﬂuence the academic relatedness of student employment and
the number of hours worked, thus affecting academic achievement.

Proposed model. Proposed Path C, diagrammed in ﬁgure14, predicts that
role adaptability, academic orientation, and work ethic will each inﬂuence
students' employed in positions related to their major and the number of hours
they work. In turn, the relatedness of employment and hours worked will
inﬂuence academic achievement. Amos 4.0 requires that unobserved predictors
or factors be added to endogenous variables to account for error measurements
Error variables are assigned a mean of 0 (zero) and a variance of one (1).

Figure 15 shows the best ﬁtting model with path coefﬁcients.

 

Insert Figures 14 and 15 about here

 

Findings. Only one proposed causal path was found signiﬁcant. Role
adaptability has a negative inﬂuence on student employment hours, indicating

that the number of hours students work decreases in relation to their ability to

145

Figure 14
Hypothesis 5: Proposed Mod_e_l of Variables Predicting Student Employment
Inﬂuencing Aca_demic Achievement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

nous
ADAPTABUTY
‘ _ snnavr
m
HELATEDTOMMOR
{ a A, N
ORIENTATION ACAoanC
AO-IEWNENT
"*1
STuJENr
m
[ a _W _. ransvmcb
En-IC

146

Figure 15
Hypothesis 5: Best Fitting Model of Variables Predicting Student Employment

lnﬂuencimLAcgdgmic Achievement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

m 1.06%“
/ AOAPTABUTY f .(I) ,. —-
.67 -2 m 1mm? ”3)
/ - ' ”Emma? J 100
.32 Q 0% la 10 l W 1
\ $ STLIBVIT . _ ___” _—

 

 

 

./
i?
Iii

 

147

adapt to their roles and participate in varying student activities. Based on
modiﬁcation indices, covariant relationships were indicated, and the relatedness
of student employment related to major was found to have a positive inﬂuence on
the number of hours students worked.

goodness of Fit. The conﬁrmatory factor analysis of the hypothesized
model shown in ﬁgure 15 indicates a moderate ﬁt of the model to the given data
[)62 (df 10, N = 173) = 9.701, p > .001, NFI = .997, RMSEA = .000]. As the
conﬁdence interval straddles 0.05 (RMSEALO = .000, RMSEAHI = .080) and the
power measures are low (df = 10, N=173) neither the Close ﬁt hypothesis nor the
null hypothesis of not-Close ﬁt can be rejected. The model is nonconﬁrrned.
Hypothesis 6: A strong work ethic encourages the number of hours
students work negatively affecting academic achievement.

Prwosed modjel. Figure 16 shows that when measured alone, work ethic
is hypothesized to have a positive inﬂuence on the number of hours students
work, thus decreasing incidences of academic achievement. Error variables are
added to endogenous variables to account for error measurements. As
unobserved variables, they are assigned a mean of 0 (zero) and a variance of

one (1). Figure 17 shows the best ﬁtting model with path coefﬁcients.

 

Insert Figures 16 and 17 about here

 

148

Figure 16

Hypothesis 6: Proposed Mgdel of WorLﬂhic Predicting Hours Worked and
lrﬂiuencing Aca_demic Achievement

 

 

 

 

_g

 

149

Figure 17
Hypothesis 6: Best FittingMod_el of Work E_thic Predicting Hodrs Worked and
lnﬂuencinLAcademic Achieveme_r_I_t_

 

_ho, 1 -0. 1
Cérrpdl "iﬁemorz‘
i J
{___—”___ﬂ—ﬂ STUDENT m— '
’ WORK ACADEMC I
l EMPLOYMENT ACHIEVEMENT

___—___ hm “Rudy

ETH'C HOURS WORKED

 

150

Findings. Work ethic did not have a signiﬁcant affect on the number of
hours students were employed. Neither was student employment hours found to
have a signiﬁcant inﬂuence on academic achievement.

Goodness of Fit. The model of ﬁtness for H5 shown in ﬁgure 17 indicates
a moderate ﬁt of the model to the given data [)52 (df 1, N = 173) = .317, p > .001,
NFI = .999, RMSEA = .000]. As the conﬁdence interval straddles 0.05
(RMSEALO = .000, RMSEAHI = .166) and the power measures are extremely
low (df = 1, N=173) neither the close ﬁt hypothesis nor the null hypothesis of not-
Close ﬁt can be rejected. The model is therefore nonconﬁrrned.
Summary

The purpose of this exploratory investigation was to identify the assets
most Characteristic of African American college students and most indicative of
academic achievement for African American college students in a large
predominantly White institution. Of particular interest for this investigation was:
(a) the testing of a theoretical model that incorporates ethnicity (i.e. African
American) and assets, and (b) the development of a framework that examines
the impact of ecological systems on the matriculation and academic achievement
of African American college students. Therefore, the data analysis consisted of
two parts: the development and testing of an ethnically appropriate model and
the hypothesis testing of variables predicted to indicate academic achievement.
Three speciﬁc research questions were addressed: 1) What are the assets or
strengths particular to African American college students? 2) How are assets

related to the strengths of Black families? 3) Do assets inﬂuence incidences of

151

academic achievement? Two statistical measures, factor analysis and path
analysis modeling, were used to answer these questions and address the
hypotheses associated with each. The following chapter will discuss the ﬁndings
pertaining to each question, consider the limitations that may have inﬂuenced the
ﬁndings, and draw implications relevant to institutes of higher education in

regards to research, policy, and practice.

152

Chapter 5
DISCUSSION

Three research questions guided this study: (1) What are the assets or
strengths particular to African American college students? (2) How are these
assets related to Hill’s (1999) strengths of Black families? And (3) how are these
assets related to the academic achievement of African American college
students? These questions were used to form and test an ethnically appropriate
model of assets for use with African American college students. Thirty-nine
assets were found Characteristic of Black college students attending a
predominately White university, and were signiﬁcantly related to the strengths of
Black families. Using the resulting strengths-based asset model, the grouping of
assets correlating to faith were found to signiﬁcantly inﬂuence academic
achievement. In this chapter, explanations of the ﬁndings are further discussed,
citing relevance to previous research, limitations affecting the validity or
generalizability of the results, and implications for policy and practice.

This study was unique for four reasons. First, an asset-based approach
was used to examine African American college students attending a
predominately White university. Most studies regarding Blacks at predominately
White universities are deﬁcit-based, being focused on attrition rates and causes.
Second, previous studies of assets have been focused on youth between the
ages 12-17. A few studies had also been done to examine the assets of children
and youth from birth to17 to assess what parents, schools, and community

needed to provide children for them to grow into successful adults. However, no

153

published studies had ventured to examine the assets of college students aged
18-23 typically thought to be late adolescents or young adults. Third, as a
strengths-based study, this research was focused on the role of culture as an
inﬂuence of assets. Culture was threefold as it encompassed stage of life (late
adolescence/young adulthood), African American ethnicity, and the university
based ecological context. The stage of life and ecological setting addressed
developmental issues, while ethnicity provided a dimension usually overlooked
for its inﬂuence on behaviors, attitudes, and interactions with proximal settings
and systems. Therefore, being African American was perceived as inﬂuencing
the behaviors, attitudes and interaction of Black college students with the
predominately White school setting. Finally, this study provided the
development and testing of a strengths-based culturally sensitive model. Based
on the identiﬁcation of assets presented by African American students the
resulting model was used to distinguish those assets most indicative of academic
achievement.

Findings from this study were founded on the premise that assets of
college students would differ from those of youth based on appropriate stages of
lifespan development theories (Erikson, 1993; Jessor, 1993) and afﬁliated
ecological systems (Bronfenbrenner, 1989; Jessor, 1993). Thus the use of the
MSUSAS which was adapted from the Search lnstitute’s ABQ (Benson, 1990;
Blyth, 1993) for use with college students ages 18-23. For youth aged 12-17, life
stage development affected the positioning and interactions of microsystems. As

dependent minors the foremost proximal system was family, followed by school

154

and community. College students aged 18 —23 having reached the legal age of
majority are developmentally viewed as young adults having achieved a level of
independence. As college students attending a residential university their
foremost proximal systems were school and community, followed by family. This
shift in positioning of microsystems affected how and with whom college students
interacting on a daily basis. Thus school and community became primary
providers of experiences and characteristics referred to as external assets
(Scales & Leffert, 1999). Internal assets were results of culmination of
internalized lifetime experiences and Characteristics provided to the college
students.
Hypothesis 1: The assets or strengths of African American college
students signiﬁcantly differ from the assets of White students.

While this was not a comparative study, assets were examined speciﬁc to
Black and White students to provide statistical basis for examining the inﬂuence
of culture on assets and to identify the assets characteristic of and distinctive to
Black young adult college students attending a predominantly White university.
Overall, the assets of White students were found to directly conform to the
Search lnstitute’s assets (as factor loadings were exclusive to the deﬁning
criterion of assets. For example, all items loading on the factor of ‘community
values young adults’ are exclusive to the questiOn assessing if students feel
various school and community personnel hear and address their opinions and
concerns. White students were also found to place emphasis on relations with

school personnel rather than peers, to receive parental support, to be satisﬁed

155

with school resources, and to participate in structured time use activities. In
comparison, factors for Black students were less conformed to criterion for
assessing the presence of assets. Rather their asset groupings were inclusive of
multiple asset measurements. For example, items loading on the factor of
“community values young adults’ included questions assessing if students felt
various school and community personnel heard and addressed their opinions
and concerns, and if the community made students feel welcome. This implied
that Black students felt valued by the community if accepted, as both their
interests were heard and addressed and they were made to feel received and
appreciated. In comparison, White students did not indicate a need for
acceptance. Rather their response was perceived as being empowered.

This non-conformity to standard assets criterion for Black students was
seen as evidence of multidimensionality, divergent thinking, and a holistic
worldview that favors considering the action as well as the attitude guiding the
behavior (Nichols, 1976). While White students seemed to see assets one-
dimensionally, Blacks were more prone to deﬁne them two and three
dimensionally. For example, based on responses of White students, a caring
school Climate was indicated by satisfaction with physical MSU resources and
centers. For Black students, a caring school climate was evaluated as involving
satisfaction with both physical and psychosocial components. More speciﬁcally,
physical components consisted of resource centers, whereas psychosocial

components were based on whether students had been embarrassed or “put

156

down” by professors, discussion of concerns with resource center staff, support
of nonparent adults, having needs met by social systems.

Another example of multidimensionality and divergent thinking was a
noted difference between White and Black students’ measurement of religious
involvement. For White students, religious involvement included religious
activity, importance of religious beliefs, and being pressured to attend faith-based
services of religions other than one’s own. For Black students, religious activity
involvement, importance of religious beliefs, and the frequency of interactions
with faith-based leaders to discuss concerns, indicated religious importance.
While the former seems to question one’s acceptance of their religious beliefs
and commitment to those beliefs, the latter implies that one’s religious
involvement provides role models as resources for guidance and support.

The number of factors accounting for signiﬁcant variance in loadings for
Black versus White students also evidenced multidimensionality. Black students
had more factor groupings accounting for signiﬁcant variance, for a total of 39
assets. Although the majority of these were found to correspond with similar
assets identiﬁed for White students, six were found to be distinctive to Blacks and
consistent with research regarding cultural characteristics of African Americans
(Billingsley, 1992; Boykin, 1991; Hill, 1999;Ogbu, 1992). These assets
(psychosocial school climate, balanced life, adaptability skills, group orientation,
coping skills, and engagement with faculty) were also interrelated to each other,
providing support for one and inﬂuencing others. For instance, Billingsley ( 1992),

Hill (1999), and Hudgins (1992) noted adaptability and coping skills as being

157

paramount to the success of African Americans, whereas Cabrera et al. (1999)
indicated that psychosocial school Climate was inﬂuential in Black student’s
adjustment to school and continued matriculation. Therefore, school Climate
inﬂuences Black students’ ability to adjust, endure, and contend with adversity.
Boykin’s (1991) proposes that Blacks emphasize communal group orientation
and harmony or balance. The purpose of adapting is to create balance to one’s
systems, so again adaptability is supported. Ogbu (1992) notes that social
engagement with faculty is instrumental to educational achievement. This
supports the theme of socialization, which was found to undergird the assets of
Black students.

In addition to the aspect of multidimensionality, a second theme
underlying the assets of Black college students was the importance of the social
aspect, interaction with peers and signiﬁcant other adults. Socialization or social
competence was found to carry more importance than those assets afﬁliated with
academic commitment, motivation, and orientation. The theme of socialization
was also found integrated with other internal assets of positive identity, positive
values, and learning commitment, and with the external assets of religious
involvement and constructive time use. Billingsley (1992) and Ogbu (1981)
support the importance of the social aspect. The latter notes that learning for
Black students is a social dimension.

Another interesting difference between the assets of Black and White
students was the order of factor loading and the order of items loading on each

factor. Order of loading indicated importance of the asset in relation to the other

158

assets. For example, Black students placed overall emphasis on external assets
provided by their community of peers whereas VWTite students placed emphasis
on external assets provided by school based adult personnel. In other words,
Blacks were more likely to informally discuss concerns and problems with fellow
students, while White students would access formal channels and speak with
faculty and support staff. Regarding internal assets, Black students emphasized
interdependent themes of social competencies and interactions (Boykin, 1991).
White students prioritized independent themes of positive values and identity.

At the sublevel of items loadingon factors, importance of the item concept
was indicated by its position of loading in relation to other items loading on the
same factor. One example concerns the personnel loading on the measurement
of community welcomes youth. Black students prioritized MSU and East Lansing
police over MSU faculty, administration and support staff. White students
prioritized MSU staff, over East Lansing community members, MSU
administration, and faculty. This measurement would indicate that students have
primary and most frequent contact with the personnel loading ﬁrst. As students,
both groups would be expected to indicate MSU faculty ﬁrst, as daily contact in
classrooms is assumed. Reasons for frequent contact between Black students
and police can only be speculated, as no items addressed reasons students
might meet with various community personnel. Based on the duties of the police
as law enforcers, speculations regarding reasons for contact would include

students' risk behavior involvement and issues of safety and protection.

159

However, current example of events regarding accounts of Blacks and police
must also be considered, and should be examined in future studies.

In summary, the assets of African American college students were found
to signiﬁcantly differ from those of White students. Assets were culturally based,
deﬁned multidimensionally, and placed emphasis on the importance of social
networks and communication. As the assets of Black students did not easily
conform to criterion set by previous assets research, new categories were
deemed necessary for organizing the assets and assessing how they might
inﬂuence academic achievement. For this purpose the strengths of Black
families were examined as culturally appropriate organizing categories.
Hypothesis 2: The assets of African American college students
signiﬁcantly relate to the ﬁve strengths of faith, kinship bonds, role
adaptability, academic orientation, and work ethic.

Assets were deﬁned as the personal positive characteristics and
experiences provided to and by Black students to increase their chances of
academic success. The ﬁve strengths of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability,
academic orientation, and work ethic were identiﬁed as coping strategies used by
Black families to support survival and increases societal success (Billingsley,
1992; Hill, 1999). The degree to which these strengths were exhibited in the
family was related to how entrenched the Black family was in the Black
community, and their quality of interactions with the larger American society.
These skills were then transmitted to Black children through experiences, ethical

teachings, and modeling (Barker & Hill, 1996). Once the children matured to

160

adulthood and achieved a level of independence it was expected that they would
begin to employ these strengths to cope with societal demands as necessitated
by the environment. The less congruent the environment to the Black family and
community, the more likely the needs for these coping strategies. Therefore, it
was believed that these coping strategies would be evidenced among Black
students attending a predominantly White university (Dombusch, 2000; Epps et
al., 1991).

Items grouped in the 39 assets of Black students were used to
operationalize the ﬁve Black family strength factors of faith, kinship bonds, role
adaptability, academic orientation, and work ethic (Hill, 1999). To underline the
importance of socialization, each of the ﬁve scales included items related to
social relations or interpersonal competence. All factors were found to contain
both external and internal assets, indicating that while these strengths may be
identiﬁed as personal positive traits of Black students, they are also positive
characteristics and experiences provided and supported by external
microsystems of school, community and family.

Four of the ﬁve developed scales were found to be statistically signiﬁcant.
Only work ethic was not found to be statistically signiﬁcant. There were a few
reasons postulated to explain this lack of signiﬁcance. First, the work ethic scale
did not include a measure of the number of hours student worked, as that item
was used speciﬁcally as the measure of student employment hours worked.
Therefore, work ethic may not have fully measured what it purported to measure.

Another possible explanation is that work ethic did not include any asset items

161

considered distinctive to African American college students, (i.e. psychosocial
school climate, balanced life, adaptability skills, coping skills, group orientation,
or engagement with faculty). Therefore work ethic might not have been an
accurate reﬂection of a culturally based strength. In addition to the
aforementioned issues, another possible explanation lies in the fact that the other
four factors were perceived as adaptive strategies used to aid students in their
educational goals whereas work ethic was perceived to counteract or interfere
with academic achievement. Rather than aiding students’ educational
attainment, work ethic was seen as a risk factor hindering academic achievement
based on the number of hours students worked.

As a whole, the results of this study supported the hypothesis that the
assets of African American college students are signiﬁcantly correlated to the
four strengths of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability, and academic orientation.
For Black students, assets become the individual adaptive strategies or Black
family strengths used to succeed academically. While Black students internalize
these strengths, they are continually supported by the ecological systems of
school, community, and family. It was also noted that not all strengths were
equated with academic achievement, and that work ethic may be counter to
academic success if the number of hours worked detract from academic pursuits.

Hypothesis 3: The ﬁve assets of faith, kinship bonds, role adaptability,
academic orientation, and work ethic are indicators of academic

achievement for African American college students.

162

Using the assets as grouped by the ﬁve strengths of faith, kinship bonds,
role adaptability, and work ethic, an ethically appropriate model was developed
and then used to examine the inﬂuences of assets on the academic achievement
of Black college students. The direct model, which examined direct causal paths
between each of the ﬁve strengths and academic achievement, concluded that
faith only had a signiﬁcant positive inﬂuence on academic achievement. Faith
was deﬁned by Hill (1999) as including strong religious beliefs and commitment,
involvement in religious activities, a social support and resource, encouraging a
positive outlook for the future, perseverance and endurance, and providing
meaning for life. Faith as deﬁned by the assets of Black college students
included the external asset of religious involvement, and the internal assets of
communication competence, equality and social justice, restraint, self-esteem,
adaptability, social competence, resistance skills, achievement orientation,
coping skills, positive view of the future, positive values, and integrity.

The importance of faith as an indicator of academic achievement is not
surprising as it is supported by research regarding religiosity and Black students
(Hill, 1999; McAdams, Booth & Selvik, 1981; Steward & JD, 1998). Faith and
religious orientation has been shown to increase levels of educational attainment,
economic advancement, and marriage survival, and to decrease incidences of
risk factors. Its signiﬁcance as an indicator may be due to its implications of
commitment to beliefs, perseverance, endurance, and positive view of future. In
other words, students with strong faith may be more inclined to persist with their

educational attainment, as a result of their commitment to academic pursuit,

163

personal qualities of perseverance and endurance, and positive view of the end
goal.

While it was not surprising that faith was found signiﬁcantly related to
academic achievement, what was surprising was the lack of signiﬁcance
regarding the inﬂuence of the other variables on academic achievement,
especially in light of the signiﬁcant covariance between faith and the other
factors. Three possible reasons for lack of signiﬁcance include 1) low criterion
reliability of scales, which would indicate that scales did not fully measure what
they purported to measure. 2) No correlation was made between the evidence of
assets and incidences of risk behavior involvement, whereas higher numbers of
reported assets were equated with lower reports of risk behaviors, and increased
incidences of academic success (Benson, 1990, 1997; Leffert et al., 1998). It
would follow that high incidence of risk factors would decrease incidences of
academic achievement. As the identiﬁed assets of this study were not compared
against respective risk factors, incidences of academic achievement cannot be
measured. 3) Structural equation modeling may not have provided the best
statistical measurement of the relationships between assets and academic
achievement, as path analysis predict causal relationships between independent
and dependent variables, and the dependent variable might have been
correlated to the independent variables but not a direct result of their inﬂuence.
Rather, other statistical measures, such as correlations or regressions, might

have provided statistically signiﬁcant results regarding the strength of

164

relationships between academic achievement and the assets of kinship bonds,
role adaptability, academic orientation, or work ethic.

Hypothesis 4: African American college students with strong faith, kinship
bonds, role adaptability, academic orientation, and work ethic are more
likely to reconstruct communities of support, thus increasing incidences of
academic success.

The ﬁrst indirect path hypothesized that students having strong faith,
kinship bonds, role adaptability, academic orientation, and work ethic would be
more likely to reconstruct a community of support to increase incidences of
academic achievement. A reconstructed community of support was the name
given to newly developed support systems intended to counteract the culturally
congruent proximal support systems lost when Black student left home to reside
at and attend a predominantly White university (Dombusch, 2000). In this model,
this newly developed support system consisted of school and community
personnel whom students frequently consulted regarding their concerns.

Only faith and work ethic were found to have signiﬁcant inﬂuence on the
reconstructed community of support. Faith was found signiﬁcant as faith-based
leaders were considered part of the measurement of students’ community of
support. Along with religious beliefs and activities, faith-based leaders were also
an important component in the measurement of religious involvement as an
asset. Work ethic was signiﬁcantly related to a reconstructed community of

support based on students’ campus work and its relation to interaction with peers

165

and faculty. Both peers and faculty were considered part of the reconstructed
community of support.

The ﬁndings imply that students having strong faith and work ethic are
more likely to reconstruct communities of support. However, this reconstructed
school-based support system was not shown to signiﬁcantly inﬂuence academic
achievement. This lack of signiﬁcance could be based on how students deﬁne
their community of support, versus the measure used. Black students deﬁned
their community of support as consisting primarily of peers, whereas the
reconstructed community of support consisted of school based personnel. As
Black students were least likely to consult the latter group, no signiﬁcant relation
was found between support received from formal school personnel and academic
achievement.

Hypothesis 5: The assets of role adaptability, academic orientation, and
work ethic inﬂuence the academic relatedness of student employment and
the number of hours worked, thus inﬂuencing academic achievement for
African American college students.

The second indirect path hypothesized that role adaptability, academic
orientation, and work ethic would inﬂuence the relatedness of student
employment to the major ﬁeld of study and the number of hours worked. These
measures of quality and quantity of work would in turn inﬂuence academic
achievement.

Only one hypothesized relationship was found signiﬁcant. Role

adaptability was found to have an inverse relationship to the number of hours

166

students worked. This could be interpreted to indicate that Black students work
fewer hours as they become adjusted to and identiﬁed with their roles as college
students. As adapted students, they are expected to have an increased sense of
self-worth and esteem.

The path analysis run on the model also indicated a second signiﬁcant
causal relationship between the two intervening variables related to student
employment. Student employment related to major was found to positively
inﬂuence the number of hours students work. Therefore, students worked more
hours if their job was related to their ﬁeld of study. As noted in the work of Astin
(1999) and Brawer (1996), increased hours of student employment decreased
academic achievement, except when employment was related to students’ ﬁeld
of study. Therefore, decreased hours worked as inﬂuenced by role adaptability
and increased hours worked as inﬂuenced by employment related to major
should have positively inﬂuenced academic achievement. Lack of signiﬁcant
ﬁndings could indicate that hours worked is not predictive of academic
achievement.

Hypothesis 6: A strong work ethic encourages the number of hours
students work and negatively affects academic achievement for African
American college students.

To eliminate the possible effects of covarying factors, the third indirect
path hypothesized that examining a strong work ethic alone would increase the
number of hours students worked, thereby decreasing incidences of academic

achievement. As ﬁndings in this study showed that students did not receive

167

ﬁnancial support from their parents, it was believed that they would have a
stronger inclination to work to support their education goals. Therefore an
increased work ethic would lead students to work more hours, thus decreasing
academic achievement (Astin ,1999; Brawer, 1996). Unfortunately, both the
relationships between work ethic and hours worked and hours worked and
academic achievement were found to be nonsigniﬁcant. Lack of signiﬁcant
ﬁndings again question whether hours worked was an accurate predictor of
academic achievement.
Limitations

There were a number of limitations that were believed to inﬂuence the
results of this study including the validity and reliability of the initial measure and
developed model, the length of the MSUSAS, and the limits of the data and
sample size.
Limits of the MSUSAS

The MSUSAS was a pilot survey designed to measure the assets of
college students. At the time of this study, concepts measured by the MSUSAS
had yet to be validated. Therefore data for this study was drawn from responses
to the survey prior to psychometrics being completed. While ﬁndings from this
study may assist with improving the MSUSAS, the lack of measure validity and
reliability undermines the strength of the results. As a result, signiﬁcant alphas
could be attributed to an increased number of items entered into the equation
rather than consistency within subject responses; and nonsigniﬁcant alphas

could be attributed to greater variability among subjects or high random error.

168

Based on student feedback in the pilot study and written comments
included on the completed surveys the MSUSAS was too long and required too
much time to complete. There were 28 demographic items and 248 survey
questions. Students reported taking an average of 40 minutes to complete this
survey. Students providing feedback speculated that the length of the survey
would discourage many students from completing it. To counteract the length
and time required for completion cash incentives were offered at subsequent
distributions of the survey.

Other limitations with the survey involve the types of questions included or
excluded. Despite the number of questions included, there were none that
addressed where students might go to access “ethnic community’. Students may
have reconstructed informal communities of support among ethnic community
members who were not related to the school environment or not included on the
survey. Future studies might include items that speciﬁcally examine ethnic
community. Also, there was a lack of questions related to assessing cultural
embeddedness or stage of cultural identity. As a result, the effect of cultural
identity on developmental issues could not be measured. By including all Black
students based on the ‘one drop rule’ there was no control for multiracial
inﬂuences. Future studies might either control for ethnicity and/or measure
cultural identity and cultural embeddedness. In addition, few questions
addressed precollege attributes, therefore it was impossible to truly gauge
students’ prior entrenchment in ethnically congruent families or communities, or

to measure the strength of their relationships with their parents. This was

169

important, as in the case of the latter concern strained relationships with parents
prior to attending school may have affected the type of support received from
parents and the frequency of communication with parents, as ties may have been
diffuse. Notwithstanding these limitations, the demographics section provides
ample potential for future exploration of identifying the student’s permanent home
environment and reasons for attending MSU. Inferences might be made from
these ﬁndings about the strength of students relationship with parents.

Limits of the sample size

Despite the African American student response rate of 12.5%, which over-
represented the number of Blacks in the student body (8.2%), the resulting N of
173 was Shown to have low power to generalize ﬁndings to the population.
Signiﬁcant reliability would require either an increased number of student
responses or increased degrees of freedom.

Also, the range of students based on academic standing provided for a
variance in development and school related experiences. For instance, as
freshmen were still fairly new to campus they may have had few opportunities to
interact with MSU personnel and East Lansing community members or to access
various school-based resources. Therefore, their responses were more prone to
indicate less frequent contact. On the other hand, upperclaSsmen were more
likely to live off-campus and to work. They may have skewed responses showing
lack of participation in on-campus related activities, but more interaction with

MSU personnel and East Lansing community members.

170

Limits of the developed model

There were also limitations regarding the development and use of the ﬁve
strengths as a model for assets assessment. Assets used to deﬁne the ﬁve
strengths may not have fully measured the aspects of faith, kinship bonds, role
adaptability, academic orientation, and work ethic. In the same vein, items used
to measure student employment related to major and academic achievement
may not have been valid. As the ﬁve factors were based on research speciﬁc to
family systems they may not have been truly applicable to individuals. Also
based on Billingsley’s (1992) and Hill’s (1999) theories, examination of individual
strengths using the family strengths model may have been more appropriate for
younger students and individuals who reside in the home where family is
proximal.

In addition, the measurements of student employment related to major
and academic achievement may not have been adequate. The two items used
to measure students’ employment related to major asked if employment during
school year or employment during summer was related to major. No
consideration was given for students who had yet to commit to a major or did not
work at all. Also no consideration was given to student’s involved in nonpaid
“work “ positions, such as major related internships or volunteer commitments.
Therefore all ‘no’ responses appeared to indicate students’ employment was not
related to major.

Grade point average was the only measure of academic achievement

used to assess educational success. Not accounted for was steady progress

171

made towards completing degree requirements, grade point average in major
ﬁeld of study versus college required courses and electives, or students’ actual
level of ability. Cokley (2000) notes that grade point average is used to indicate
academic achievement of Black students attending predominantly White
universities, whereas student’s interactions with faculty is a better indicator for
Black students attending historically Black colleges and universities. Maton and
Hrabowski (1995) note that academic achievement should be a balanced
assessment of grade point average, social involvement, interactions with the
school, and support received from the school.

Lastly, the path analysis calculations resulted in low degrees of freedom,
which when paired with the sample size of_173 produced low power estimates.
Power estimates the reliability of the results being obtained with a different
sample group or being generalized to the population. In essence low power
means low reliability.

Implications
Research

Current data. Once the psychometrics are completed on the MSUSAS,
and the survey validated, the data should be revisited. New exploratory factor
analyses should be run on the responses of Black and White students and
compared to assess cultural inﬂuences on assets. If the survey is not shortened,
an ethnically speciﬁc abbreviated version could be developed for use with Black
students. This culturally appropriate abbreviated survey could then be compared

to the other models designed to evaluate cultural assets (Lucero, 2000).

172

Efforts should be made to recruit more Black students, especially males,
to complete the validated MSUSAS or culturally abbreviated survey. An
increased ratio of male respondents approaching a more representative sample
of the student body would provide for increased generalizability of ﬁndings and
examination of gender differences in assets. Also controlling responses for class
standing would provide examination of developmental issues and experiences
affecting assets. The latter could be expanded to longitudinal research by
retesting freshmen students in subsequent years.

Various studies could be conducted which control for high grade point
averages, declaration of major, or minimum completion of credits. Responses
focused on students with grade point averages of 3.0 or better might be a better
indicator of relationships between grade point average and assets. Students
who have declared their major of study would be assumed to be more committed
to academic achievement. Students completing a minimum number of credits
have made progress towards achieving their degree.

Other studies could also control for residence. MSU and other large
predominantly White institutions, have a number of experimental residential
programs focused on academic majors, technology, multiracial inclusion, and
others. Residence halls also have Black Caucuses, student organizations
intended to support and provide unity to Black students residing in the dorms.
Examining the community assets provided by these caucuses or residential
programs would shed light on their impact on positive experience and

Characteristics associated with assets.

173

Once responses are reexamined, necessary changes must also be made
to the scales of the ethnically appropriate model. Items deleted from or added to
the survey might also be deleted from or added to the model. Alpha scores
should be recalculated with efforts made to improve statistical signiﬁcance to .70
or greater. Increasing the reliability of the model and the sample size will also
improve the power estimate of the model. Also, more appropriate measures of
reconstructed community of support, student employment related to major and
academic achievement might be devised. The reconstructed communities of
support measure would incorporate questions speciﬁc to people and places
students’ perceive as providing ethnic community. This might include
membership in ethnic based student groups (eg. Black Student Association,
Minority Aides, or Black Caucus). Findings would prove instrumental to policies
and support of programs developed to provide supportive services and
environments. Changes made to the student employment related to major
measure would tease out students who do not work and would include items
accounting for student involvement in non-paid internships or volunteer work
related to major. The purpose of this measure would be to assess students’ level
of commitment to and engagement with their ﬁeld of study. Academic
achievement would add to grade point average measures indicative of retention
(i.e. engagement with faculty, prosocial school climate), progress made, and
commitment to completion of degree requirements.

In addition, responses related to assets might be examined alongside the

responses regarding risk involvement. This could be done to determine if

174

increased assets correlate to decreased risk behaviors and increased academic
achievement.

Follow-up studies. Follow-up research would include longitudinal, gender
based, and cultural identity based studies, and examination of troubling or
curious ﬁndings. Longitudinal studies based on Class standing could provide
examination of precollege assets as well as the inﬂuences of the college setting
on assets. Gender based studies could examine the assets most speciﬁc to
males and females. Studies, which combine cultural identity measures, could
further explore the inﬂuence of ethnicity on assets. Findings, such as those
indicating the frequency of contact between Black students and police might be
explored to understand the reasons for this phenomenon.

Also, comparative studies might be conducted to further explore
developmental and ecological issues. Studies of students attending historically
Black colleges and universities might be examined against Black students
attending a predominantly White institution, for the purpose of examining the role
of the racial setting as an inﬂuence of assets provided to Black college students.
Also students attending small private colleges, or community colleges could be
compared against those attending a large public research-based university. This
study would provide for examination of the school’s size and educational focus
and setting as characteristics of the proximal systems inﬂuencing assets
provided to Black students.

In addition, focus could be placed on student’s residence and involvement

in resident-based programs to examine the inﬂuence of assets provided by the

175

external factors related to type of habitation. An example would be to compare
the external providers of assets, as well as the assets provided to college
students commuting from family home to school versus those residing on
campus. Another example would be to focus on the community provided by
school-designed residential programs. MSU has a number of such programs,
some of which place same major students (e.g. residential programs for
engineering students) in a single housing structure for the purpose of facilitating
shared resources and social networks based on the attainment of common goals.
Others focus on social issues, such as one residential program that places
multiracial students together (MRULE - Multi Racial Unity Living Experience) for
the purpose of facilitating racial diversity and promoting cross-cultural
understanding. Both types of programs could be examined regarded their
inﬂuence on the assets provided to the student residents.

Developmentally, the cultural model could be adapted for use with Black
youth ages 12 to 17 years to examine the assets provided primarily by family,
school, and community. This latter model would provide culturally inﬂuenced data
for comparison with the youth assets ﬁndings discussed by Leffert et al (1998)
and Lucero (2000).

Practice

What could MSU faculty, staff, and support services do with these ﬁndings
to enhance what they do? As part of student’s school based microsystem,
faculty, staff, and support services are expected to provide external assets to

college students. Only one asset category was found signiﬁcantly predictive of

176

academic achievement, and it comprised only one external asset - religious
importance. Few academically based support services are expected to address
religious concepts. However, some institutions of higher education recognize the
importance of religion for students and faculty and thus provide shared spaces
for use by community religious organizations. These strategic partnerships,
which provide students with access to external networks, might be explored for
their inﬂuence on academic achievement. In addition, other aspects of faith,
which might be supported by school personnel, could be further examined for
their inﬂuence on the development of internal characteristics shown to inﬂuence
the retention and achievement of Black students (Taylor & Olswang, 1997).
These characteristics include the asset categories of social competence, positive
values, and positive identity. Taylor and Olswang (1997) note that social
relations between school personnel and peers undergird these interpersonal
characteristics or lntemal assets, and therefore efforts should be made to
encourage and support social interactions between students and faculty.

Overall, the assets of Black students were found to emphasize personal
characteristics, relationships with peers, social interactions with peers and
faculty, and the psychosocial aspects of the Ieaming climate. Efforts to either
continue or adapt strategies to support these assets might be adopted. Students
could be encouraged to visit with faculty to discuss progress. This also provides
faculty the opportunity to exhibit concern and acceptance. In addition, teaching
strategies could include group discussions and projects, which emphasize the

asset of group orientation.

177

Policy

What do the ﬁndings mean for predominantly White institutions?
Speciﬁcally, only the asset category of faith was found signiﬁcantly related to
academic achievement. Varying areas of policies can be encouraged to support
these ﬁndings for the purpose of inﬂuencing students’ academic achievement.
For one, strategic partnerships with faith-based community organizations might
be encouraged to provide external networks for students. For another, policies
can be encouraged to accept students’ beliefs and religious practices. However,
it should be noted that faith is not provided by or necessarily inﬂuenced by the
academic institution.

Overall, the predominantly White institution of the study was found to
provide similar assets to both the Black and White students. However, students’
perceptions of the importance of the individual assets related to their academic
success differed along cultural lines. Black students placed primary emphasis on
interpersonal relationships, the psychosocial Climate, and feeling welcomed and
accepted by the community. Less emphasis was placed on factors directly
related to academics, such as physical educational resources. Patterson-
Stewart, Ritchie, and Sanders (1997) note that these interpersonal -
characteristics of feelings, attitudes, perceptions, and peer group relations factor
signiﬁcantly in the retention and matriculation of Black students. Therefore it is
suggested that policies speciﬁc to Black students focus on becoming cognizant
of Black students’ feelings and perceptions of the school Climate, and then work

towards creating environments that are psychosocially welcoming and supportive

178

of Black students. The academic Ieaming atmosphere, or psychosocial school
climate (Cabrera et al., 1999; Davis, 1998), is based on the attitudes and
behaviors of personnel in regards to Black students and is noted as being key to
their retention and graduation. Policies that support a prosocial climate
encourage the acceptance of students, listening to their concerns, and
addressing their needs. This may result in students feeling empowered, which
may subsequently lead to a decrease in attrition. Once a feeling of security is
established, students can better focus on academic pursuits.

Mutual engagement between, students, faculty, and community is key to
sustaining institutions’ relationships with the community and with students
(Cokley, 2000; Kellogg Commission, 1999). Policies should be developed,
expanded, and implemented that encourage sustained undergraduate academic
and social engagement between faculty and students. For example, Black
students could be invited to assist with and contribute to faculty’s research, to
join major-related professional and school-based organizations, and to attend
conferences with faculty. Mentor programs between staff and students could also
be encouraged. As noted earlier, increased frequency of contact, and
perceptions of being welcomed by community personnel was equated with
students feeling accepted and empowered, thus encouraging academic retention
that may lead to academic attainment.

An additional ﬁnding must also be addressed for its implications for policy.
While the relationship to academic achievement was non-signiﬁcant, ﬁndings

from this study showed employment related to student’s major increased the

179

number of hours students worked. Bracey (1998) and Pascarella et al (1998)
note that student employment may have a positive inﬂuence on students’
academic Ieaming if related to school and not more than 20 hours per week.
Academic progress was found negatively inﬂuenced when either part-time
employment on-campus exceeded 15 hours per week or off-campus employment
exceeded 20 hours per week. This inverse relationship was also found to
correlate with students’ advanced status. In other words, the more hours upper
Classmen worked, the poorer their grades and less likely their matriculation in
four years. Internships, major-related work opportunities, were found to have
more positive effects on improving college performance and increasing post-
college job opportunities (Knouse, Tanner, & Harris, 1999). Therefore, policies
could be expanded or developed which address the number of hours students
are eligible to be emplOyed and maintain full-time student status. In addition,
efforts should be made to increase internship opportunities. The number of
hours students are eligible to be employed should be designed to decrease with
students’ advancing status, and correspondingly internship expectations and
opportunities should increase. In addition, ﬁnancial packages, which emphasize
academic progress rather than work-study commitments, might be made more
readily available to upperclassmen. As a result, Black students are encouraged
to prioritize and complete their academic pursuits; are provided opportunities to
gain apprentice experience in their ﬁeld of study; and are granted more time to
engage and network with social entities found to positively inﬂuence academic

achievement.

180

REFERENCES

Arbuckle, J. L. (1997) Amos 4.0 softwg. Chicago, IL: SmallWaters
Corporation.

Allen, W. R. (1985). Black student, White campus: Structural,
interpersonal, and psychological correlates of success. Journal of Negro
Education 54(2), 134-147.

 

Allen, W. R. (1992). The color of success: African-American college
student outcomes at predominantly White and historically Black public colleges
and universities. Harvard Educationgl Review, 62(1), 26-44.

Allen, W. R., Epps, E. G., & Haniff, N. Z. (1991). College in ﬁck and
White: African American students in predomingmtlv White and in historically Black
who universities. Albany, NY: State University of New York.

 

Alston, R. J., & Turner, W. L. (1994). A family strengths model of
adjustment to disability for African American clients. Journal of Counseling and
Development, 3(4), 378.

Astin, A. W. (1999). Student involvement: a developmental theory for
higher education. Journal of Collgge Stgdent Development, 40(5), 518-529.

Baldwin, J. A., & Hopkins, R. (1990). African-American and European-
American cultural differences as assessed by the worldviews paradigm: An
empirical analysis. Western Journal of Black Studies 14(1), 38-52.

 

Barker, N. C., & Hill, J. (1996). Restructuring African American families in
the 1990‘s. Journal of Black Studies 27(1), 77-93.

 

Barras, J. R.(2000). Whatever happened to daddv's little girl? The impact
(ﬁatherlﬁness on Black women. New York: The Ballantine Publishing Group.

Benson, P. L. (1990). The troubled journey: A portrgit of 6th-12th grade
youth. Minneapolis, MN: Search Institute.

Benson, P. L. (1997). All kids are our kids: Whgt commdnities must do to

raise caring and responsible children and adolescents (1997 ed.). San Francisco,
CA: Jossey-Bass lnc., Publishers.

Benson, P. L., & Donahue, M. J. (1989). Ten-year trends in at-risk

behavior: A national study of Black adolescents. Journal of Adgloescent
Research, 4(2), 125-139.

181

Benson, P. L., Galbraith, J., & Espeland, P. (1998). What kids need to
succeed. Minneapolis, MN: Free Spirit Publishing.

Berkow, D. N., Richmond, 8., 8. Page, R. C. (1994). A cross-cultural
comparison of worldviews: American and Fijian counseling students. Counseling
gm Values, 38(2), 121-135.

Billingsley, A. (1992). Climbing Jacob’s ladder: The enduring legacy of
African-American families. New York: Touchstone.

Blyth, D. A. (1993). Healthy communities; Hgathhv vodth: How
communities contribute to positive youth development. Minneapolis, MN: Search
Institute.

Bocknek, G. (1980). The young adult: Development after a_dolescence.
Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co.

Bollen, K. A. (1989). Structural eguations with Igtent variables. New York,
NY: John Wiley and Sons.

Boykin, A. W. (1991). Black psychology and experimental psychology: A
functional conﬂuence. In R. L. Jones (Ed.) Black Psycholpgy (third ed.) (pp. 481-
507). Berkeley, CA: Cobb and Henry Publishers.

Bracey, G. W. (1998). Working in college: Outcomes similar to high
school. Phi Delta Kappan, 80(2), 170.

Brawer, F. B. (1996). Retention-gttrition in tie nineties (ERIC Digest
ED393510). Los Angeles, CA: ERIC Clearinghouse for Community Colleges.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human development:
eyperiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Bronfenbrenner, U. (1988). Interacting systems in human development.
Research paradigms: Present and future. In N. Bolder, A. Caspi, G. Downey, &
M. Moorehouse (Eds.), Persons in context: Developmenta_lprocesses (pp. 25-
49). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Brook, J. S., Balka, E. 8., Brock, D. W., Win, P. T., & Gursen, M. D.
(1998). Drug use among African Americans: ethnic identity as a protective factor.

Psychological Reports, (83), 1427-1146.

Bubolz, M. M., & Sontag, M. S. (1993). Human ecology theory. In P. G.
Boss & W. J. Doherty & R. LaRosa & W. R. Schumm & S. K. Steinmetz (Eds),
ﬂgrcebook of Fgmilv Theories and Methods (pp. 419-447). New York: Plenum
Press.

182

Cabrera, A. F., Nora, A., Terenzini, P. T., Pascarella, E., & Hagedorn, L.
S. (1999). Campus racial climate and the adjustment of students to college: a
comparison between White students and African American students. The Journal
of quher Education 70(2), 134-160.

 

 

Chavous, T. M. (2000). The relationships among racial identity, perceived
ethnic ﬁt, and organizational invovlement for African American students at a
predominantly white university. Journal of Black Psychology, 26(1), 79-100.

Cokley, K. (2000). An investigation of academic self-concept and its
relationship to academic achievement in African American college students.
Journal of Black Psvcholgy, 26(2), 148-164.

Coleman, JS (1994) Social capital, human capital, and investment in
youth. In A. C. Peterson & J. T. Mortimer (Eds.) Youth unemployment a_nd
socieg. (pp. 34—50). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Cooke, P. A., Klopf, D. W., & Ishii, S. (1991). Perceptions of world view
among Japanese and American university students: A cross-cultural comparison.
Communication Research Reports, 8(1-2), 81-88.

Cose, E. (1998). Living with the tests: Why do certain black students
succeed? Newsweek, September 14, 65.

Crano, W. D.& Mendoza, J. L. (1987) Maternal factors that inﬂuence
children’s positive behavior: Demonstration of a structural equation analysis of
selected data from the Berkeley Growth Study. Child Development, 58, 38-48.

Davis, J. E. (1998). Campus climate, gender, and achievement of African
American college students. African American Research Perspectives, 4(1). 40-
46.

Deater-Deckard, K., Dodge, K. A., Bates, J. E., & Pettit, G. S. (1998).
Multiple risk factors in the development of externalizing behavior problems:
Group and individual differences. Development and Psychopathology. 10(3).
469-493.

Delicio, G. (1993). Dimensions of success as identiﬁed_bv high-achieving,
Blackppre-collag students. Paper presented at the 18th National Conference
on Blacks in Higher Education, Washington, DC, April 3.

 

Dombusch, S. M. (2000). Transitions from adolescence: A discussion of

seven articles. Journal of Adolescent Research, 15(1), 173-177.

183

English, M. A. (1992). Retention of minority (Black) students on
predominantly White college and university campuses. Dissertation Abstracts
lntemational 52, 2713-2714.

 

Erikson, E. H. (1993) Childhood and socieg. New York: W. W. Norton and
Company, Inc.

Fassinger, R. E., & Richie, B. S. (1994). Being the best: Preliminary
results from a national study of the achievement of prominant Black and White
women. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 41(2), 191-204.

Feagin, J. R., Vera, H., & lmani, N. (1996). The agony of education: Black
students at White colleges and universities. New York: Routledge.

Fink, A. (1995). How to report on surveys (vol. 9). Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications.

Fordham, S., & Ogbu, J. U. (1986). Black students’ school success:
Coping with the "burden of ’acting White'". The Urban Reviaw, 18(3). 176-206.

Gibbs, J. T. (1998). High-risk behaviors in African American youth:
conceptual and methodological issues in research. In V. C. McCloyd & L.
Steinberg (Eds.), Studying minoriy adolescents: conceptual, methodological, and
theoreticiissu_es(pp.55-86). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates,
Publishers.

Gilchrest, G. G. (1994) Racial identity and cultural worldviews among
ethnically diverse White college students: a quantitative and qualitative analysis.
Dissertation Abstracts lntemational Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences
g, 2894.

 

Guerra, N. G., & Jagers, R. (1998). The importance of culture in the
assessment of children and youth. In V. C. McLoyd & L. Steinberg (Eds.),
Studying minority a_dolesce_n;s: conceﬂdal, methodological, and theoretical
issues (pp. 167-181). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Hardy, K., & Treadwell, M. (1999). Minority populations growing at steady
rate. Michigan State University, State News, September 16, pp. A1, A2.

Harrison, A. O., Wilson, M. N., Pine, C. J., Chan, S. Q., & Buriel, R.
(1990). Family Ecologies of Ethnic Minority Children. Child Development. 61,
347-362.

 

Harrison, S. (2000). Study says campus diversity to bloom. Michigan State
Uiiversiw. State News, pp. A1, A2.

184

Hatter, D. Y. & Ottens, A. J. (1998). Afrocentric world view and Black
students' adjustment to a predominantly White university: Does worldview

matter? Collage Student Journal, 32(3), 472-480.

Hayles Jr., V. R. (1991) African American strengths: A survey of empirical
ﬁndings. In R. L. Jones (Ed.) _Black psychology (3rd ed.), pp. 379-400. Berkeley,
CA: Cobb and Henry Publishers.

Heath, T. (1992). Predicting the educational aspirations and graduate
plans of Black and White college and university students: When do dreams

become realiy. Minneapolis, MN: Association for the Study of Higher Education.

Heisler, B. (2001). The ’one drop' rule. The Washington Post. April 30,
A16.

Higgins, R. D. (1994). The Black sttulent's guide to college success.
Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Hill, R. B. (1999). The strengths of African American families: Twenty-ﬁve
years later. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, Inc.

Hines, P. M., 8. Boyd-Franklin, N. (1982). Black families. In M. McGoldrick
& J. K. Pearce & J. Giordano (Eds), Ethnic'mg and family therapy (pp. 84-107).
New York: The Guilford Press.

Hudgins, J. L. (1992). The strengths of Black families revisited. Urban
League Review, 15(2), 9-20.

Jackson, M. A., & Malott, R. W. (1994). Helping high-risk black college
students. In R. Gardner Ill, D. M. Sainato, J. 0. Cooper, T. E. Heron, W. L.
Heward, J. W. Eshleman, and T. A. Grossi, (Eds.) Behavior analysis in
education: Focus on measurably superior instruction (pp.349-363). Paciﬁc Grove,
CA: Brooks/Cole Publishing Co.

Jackson, M, Johnson, S. 8. Bell, M. (1996). incessful Community
College Recru_it_ment & Reﬁntioi Case Studies. Paper presented at the Annual
Meeting of Association of Teacher Educators, St. Louis, MO, February 26.

Jessor, R. (1993). Successful adolescent development among youth in
high-risk settings. American Psycholpgist, 48(2), 117-126.

Jessor, R., Donovan,J.E., & Costa, F. M. (1994). Beyond adolescence:

Problem behavior and oun adult develtmment. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

185

Keith, J., Villarruel, F., Gardner, P., Lumpkin, C., & Daenzer, D. (1999).
Michigan State Univers'dy Student Assets Survey. East Lansing, MI: Michigan
State University.

Keith, J. G., & Perkins, D. F. (1995). 13 000 Adolescents Speak: A Prpﬁ
of Michigan Yoih (Project Report). East Lansing, MI: Institute for Children,
Youth and Families, Michigan State University.

 

Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land-Grant Universities.
(1999) Returning to our roots: The engaged institution (3rd report). Washington,
DC: National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges.

Knight, G. P., & Hill, N. E. (1998). Measurement equivalence in research
involving minority adolescents. In V. C. McLoyd & L. Steinberg (Eds), Studying
minorinLa_dolescents: conceptual, methodolpgical, and theoretical issu_es (pp.
183-210). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Knouse, S. B., Tanner, J. R., & Harris, E. W. (1999). The relation of
college internships, college performance, and subsequent job opportunity.
Journal of Employment Counseling, 36(1), 35-43.

Kobrak, P. (1992). Black student retention in predominantly White regional
universities: The politics of faculty involvement. Journal of Negro Education.
61 (4), 509-530.

 

Kunjufu, J. (1986). Motivating and preparing Black youth for success.
Chicago, IL: African American Images.

 

Lang, M. & Ford, C. A. (1988). Black Student Retention in Higher
Education. Springﬁeld, IL: Charles C. Thomas, Publisher.

Leffert, N., Benson, P. L., & Roehlkepartain, J. L. (1997). Starting out right:
Develomental assets for children. Minneapolis, MN: Search Institute.

Leffert, N., Benson, P. L., Scales, P. C., Sharma, A. R., Drake, D. R., &
Blyth, D. A. (1998). Developmental assets: Measurement and prediction of risk
behaviors among adolescents. Applied Develdpmental Science. 2(4), 209-230.

Lerner, R. M. & Tubman, J. G. (1991) Developmental contextualism and
the study of early adolescent development. In R. Cohen and A. W. Siegel (Eds.)
Context and development (pp. 183-210). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associates, Inc.

Lucero, M. G. (2000). The spirit of culture: applying cultural competencv to
strength based youth devcﬂppment. Denver, CO: Assets for Colorado Youth.

186

MacCullum, R. C., Browne, M. W., 8. Sugawara, H. M. (1996) Power
analysis and determination of sample size for covariance structure modeling.
Psychological Methods, 1(2), 130-149.

Maton, K. L. & Hrabowski, F. A. (1995). Enhancing the success of African
American students in the sciences: freshmen year outcomes. In I. Westat (Ed.),
Innovating and Evaluating Science Education: NSF Evaluation Forums 1912-94.
11 pages. A report retrieved August 8, 2000 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.her.nsf.gov/HERIREC/pubslNSF_EF/start.htm.

Mattis, J. S., Taylor, R. J., 8. Chatters, L. M. (2001). Are they truly not
religious? A multi-method analysis of the attitudes of religiously noninvolved
African American women. African American Research Perspectivas. 7(1), 90—
1 03.

McAdams, D. P., Booth, L., & Selvik, R. (1981). Religious identity among
students at a private college: social motives, ego stage, and development.
Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 27(3), 219-239.

McCabe, K. & Banett, D. (2000). First comes work, then comes marriage:
Future orientation among African American young adults. family Relations.
49(1), 63-70.

McCloyd, V. C. (1999). Conceptual and methodological issues in the study
of ethnic minority children and adolescents. In H. E. Fitzerald & B. M. Lester & B.
S. Zuckerman (Eds), Children of color: resaarch. health, and policy issues (pp.
3-24). New York: Garland Publishing, Inc.

McCloyd, V. C., & Steinberg, L. (Eds). (1998). Studying minority
adolescents: conceptual, methodolpgical, and thmrgﬁml ISSlﬁ. Mahwah, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

McCray, W. A. (1992). Black young adults: ng to reagthem, whaLLo'
teach them. Chicago: Black Light Fellowship.

McCubbin, H. l., Thompson, E. A., Thompson, A. l., & Futrell, J. A. (Eds).
(1998). Resiliency in African-Amﬁerican families. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications.

Moffatt, M. (1991) College life: Undergraduate culture and higher
education. Journal of Higher Education, 62(1), 44-61.

More bad news on Black graduation rates. (1996/97). The Journal of
_B_lacks in Higher Education, 14, 56-57.

187

Michigan State University Women's Resource Center (1999) Annual
descriptive narrative report on afﬁmiative action and diversity for the period
October 1. 1997 to September 30, 1998. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State
University.

Murry, V. M., & Brody, G. H. (1999). Self-regulation and self-worth of
Black children reared in economically stressed, rural, single mother-headed
families: The contribution of risk and protective factors. Journal of Family lssugs,
M), 458-484.

Muus, R. E. (1996). Theories of adolescence (6th ed.). New York:
MCGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Nettles, S. M. (1991). Community contributions to school outcomes of
African-American students. Education and Urban Society. 24(1, November), 132-
147.

Nichols, E. (1976) The philosophical aspects of cultural differences. Paper
presented at the Institute of Education, University of lbadan, Nigeria.

Nemeth, C. J., & Kwan, J. L. (1985). Originality of word associations as a
function of majority vs. minority inﬂuence. Social Psychology Quarterly, 48(3),
277-282.

Nsameng, A. B. (1993). The ecology of Child development: research
considerations. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 1(5), 81-89.

 

Ogbu, J. U. (1981). Black Education: A cultural-ecological perspective. In
H. P. McAdoo (Ed), Black Families (1st ed., pp. 169-184). Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications, Inc.

Ogbu, J. U. (1992). Understanding cultural diversity and learning.
Educational ResearcherL2_1(8), 5-14.

Pascarella, E., Edison, M., Nora, A., Hagedorn, L. S., 8 Terenzini, P.
(1996). Additional evidence on the cognitive effects of college racial composition:
A research note. Journal of Collage Student Q_evelopment. 37(5). 494-501.

Pascarella, E. T., Edison, M. |., Nora, A., Hagedorn, L. S., & Terenzini, P.
T. (1998). Does work inhibit cognitive development during college? Educational
Evaluation am Policy Analysis, 20(2), 75-93.

Patterson-Stewart, K. E., Ritchie, M. H., & Sanders, E. T. W. (1997).
Interpersonal dynamics of African American persistence in doctoral programs at
predominantly White universities. Journal of College Student Development.
38(5), 489-498.

 

188

Piotrowski, C., & Perdue, B. (1998). Factors in attrition of Black students
at a predominantly Euro-American university. Psycholpgical Reports. 83(1), 113-
1 14.

Pratt, M. W. (2000). The transition to university: Contexts, connections,
and consequences. Journal of Adolescent Research, 15(1), 5-8.

Pruett, K. D. (2000). memeed: Why fat_her care is essential as mother
care for your child, New York: The Free Press.

Roehlkepartain, J. L. & Leffert, N. (2000). What young people need to
s_ucceed: Working tpgether to build assets from girth to age 11. Minneapolis, MN:
free Spirit Publishing.

Rogers, D. (1972). The psycholpgy of adolescence (2nd ed.). Englewood
Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Rowser, J.F. (1990). A retention model for African American students.
Western Journal of Black Studies 14(3), 166-170.

 

Ryan, R. M., & Lynch, J. H. (1989). Emotional autonomy versus
detachment: Revisiting the vicissitudes of adolescence and young adulthood.

Child Development, 60, 340-356.

Sailes, G. A. (1993). An investigation of Black student attrition at a large,
predominately White, midwestern university. Western Journal of Black Sttulies.
1_Z(4), 179-182.

Scales, P. C., & Leffert, N. (1999). Developmental assets: A synthesis of
the sciantiﬁc resaarch on adolescent development. Minneapolis, MN: Search
Institute.

Schmidt, J. A., & Hunt, P. F. (1994). Relationship between precollege
attributes and subsequent development in college students. Journal of College

Student development, 35, 481-485.

Sedlacek, W.E. (1987). Black students on White campuses: 20 years of
research. Journal of Collage Student PergnneLgdw), 484-495.

Sherman, T. M., Giles, M.-B., & Williams-Green, J. (1994). Assessment
and retention of Black students in higher education. Journal of Negro Education,
@(2), 164-180.

Sodowsky, G. R., Maguire, K., Johnson, P., Ngumba, W., & Kohles, R. I.
(1994). World views of White American, mainland Chinese, Taiwanese, and

189

African students: An investigation into between-group differences. Journal of

Cross Cultural Psycholpgy, 25(3), 309-324.

Sowa, C. J., Thomson, M. M., & Bennett, C. T. (1989). Prediction and
improvement of academic performance for high-risk Black college students.

Journal of Multicultural Counseling and Development, 17(1), 14-22.

 

Stamps, D. B. (1988). Coping ability as a predictor of academic
achievement among selected Black college students: A case study. In M. Lang
and C. A. Ford (Eds) Black student ratention in higher education (pp. 83-92).
Springﬁeld, IL: Charles C. Thomas, Publisher.

Steele, C. M. (1992). Race and the schooling of Black Americans. Atlantic
Monthly, 269(4), 68-78.

Steinberg, L., & Fletcher, A. C. (1998). Data analytic strategies in research
on ethnic minority youth. In V. C. McLoyd & L. Steinberg (Eds), Studying
minority adolescents: conceptual, methodological, and theoretigl issuiﬁ (pp.
279-294). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

Stevenson, H. C. (1998) Raising safe villages: Cultural-ecological factors
that inﬂuence the emotional adjustment of adolescents. Journal of Black

Psycholpgy, 24(1), 44-59.

Steward, R. J., & Jo, H. (1998). Does spirituality inﬂuence academic
achievement and psychological adiustrrgnt of African Americai urban
adolescents? East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University.

Sugland, B. (1993) Social capital and the successful transition to
adulthood among "at risk" young women. Washington, DC: Child Trends, Inc.

Super, C. M., & Harkness, S. (1986). The developmental niche: A
conceptualization at the interface of child and culture. International JOLunal of
Behavioralgevelmment. 9, 545-569.

Sussman, N. M. (2000). The dynamic nature of cultural identity throughout
cultural transitions: Why home is not so sweet. Personality and Social
Psychololdgical Review, 4(4), 355-373.

Swanson, D. P. & Spencer, M. B. (1991) Youth policy, poverty, and
African Americans: Implications for resilience. Education and Urban Society,
24(1), 148-161.

Tatum, B. D. (1997). ’Why are all the Black kids sitting together in the
cafeteria?" And other conversations about race. New York: Basic Books.

190

Taylor, E. D. (2000) Peer support and the academic outcomes of African
American adolescents: a review. African American Research Persmctives, 6(2),
25-34.

Taylor, E. 8. Olswang, S. G. (1997). Crossing the color line: African
Americans and predominantly White universities. College Student Joumal. 31,
1 1-18.

Terenzini, P. T. (1987). A review of selected thepretical models of student
development and collgiate impact. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of
the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Baltimore, MD.

Terenzini, P. T. & Pascarella, E. T. (1994). Living wing with the myths:
Undergraduate education in America. Change, 26(1), 28.

Thomas, R. M. (2000). Comparing thearies of Childtdevelopment. Belmont,
CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Tubbs, C. Y. 8. Boss, P. (2000) An essay for practitioners: Dealing with
ambiguous loss. F_amilv Relations. 49(3). 285-286.

Valenzuela, A. & Dombusch, S. M. (1994). Familism and social capital in
the academic achievement of Mexican origin and Anglo adolescents. Social
Science Quarterly. 75(1), 18-36.

Webley, P., & Lea, S. (1997, February 21). ESY 6003 Advanced statistics
- Multivariate analysis ll: Manifest variables analyses. Topic 3Qath analysis,
[web page]. University of Exeter Department of Psychology. Available:
http:llwww.exeter.ac.ukl~SEGLealmultvar2lpathanal.htrnl [2000, Dec 4].

Wicklin, J. V. (1997, January). Collaborative assessment project:
DevelopmeruaLperspectives for young adults, [web site]. Council for Christian
Colleges and Universities. Available:
http:l/64.224.1 13.246/projectslassessmentlcsdoph.htm [9/26/2000].

Wilds, D. J. (2000). Seventeenth annual status report on minorities in
higher education 1999—2000. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.

Wiley, E., III. (1989). Mentor programs successful in minority retention.
Black issue_s in higher education, 5(22), 8.

Wilson, L. L., & Stith, S. M. (1993). The voices of African-American MFT

students: Suggestions for improving recruitment and retention. Journal of Marital
and Family Therapy. 19(1). 17-30.

191

Wright, L. (1994). “One drop of blood”. The New Yorker, July 24. Available
online: htp:/Iwww.afn.orgl~dks/racelwright.html.

192

APPENDIX A

Michigan State University Student Assets Survey (MSUSAS)

193

MSU Student Assets Survey - January 2000

Personal Demographics: This section collects socio-economic information regarding the
development of different proﬁles of students. All information is aggregated and no individual can
be identiﬁed through the information provided.

Birthdate: month ldaylyear / I Gender: Cl Female [Male
What is your class standing?: El Freshman Cl Sophomore E] Junior El Senior
How many total MSU credits do you have? How many credits are you taking this semester?

What is your Academic Major?

 

What Is your cumulative Grade Point Average?

 

Do you have a Faculty Advlsoﬂ Cl Yes El No

 

Your Ethnicity (please indicate all that apply):

 

 

 

Ci African American or Black CI Middle Eastern American or Arab American

CI Asian-American D Polynesian or Paciﬁc Islander

Ci Caucasian or White D lntemational Student

0 Indian-American (India/Indian subcontinent (Nationality: )
ancestry)

D Latino, Hispanic or Chicano D Other:

Ci Native American or Alaskan Native

Did you live lnthe reeldencehell lastyearwhlleattendlhg MSU?

D Yes D No
Residence hall -Name

 

 

WhatcltydoyoureeidelnwhileettendlngﬂSU?

CI East Lansing III Holt
E] Lansing D Okemos
D Haslett D Other

 

 

Where are you living this year while attending MSU?

 

 

Ci Residence hall- Name Cl House alone or with group of students
Ci Off-campus apartment
E] University housing - apartments CI At parent's/legal guardian’s home
El F ratemity/Sorority house
Who do you live with this yearwhlle attending MSU?
D I live alone El Cohabit with partner 0 Child or children (no spouse)
0 1-3 roommates 0 Legal spouse (no Cl Parents or legal guardians
D 4 or more roommates children) Cl With relatives other than parents

Cl Spouse and children

 

Are your parentslguardlans: (check one)

D Married and living together 0 Never married and living together 0 One parent is deceased
CI Divorced 0 Never married and not living together El Both parents are deceased
Cl Separated

 

Whodoyou regularlyllvewlthwhenechoolIsnotlnsesslon?Checkallthatapply

 

Cl Birth mother CI Birth father [3 Guardian D Persons not related to me by

El Stepmother Ci Grandparents blood

Cl Adoptive mother CI Stepfather Ci Siblings D A'°"° _
h Id

Ci Foster mother Ci Adoptive father CI Other relatives 0 Spouse and/orc ' re"

Ci Foster father
Do you have children?
D Yes. How many? [:1 No

194

MSU Student Assets Survey — January 2000

 

BirtitOrdenWhatlsyourblrthordeﬂ Howmanyslbllngsdoyouhave?
D Oldest D Youngest Sisters Brothers
D Middle D Only ' " '—

 

 

How much education has your father completed?
D Less than high school
D High school
D Some college
D Completed a 2 year dagree

Completed a 4 year degree (BA or BS)

Completed some graduate school for Masters or PhD.
Completed a graduate degree (Masters or PhD.)
Specialized degree

DUDE

How much education has your mother completed?

D Less than high school D Completed a 4 year degree (BA or 88)

D High school D Completed some graduate school for Masters or PhD.
D Some college D Completed a graduate degree (Masters or PhD.)

D Completed a 2 year degree D Specialized degree

 

Where is your permanent home? (City, State or Province. Country)

 

 

In which environment did you primarily spend your childhood?

 

 

D Urban - large city D Suburban or city of D Small town D Rural or town of < 2500
population > 100,000 25,000 to 100,000 of 2500 to 25,000
Do you consider your family to be?
D Very Poor D Poor D Middle class D Upper middle class D Wealthy
How many students attended your high school?
D Home schooled D Less than 100 D 101- 250 D 251-500
D 501-750 D 751-1000 D 1001 - 1500 D 15010r more

 

How culturally diverse was your high school?

D Not diverse at all D Somewhat D Moderately D Considerably Diverse D Extremely diverse
diverse diverse

Do you have any of the following currently attending MSU? Check all that apply:
D Brother D Mother D Spouse D Other relative
D Sister D Father D Cousin D No relatives currently attend

Whattypes offlnanclal assistance have you received toenable you to attend MSU? Check all that apply

 

D Academic Scholarship(s) D Work Study
D Athletic Scholarship(s) D Federally Subsidized/Unsubsidized Loan(s)
D Pell Grant D Other Scholarships, Grants or Awards
D State loans/scholarships D None
Why did you choose to attend MSU? Check all that apply.

D Academic scholarship or grant D Availability of desired academic major

D Athletic scholarship or grant D Number of majors offered

D Campus is close to home D Successful graduate school placement of MSU grads
D Campus is far from home D Successful employment placement of MSU grads

D Cost of tuition D Referred by counselor or teacher

D Parents attended D MSU ﬁrst choice among colleges applied to

D Relatives attended or currently attend D MSU only college applied to

D Scholarly reputation D MSU best choice among colleges which accepted me
D Reputation of athletic teams D MSU‘s party/social life reputation

D Big Ten School D Student population size

D State school — public university D Student diversity

D Study abroad programs D Other

 

195

MSU Student Assets Survey - January 2000

Directions: Please put an "X " in the circle of the most appropriate answer

EXTERNAL ASSETS: This section deals with the external factors that inﬂuence an individual's
choices and behaviors.

 

Health
1. Which type(s) of support do you receive from your parents? “mm, :35: “mo": 2,7,: :3:
Please mark all that a I .
pp y o o o o o
Severd
limes
per
2. How frequently do you communicate via phone, mail and/or 3,13,: 0mm 3;"; 3““;
in person with your parents while at school? 0st not we "WI less
0 0 0 0 0
Please indicate the actual number for the following questions. Zen 1-2 34 5-6 7 0'
more
3. Other than your parents, how many adults do you access for 0 0 0 0
advice and support?
4. How many close friends do you have? 0 O 0 0 0
5. How many of your close friends attend MSU with you? 0 0 0 0 0
6. How many of your friends have been in trouble with the 0 0 0 0 0

law?

 

Using the scale of 1 = Never, 2= Seldom, 3 = Some of the time, 4 = Frequently, and 5 = Always,

please answer the following question for each person listed:

7. How often do you speak with the following people about
important issues, concerns or your future?

Academic Advisor
Resident Advisor
Community Member
Adult neighbors
Faith based leaders
Department faculty
Graduate assistant
MSU support staff
Learning Resource Center
Landlord
Boss/Supervisor
MSU Police

MSU Alumni

Peers

196

d

00000000000000

N

00000000000000

00

00000000000000

.5

00000000000000

0!

00000000000000

MSU Student Assets Survey — January 2000

Using the scale of SD = Strongly dissatisﬁed, 0 = Dissatisﬁed, S = Satisﬁed, VS = Very satisﬁed.

and NA = Not applicable, please indicate your opinion regarding the following statement:

8. How satisﬁed have you been with the following MSU resources?

Academic Advisement
Cafeteria

Computer Labs
Counseling Center
Human Resource Center
IMs - Intramural Sports and Recreative Services
Learning Resource Center
Libraries

Olin Health Center
Transportation

Writing Center

University Housing

Classrooms

8

0000000000000

0

0000000000000

(I)

0000000000000

5:

0000000000000

0000000000000§

 

Using the scale of SD = Strongly disagree, D = Disagree, A = Agree, SA = Strongly Agree, and
NA = Not applicable, please indicate your opinion regarding the following statements:

9. Overall, MSU provides a caring and encouraging environment.

10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.

l have felt put down or been embarrassed by my professors at MSU.
I can go to adult family members for help and support when I need it
My family doesn't care if I smoke.

My family doesn't care ifl drink.

I relate well to my peers.

I can go to my friends for advice.

My friends don‘t care if I drink alcohol.

My friends don‘t care if I smoke cigarettes.

My friends are a very important part of my life

I feel my friends listen to me

My friends and l are supportive of each other during difficult times.
My friends encourage me to do and be my best in everything I do.
My friends care about me.

In my family there are clear rules about what I can and cannot do.
My parents made clear what is expected of me while in college.

My parents trust me to follow their values even while I am away at college.

197

00000000000000000‘6’

D

00000000000000000

A

0000000000000000

000000000000000009

Z
>

00000000000000000

MSU Student Assets Survey - January 2000

26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.

35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.

41.
42.

43.

45.
46.

47.
48.
49.

I understand what is expected of me, as a student, by MSU.

MSU sets clear rules about what I can and cannot do.

MSU rarely enforces its rules for student behavior

It’s okay to break MSU's rules.

I worry that I will get into trouble due to my behavior here on campus.

I adhere to the rules set by my residence hall or other place of residence
I stay away from trouble because I don’t want to get arrested.

If another student saw me do something wrong, he or she should report me to
the authorities

While underage, my friends and I do not or did not drink alcohol.
I usually just go along with what my friends tell me to do.
Helping other people is important to my friends.

Helping other people is important to me

Being spiritual or religious is important to me

I regularly attend religious activities

I have sometimes felt pressured to attend religious services different from my
own faith since enrolling at MSU.

East Lansing residents make me feel a welcome part of the community

East Lansing landlords, leasing companies or apartment managers make me
feel a welcome part of the community

I feel my needs are met by the social systems in my community of residence
as a student.

. MSU students have clear and respected roles as members of the East

Lansing community

I care about the community of East Lansing

I am given lots of opportunities to make the East Lansing community a better
place

I am given lots of opportunities to make the MSU community a better place
As a whole, I feel safe while on campus

I feel safe walking in the East Lansing community after dark

(I)
>

00 000000 0000000000000000
00 000000 000000000000000>
000 000000000000000000000

0
0

Z
>

000 00 0 0 00 0000000 00000000

 

50.

As a student. where would you prefer to live while attending MSU?

198

00000000000 00 0 0 00 0000000 000000008

Residence Halls

University Apartments

Off campus- East Lansing
Lansing

Okemos

Haslett

Lansing Township
Other - Specify

 

MSU Student Assets Survey - January 2000

 

 

YES NO
51. Are you registered to vote? 0
52. Are you registered to vote in East Lansing? 0 0
53. lbl;eel that my concerns and opinions are heard and addressed SD D A SA NA
MSU faculty 0 0 0 0 0
MSU administration 0 0 0 0 0
MSU professional staff (librarians, advisors, secretaries...) o 0 0 0 0
MSU support staff (bus drivers, grounds keepervssfkaefgeflj 0 0 0 0 0
East Lansing community 0 0 0 0 0
My community of permanent residence 0 0 0 0 0
MSU Police 0 0 0 0 0
East Lansing Police and ofﬁcials 0 0 0 0 0
54. How many hours per week do you normally spend om x" “3:. ”5:. big}.
in the library? 0 O O O 0
exercising? 0 0 O 0 0
studying, reviewing class notes or doing course related work? 0 O O O O
retrieving, reading and answering email? 0 0 0 O O
socializing with friends? 0 O O O 0
Alcohol-free partying? 0 0 O O 0
Partying (drinking)? 0 0 O O O
watching TV? 0 O O o O
surﬁng the internet? 0 O O O 0
playing video games? 0 0 O O O
engaged in or watching intramural sports? 0 0 O O 0
engaged in or watching university athletics? 0 0 O O 0
participating in events sponsored by university organizations or clubs? 0 0 0 O O

 

55. How many hours per week do you work?

30 or
more
hours

0 0 0 0 0

0 1-7 8-16 17-29
hours hours hours hours

 

199

MSU Student Assets Survey - January 2000

Please rate the frequency in which you or your friends do the following:

56.
57.
58.

59.
60.
61.

62.
63.
64.

My friends smoke cigarettes.
My friends do/use illicit drugs.

My friends smoke marijuana.

My friends engage in safe sex.
My friends drink alcohol.

I regularly participate in structured extracurricular activities,
eg. music, dance or art

I participate in dorm/residence hall sponsored activities.
I participate in Greek sponsored activities

I effectively balance school, work, family, friends, and fun

ooo oooooo§

Seldom Sometime Frequently

0

00000000

0

00000000

0

00000

000

Always

000000000

 

65.

On Spring Breaks, how often do you do the following:

vacation in the ‘hot spots’ for college students
work

study and do coursework

service to the community

spend time at home with family and friends

00000

00000

00000

00000

INTERNAL ASSETS: These questions examine the lntemal factors that influence your choices and
behaviors.

66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
72.
73.
74.
75.

Please answer Yes or No to the following questions:

My summer employment is related to my declared major

My employment during the school year is related to my declared major

I plan to study abroad for at least one semester

I am involved in university government

I would accept a poor grade before dropping a class

I have received a 1.0 (D) or lower in one or more classes
I have spent one or more semesters on the Dean’s List

I own a computer

I have ready access to a computer with modern

I check my email daily for messages

200

00000

YES NO

0

000000000

0000000000

MSU

76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.

85.
86.
87.
88.
89.

90.
91.
92.
93.
94.
95.

97.

98.

Student Assets Survey — January 2000

Please rate the frequency in which you do the following:
I read the newspaper or other non-class materials during class
I attend all class sessions
I complete all class readings before class sessions
I leave classes early
I arrive late to class
I fall asleep in class
I come to class drunk or high
I Check my papers before submitting
l adequately prepare for exams and presentations
I work well by myself
I work well with others
I complete my assignments on time
I have cheated on exams since coming to MSU

I have plagiarized other works in my term papers since coming to MSU

I speak up/out in class

I lead class discussions

I visit faculty during ofﬁce hours

I send email to faculty

I cram for exams the night before

I tutor other college students

. I regularly set aside speciﬁc blocks of time to study

I learn best with study groups

How frequently do you participate in activities that are considered

Illegal (unauthorized or prohibited by rules or laws)?
Dangerous (risky, hazardous or unsafe)?

Hurtful (causing mental and or physical injury or pain to self or others)?

oooooooooooooooooooooof

0
0

oooooooooooooooooooooog

0

0
0

i

0000000000000000000000

0
0

PM

0

00000000000000000000

0
0

000000000000000000000

0
0

 

Using the scale of SD = Strongly disagree, D = Disagree, A = Agree, SA = Strongly agree, and NA = Not applicable,
please indicate your opinion regarding the following statements:

 

99.

100.
101.
102.
103.

It bothers me when I don’t do something well
I am aware of the education or training needed for my career options
I am provided with challenging and supportive courses
I plan to continue my schooling after I receive my Bachelors degree

It is important for me to complete an internship before I graduate

201

SD

00000

000000

00000>

ooooog

00000§

MSU Student Assets Survey - January 2000

104.

105.

106.
107.
108.
109.
110.
111.
112.
113.
114.

115.
116.
117.

118.
119.
120.
121.
122.
123.
124.
125.
126.
127.
128.
129.
130.
131.
132.
133.
134.
135.

I will need a post baccalaureate degree or specialization certiﬁcate to
qualify for gainful employment in my ﬁeld of study

It is important for me to have student membership in at least one
professional organization

Overall I enjoy college

I like college for the academics

I like college for the social atmosphere

I think university required courses are important.

At this time, college is not that important to me.

I like my chosen major or the major I am considering
There are plenty of jobs available in my major

It is important to my parents that I do well in college
If I received a low grade my parents would be upset.
I respect other people’s personal and civil rights

It is important that I support equal rights and opportunities for all people

I respect other people’s ways of looking at things, their lifestyles, and
their attitudes

I consider other people's feelings when making decisions

When friends go through hard times, I talk to them about how they feel
I explain my beliefs and values when asked

When asked I can explain why belief systems are “fair" and “not fair”

I make decisions based on what I believe

To get ahead. sometimes you have to lie, steel or cheat.

I stand up for what I believe even when it is unpopular to do so.
Sometimes I bend the truth so I can get my way.

I tell the truth even when it is not easy.

I accept responsibilities for my actions even when I make a mistake.

I am likely to cheat in class to get a better grade.

Overall, my father was a constant and inﬂuential presence in my life.
Overall, my mother was a constant and inﬂuential presence in my life.
I feel part of a group of friends

I enjoy being with other people

I avoid getting involved with others

I have trouble ﬁtting in with others

I like to be alone

202

000000000000000000 000000000000 0 08

000000000000000000 000000000000 0 00

000000000000000000 000000000000 0 0>

000000000000000000 000000000000 0 0%

z
>

000000000000000000 000000000000 0 0

MSU Student Assets Survey - January 2000

136.
137.
138.
139.
140.
141.
142.
143.
144.
145.
146.
147.
148.
149.
150.
151.
152.
153.
154.
155.
156.
157.
158.
159.
160.
161.
162.
163.
164.

165.
166.
167.
168.
169.

I act without stopping to think

I am good at Ieaming from my mistakes

I feel capable of coping with most of my problems

I feel I can bounce back quickly from bad experiences

I can keep a cool head in emergencies

I see the humor in life even when things are not going well

I often feel like beating or injuring someone

I have temper outbursts I can’t control

I frequently get into arguments

I can describe the qualities I want in a Iong-terrn relationship
I can turn down a sexual advance if I’m not interested

When I talk I usually get what I want.

I choose my words carefully before I speak.

I get my point across when I talk with people.

When I talk with people, I make sure not to offend them.

It is important that I not upset people when I talk with them

I talk over problems with a friend

I am good at interpreting non-verbal communication

I listen to others and ask them questions about what they've said
I clearly present my ideas to groups of people

I express my ideas well in writing

I consider all sides of the situation before making decisions
I consider possible consequences before choosing to act

I make friends easily

I am comfortable initiating conversations with strangers

I have been called a good listener

I am good at planning ahead

I hang out with people from different racial/ethnic backgrounds.

Most of the time, I try to make friends with people from the same ethnic
background as myself

I enjoy being with people who are of a different ethnicity than I am.

I know how to talk to people from other races without insulting them.
I can adapt to other cultures when I need to.

I try to learn about other cultures.

I feel comfortable explaining my religious or spiritual beliefs to others

203

(n
D

00000 00000000000000000000000000000

00000 00000000000000000000000000000U

00000 00000000000000000000000000000>

U)
>

00000 00000000000000000000000000000

Z
>

00000 00000000000000000000000000000

MSU Student Assets Survey — January 2000

170.

171.
172.
173.
174.
175.
176.
177.
178.
179.
180.
181.
182.
183.
184.
185.
186.

187.

188.

189.
190.
191.
192.
193.
194.
195.
196.
197.
198.
199.
200.
201.

All ethnic/racial groups living in the United States should practice
American values and beliefs

Sometimes I wish I could be a part of some other racial/ethnic group.
I have strong ties to my cultural roots

I feel comfortable talking to others about my culture.

People from different ethnic/racial groups seem to easily accept me.
I can explain my own cultural background

I stay away from people who might get me in trouble

I have no problem saying “no"to my friends

It is important that I am popular

I believe I am popular among other students

I can get along with members of the opposite sex

My best friends never ask me to do anything illegal

My best friends never drink and drive

My best friends never let me drive drunk

My friends would never physically hurt someone on purpose.

I avoid riotous crowds and behaviors

I would rather discuss a problem with someone instead of hitting or
avoiding them.

When I am in an argument, I try to listen to the other person's point of
view.

If someone is mad at me, I will go to him/her and ask about it in a calm
manner.

When someone is angry with me, I will avoid him/her at all costs.
I ask for help when I need it

I can explain howl am feeling (e.g. angry, happy, worried, depressed)
I consider criticism without being very angry, sad, or defensive

I can name three or more good things about myself

I can name three things at which I‘d like to be better

I often feel unhappy, sad or depressed

I often feel sure of who I am (what kind of person I am)

I often feel lonely

I often feel satisﬁed with myself the way I am

I have trouble ﬁtting in with others

My life has purpose

I am optimistic about my future

(I)
U

0000000000000 0 0 0000000000000000 0

0000000000000 0 0 0000000000000000 0°

0000000000000 0 0 0000000000000000 0:9

m
>

0000000000000 0 0 0000000000000000 0

2
>

0000000000000 0 0 0000000000000000 0

 

204

MSU Student Assets Survey — January 2000

Risk IndicatorsIBehavlors: These questions concem behaviors which university administrators
often consider risky. Please answer honestly and thoughtfully.

Please indicate the best possible answer to the following: Yes No
202. I know the medical guidelines for my weight in regards 0 0
to my height
Not Slightly Very Extremely

rmortant Important lrroortant noortant Important
0 O 0 O O

. V971 Not Very Extremely
am satisfied Satisﬁed satsfled satisﬁed

0 0 0 0 0

203. How important is it for you to have a perfect body?

204. How satisﬁed are you with your body?

More More

than 25 Within than 25
. _ _ . lbs. 1025 10 lbs. 1025 lbs.

205. ConSIdenng your Ideal weight, how much do you below lbs, heme: lbs. above
weigh? the below above above the

ideal theideal theideal the ideal Ideal
O O O O O

Extr E temel
unify, Under- Over- x026- y
206. How would you describe yourself? “'9” I""39” Average "99'" weight

0 0 0 0 0

Using the scale of SD = Strongly disagree, D = Disagree, A =
Agree, SA = Strongly agree, and NA = Not applicable, please
indicate your opinion regarding the following statements:

‘3’:
z
>

204. Drinking alcohol makes me feel good.

208. I will never drink or never drank alcohol while underage.

209. Drinking alcohol is a bad habit.

210. Drinking alcohol is not worth the risk to my health.

211. Smoking Cigarettes should be legal for people under 18 years.
212. I will never smoke cigarettes.

213. Marijuana should be legalized.

214. I will never smoke marijuana.

215. There is nothing wrong with snifﬁng things (like glue, markers or
doing whip hits) to get high.

216. I stay away from drugs because I do not want to become
addicted.

217. There is nothing wrong with taking over the counter drugs to
stay awake to study.

218. When someone is bothering me, they deserve to get punched.
219. I carry a weapon to feel safe.
220. I carry a gun or a knife for protection

0000000000000008
0000000000000000
000000000000000>
000000000000000
000000000000000

221. Hitting, punching, or other violent acts make me feel good.

205

MSU Student Assets Survey - January 2000

 

SD 0 A SA NA
222. It’s OK to ﬁght back if someone is trying to physically hurt 0 0 0 0 0
you.
223. Violence or physical force is the best way to solve O O O 0 0
problems
224. I am never violent with others 0 0 0 0 0
Please indicate the number of times 4 0'

Never Once Twice Three more

225. l have been ticketed/arrested for underage drinking or

other alcohol use charge 0 O O O O
226. l have been ticketed/arrested for violence related Charges 0 O O O O
227. l have been ticketed/arrested for weapons violation 0 O O O O
228. I have been ticketed/arrested for personal crimes against

others 0 O O O O
229. l have been ticketed/arrested for other charges 0 O O O O

 

Please indicate the frequency of your actions:

230. Within the last 30 days, on how many days did you do the
following:

.5
«q
?
.5
‘1'
us
3
‘

Have an alcoholic drink?

Have 3 or more alcoholic drinks in one day?

Smoke a cigarette?

Smoke 3 or more cigarettes in one day?

Smoke a marijuana joint?

Smoke 3 or more marijuana joints in one day?

Sniff something (like glue, markers, or doing whip hits) to get high?
Sniff a substance 3 or more times in one day?

Use an illegal substance to get high? (i.e. Cocaine, speed, heroin)
Use a sleep preventive drug to stay awake? (i. e. No 002, Vivarin, caffeine)
Use a sleep aid to go to sleep?

Diet?

Food binge?

Induce vomiting after eating?

Take laxatives?

Commit a violent act?

Victim of violence?

Carry a weapon?

Wltness the destruction of property?

Participate in the destruction of property?

oooooooooooooooooooooé
ooooooooooooooooooooost
ooooooooooooooooooooo§
ooooooooooooooooooooo§
ooooooooooooooooooooo§§

Wltness violence?

206

MSU Student Assets Survey - January 2000

 

 

 

 

none 1-7 8-15 16-24 25-30
day days days days
Stopped by police for trafﬁc violations? 0 O O o o
Stopped or picked up by police for questioning? o O o o o
Convicted of a crime? 0 0 0 0 0
Take something from a store without paying for it? C O O o 0
Skip a class? 0 o O o o
Lie to a person in authority? 0 O O 0 o
A willing sex partner? 0 O O o o
Practiced safe sex measures? 0 O O O 0
Play the lottery? O O O o 0
Place bets on sports events? 0 O O o O
Gamble on the computer? 0 o 0 0 0
Visit casinos in‘order to gamble? O o o o O
Purchased an item with a credit card? 0 0 0 o O
Contacted regarding a delinquent payment? 0 O 0 0 0
12 or
Please note your age of ﬁrst occurrence Young 13-14 15-17 18 or
Never or years years older
231. How old were you when you ﬁrst stole something? 0 O O O O
232. How old were you when you had your ﬁrst drink? 0 O O O O
233. How old were you when you ﬁrst became sexually O O O O 0
active?
Please note the monetary amount 51. 3101- 5501. no:
so 100 500 1000 $1000
234. What is the largest amount of money you’ve ever lost 0 0 0 0 0
gambling?
235. What is the largest amount of money you’ve ever won 0 0 0 0 0
gambling?
More
$1- 51000 $2501. than
so 1000 2500 5000 55.000
236. How much money have you borrowed to ﬁnance your 0 0 0 0 0
education?
237. What is the combined balance due on your credit cards? 0 0 0 0 0
Please note the amount 70'
0 1-2 34 56 more
238. How many credit cards do you have? 0 0 0 0 0
239. How many delinquent payments have you made on your 0 0 0 0 0
credit cards?
240. How many times have you been denied credit or had a 0 0 0 0 0

service discontinued due to non or delinquent payments?

207

 

MSU Student Assets Survey — January 2000

Rate the degree of the following: N0 Little Moder Very Most
stress stress ate stress stress
stress ful fut

241. How stressful would you rate the following?

 

 

 

 

Exams 0 O O O 0
Oral reports and presentations 0 O O O 0
Papers 0 O O O 0
Being called on in class 0 O O O 0
Money issues 0 O O O 0
Signiﬁcant other 0 O O O O
Roommate O O O O 0
Getting ﬁred from work 0 O O O O
Unplanned pregnancy 0 0 O O 0
Being arrested 0 O O O 0
Being caught cheating O O O O 0
Rate the frequency of activity Never “(Sgt Often tm Always
242. How do you handle stress?
Eat O O O O O
Exercise/Ruanake a walk 0 O O 0
Drink alcohol 0 O O O 0
Smoke 0 O O O 0
Pray O O O O 0
Sleep 0 O O O 0
Please note the amount 1 3 34 56 743 >8
243. How many hours of sleep do you average per night? 0 O O O O
“.2" "2: 22.: 222' was
244. If I had to start my college career over, I would still 0 O O O 0
Choose to attend MSU.
.22.... .22.. W .22.. .222
245. What is your satisfaction with the campus 0 O O O 0
experience?
246. What is your satisfaction with the community? 0
247. What is your satisfaction with the overall college 0
expeﬁence?

 

248. If you could make one suggestion to improve the experience at MSU what would it be?

 

208

APPENDIX B

MSUSAS External and lntemal Asset Items Categorized by Asset

209

MSUSAS External and lntemal Asset Items Categorized by Asset

 

ltemt

 

Question

 

Assets Category

 

Support - support, positive communication, other adult relationships,
caring neighborhood and school climate, parental involvement in school

 

3

Other than your parents, how many adults do you access for advice
and support?

Other adult
relationships

 

How often do you speak with the following people about important
issues, concerns or your future?

A. Academic advisor

B. Resident advisor

C. Community member
D. Adult neighbors

E. Faith based leaders
F. Department faculty
G. Graduate assistant
H. MSU support staff

I. Learning resource center
J. Landlord

K. Boss/supervisor

L. MSU police

M. MSU Alumni

Other adult
relationships

 

 

 

How satisﬁed have you been with the following MSU resources?
A. Academic advisement
B. Cafeteria
C. Computer labs
D. Counseling center
E. Human resource center
F. IMs- Intramural sports and recreative services
G. Learning resource center
H. Libraries
I. Olin health center
J. Transportation
K. Writing center
L. University housing
M. Classrooms

 

Caring school
climate

 

210

 

MSUSAS External and lntemal Asset Items Categorized by Asset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9 Overall, MSU provides a caring and encouraging environment. Caring
community
10 l have felt put down or been embarrassed by my professors at MSU School climate
41 East Lansing residents make me feel a welcome part of the Caring
community community
42 East Lansing landlords, leasing companies or apartment managers Caring
make me feel a welcome part of the community community
43 I feel my needs are met by the social systems at work in my Caring
community of residence as a student community
45 I care about the community of East Lansing Caring
community

 

Empowerment - community values young adult, young adult as
resources, service to others, safety

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

46 I am given lots of opportunities to make the East Lansing community Young adults
a better place as resources
47 I am given lots of opportunities to make the MSU community a better Young adults
place as resources
51 Are you registered to vote? Young adults
as resources
52 Are you registered to vote in East Lansing? Young adults
as resources
48 As a whole, I feel safe while on campus Safety
49 I feel safe walking in the East Lansing community after dark Safety
50 As a student, where would you prefer to live while attending MSU? Safety
44 MSU students have clear and respected roles as members of the Community
East Lansing community values youth
53 I feel that my concerns and opinions are heard and addressed by Community
A. MSU faculty Ya'ues Wm"
B. MSU administration
C. MSU professional staff
D. MSU support staff
E. East Lansing community
F. My community of permanent residence
G. MSU police
H. East Lansing police and ofﬁcials
36 Helping other people is important to my friends Service to
others
37 Helping other people is important to me Service to
others

 

 

 

211

 

MSUSAS External and lntemal Asset Items Categorized by Asset

 

Boundaries and expectations - boundaries, adult role models, positive
peer inﬂuence, high expectations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

26 I understand what is expected of me, as a student, by MSU school
boundaﬁes

27 MSU sets clear rules about what I can and cannot do school
boundaﬁes

28 MSU rarely enforces its rules for student behavior school
boundaﬁes

29 It's okay to break MSU rules school
boundaﬁes

30 I worry that I will get into trouble due to my behavior here on campus school
boundaﬁes

31 I adhere to the rules set by my residence hall or other place of Community

residence boundaries
33 If another student saw me do something wrong, he or she should Community
report me to the authorities boundaries

32 I stay away from trouble because I don’t want to get arrested High
expectations

21 My friends encourage me to do and be my best in everything I do High
expectations

6 How many of your friends have been in trouble with the law? Positive peer
inﬂuence

7n Peers Positive peer
inﬂuence

16 My friends don’t care if I drink alcohol Positive peer
inﬂuence

17 My friends don't care ifl smoke cigarettes Positive peer
inﬂuence

34 While underage, my friends and I do not or did not drink alcohol Positive peer
inﬂuence/

35 I usually just go along with what my friends tell me to do Positive peer
inﬂuence

56 My friends smoke cigarettes Positive peer
inﬂuence

57 My friends use or do illicit drugs Positive peer
inﬂuence

58 My friends smoke marijuana Positive peer
inﬂuence

59 My friends engage in safe sex Positive peer
inﬂuence

60 My friends drink alcohol Positive peer

 

 

inﬂuence

 

212

 

MSUSAS External and lntemal Asset Items Categorized by Asset

 

Constructive time use - creative activities, young adult programs,
religious community, time at home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

38 Being spiritual or religious is important to me Religious
community
39 I regularly attend religious activities Religious
community
40 l have sometimes felt pressured to attend religious services different Religious
from my own faith since enrolling at MSU. community
54 How many hours per week do you normally spend...? Constructive
A. In the library? “me use
B. Exercising?
C. Studying, reviewing class notes or doing course related work?
D. Retrieving, reading and answering email?
E. Socializing with friends?
F. Alcohol-free partying?
G. Partying (drinking)?
H. Watching TV?
I. Surﬁng the internet?
J. Playing video games?
K. Engaged in or watching intramural sports?
L. Engaged in or watching university athletics?
M. Participating in events sponsored by university organizations or
clubs?
55 How many hours per week do you work? Constructive
time use
64 I effectively balance school, work, family, friends and fun Constructive
time use
65 On Spring Breaks, how often do you do the following...? Constructive
A. Vacation in the "hot spots" for college students? time use
' B. Work?
C. Study and do coursework?
D. Service to the community?
E. Spend time at home with family and friends?
61 I regularly participate in structured extracurricular activities, eg. Creative
music, dance or art. activities
62 I participate in dorm/residence hall sponsored activities Young adult
programs
63 I participate in Greek sponsored activities Young adult
programs

 

 

 

213

 

MSUSAS External and lntemal Asset Items Categorized by Asset

 

Family and peer - support, communication, boundaries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 Which types of support do you receive from your parents? Parental
A. Financial Support
B. Social advice
C. Academic advice
D. Career advice
E. Health and stress issues
11 I can go to adult family members for help and support when I need it. Family Support
2 How frequently do you communicate via phone, mail or in person with Positive Family
your parents while in school? Communication
How many close friends do you have? Peer Support
How many of your close friends attend MSU with you? Peer Support
14 I relate well to my peers Peer Support
18 My friends are a very important part of my life Peer Support
19 I feel my friends listen to me Peer Support
20 My friends and I are supportive of each other during difﬁcult times Peer Support
22 My friends care about me Peer Support
12 My family doesn’t care if I smoke family
boundaﬁes
13 My family doesn’t care if I drink family
boundaﬁes
23 In my family there are Clear rules about what I can and cannot do family
boundanes
24 My parents made clear what is expected of me while in college family
boundanes
25 My parents trust me to follow their values even while I am away at family
college boundaries

 

 

 

 

 

Commitment to Ieaming - achievement motivation, learning engagement,
homeworklstudy habits, bonding to school

 

 

 

 

66 My summer employment is related to my declared major Achievement
motivation

67 My employment during the school year is related to my declared Achievement
major motivation

68 I plan to study abroad for at least one semester Achievement
motivation

 

 

 

214

 

MSUSAS External and lntemal Asset Items Categorized by Asset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

70 I would accept a poor grade before dropping a class Achievement
motivation
71 I have received a 1.0(D) or lower in one or more classes Achievement
motivation
72 I have spent one or more semesters on the Dean's List Achievement
motivation
111 I like my Chosen major, or the major I am considering Achievement
motivation
112 There are plenty of jobs available in my major Achievement
motivation
113 It is important to my parents that I do well in college Achievement
motivation!
expectations
114 If I received a low grade my parents would be upset Achievement
motivation
99 It bothers me when I don‘t do something well Achievement
motivation
100 I am aware of the education or training needed for my career options Achievement
motivation
104 I will need a post baccalaureate degree or specialization certiﬁcate to Achievement
qualify for gainful employment in my ﬁeld of study motivation
73 I own a computer Achievement
motivation
78 I complete all class readings before class sessions Study habits
74 l have ready access to a computer with modern Study habits
75 I check my email daily for messages Study habits
83 I check my papers before submitting Study habits
84 I adequately prepare for exams and presentations Study habits
89 I have plagiarized other works in my term papers since coming to Study habits
MSU
94 I cram for exams the night before Study habits
96 I regularly set aside speciﬁc blocks of time to study Study habits
97 I learn best with study groups Study habits
76 I read the newspaper or other non-class materials during class Learning
engagement
77 I attend all class sessions Learning
engagement
79 I leave classes early Learning
engagement
80 I arrive late to class Learning
engagement

 

 

 

215

 

MSUSAS External and lntemal Asset Items Categorized by Asset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

81 I fall asleep in class Learning
engagement
82 I come to Class drunk or high Learning
engagement
87 I complete my assignments on time Learning
engagement
90 I speak up/out in Class Learning
engagement
91 I lead class discussions Learning
engagement
92 I visit faculty during school hours Learning
engagement
93 I send email to faculty Learning
engagement
95 l tutor other college students Learning
engagement
101 I am provided with challenging and supportive courses Learning
engagement
102 I plan to continue my schooling after I receive my Bachelor's degree Learning
engagement
103 It is important for me to complete an internship before I graduate Learning
engagement
105 It is important for me to have student membership in at least one Learning
professional organization engagement
109 I think university required courses are important Learning
engagement
110 At this time, college is not that important to me Learning
engagement
69 I am involved in university government Bonding to
school
106 Overall I enjoy college Bonding to
scth
107 I like college for the academics Bonding to
school
108 I like college for the social atmosphere Bonding to
school

 

 

 

Positive values - caring, equality and social justice, integrity, honesty,
responsibility, restraint

 

 

119

 

When friends go through hard times, I talk to them about how they
feel

 

Caring

 

216

 

MSUSAS External and lntemal Asset Items Categorized by Asset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

115 I respect other people's personal and civil rights Equality and
social justice
116 It is important that I support equal rights and opportunities for all Equality and
people social justice
117 I respect other people‘s ways of looking at things, their lifestyles and Equality and
their attitudes social justice
121 When asked, I can explain why belief systems are "fair" and "not fair" Equality and
social justice
88 I have cheated on exams since coming to MSU Integrity
122 I make decisions based on what I believe integrity
123 To get ahead, sometimes you have to lie, steal or cheat integrity
124 I stand up for what I believe even when it is unpopular to do so integrity
128 I am likely to cheat in Class to get a better grade integrity
125 Sometimes I bend the truth so I can get my way Honesty
126 I tell the truth even when it is not easy Honesty
127 I accept responsibilities for my actions even when I make a mistake Responsibility
98 How frequently do you participate in activities that are considered Restraint

 

illegal, dangerous and/or hurtful?

 

 

Social competencies - planning and decision-making, interpersonal
competence, cultural competence, resistance skills, peaceful conﬂict
resolution

 

136

I act without stopping to think

Planning and
decision-
making

 

137

I am good at Ieaming from my mistakes

Planning and
decision-
making

 

148

I choose my words carefully before I speak

Planning and
decision-
making

 

157

I consider all sides of the situation before making decisions

Planning and
decision-
making

 

158

I consider possible consequences before Choosing to act

Planning and
decision-
making

 

162

I am good at planning ahead

Planning and
decision-
making

 

 

118

 

I consider other people's feelings when making decisions

 

Interpersonal
competence

 

217

 

MSUSAS External and lntemal Asset Items Categorized by Asset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

85 I work well by myself interpersonal
competence
86 I work well with others interpersonal
competence
132 I enjoy being with otherpeople interpersonal
competence
133 I avoid getting involved with others interpersonal
competence
134 l have trouble ﬁtting in with others interpersonal
competence
135 I like to be alone interpersonal
competence
151 It is important that I not upset people when I talk with them interpersonal
competence
152 I talk over problems with a friend interpersonal
competence
154 I listen to others and ask them questions about what they‘ve said Interpersonal
competence
159 I make friends easily Interpersonal
competence
160 I am comfortable initiating conversations with strangers Interpersonal
competence
179 I believe I am popular among other students Interpersonal
competence
180 I can get along with members of the opposite sex Interpersonal
competence
199 l have trouble ﬁtting in with others. Interpersonal
competence
147 When I talk I usually get what I want Communication
competence
149 I get my point across when I talk with people Communication
competence
155 I clearly present my ideas to groups of people Communication
competence
156 I express my ideas well in writing Communication
competence
161 I have been called a good listener Communication
competence
150 When I talk with people I make sure not to offend them Cultural
competence
153 I am good at interpreting non-verbal communication Cultural
competence

 

 

 

218

 

MSUSAS External and lntemal Asset Items Categorized by Asset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

163 I hang outwith people from different racial/ethnic backgrounds Cultural
competence

164 Most of the time, I try to make friends with people from the same Cultural

ethnic background as myself competence

165 I enjoy being with people who are of a different ethnicity than I am Cultural
competence

166 I know how to talk to people from other races without insulting them Cultural
competence

167 I can adapt to other cultures when I need to Cultural
competence

168 I try to learn about other cultures Cultural
competence

169 I feel comfortable explaining my religious or spiritual beliefs to others Cultural
competence

170 All ethnic/racial groups living in the United States should practice Cultural

American values and beliefs competence

120 I explain my beliefs and values when asked Cultural identity

171 Sometimes I wish I could be part of some other racial/ethnic group Cultural identity

172 l have strong ties to my cultural roots Cultural identity

173 I feel comfortable talking to others about my culture Cultural identity

174 People from different ethnic/racial groups seem to easily accept me Cultural identity

175 I can explain my own cultural background Cultural identity

176 I stay away from people who might get me into trouble Resistance
skills

177 l have no problem saying "no" to my friends Resistance
skills

178 It is important that I am popular Resistance
skills

181 My best friends never ask me to do anything illegal Resistance
skills

182 My best friends never drink and drive Resistance
skills

183 My friends never let me drink and drive Resistance
skills

184 My friends would never physically hurt someone on purpose Resistance
skills

185 I avoid riotous crowds and behaviors Resistance
skills

140 I can keep a cool head in emergencies Peaceful
conﬂict
resolution

 

 

 

219

 

MSUSAS External and lntemal Asset Items Categorized by Asset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

142 I often feel like beating or injuring someone Peaceful
conﬂict
resolution

143 I have temper outbursts I can’t control Peaceful
conﬂict
resolution

144 I frequently get into arguments Peaceful
conﬂict
resolution

186 I would rather discuss a problem with someone instead of hitting or Peaceful

avoiding them conﬂict
resolution

187 When I am in an argument, I try to listen to the other person's point of Peaceful

view conﬂict
resolution

188 If someone is angry with me, I will go to him/her and ask about it in a Peaceful

calm manner conﬂict
resolution

189 If someone is angry with me, I will avoid him/her at all costs Peaceful
conﬂict
resolution

 

Positive identity - personal power, self-esteem. Sense of purpose,
positive view of personal future

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

138 I feel capable of coping with most of my problems Personal power

145 I can describe the qualities I want in a long term relationship Personal power

146 I can turn down a sexual advance if I’m not interested Personal power

190 I ask for help when I need it Personal power

191 I can explain howl am feeling (e.g. angry, happy, worried or Personal power

depressed)

195 I often feel unhappy, sad or depressed Personal power

196 I often feel sure of who I am (what kind of person I am) Personal power

197 I often feel lonely Personal power

129 Overall, my father was a constant and inﬂuential presence in my life Predictor Self-
esteem

130 Overall, my mother was a constant and inﬂuential presence in my life Predictor Self-
esteem

131 I feel part of a group of friends Predictor Self-
esteem

99 It bothers me when I don't do something well Self-esteem

192 I consider criticism without being very angry, sad or defensive Self-esteem

193 I can name three or more good things about myself Self-esteem

 

 

 

220

 

MSUSAS External and lntemal Asset Items Categorized by Asset

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

194 I can name three things at which I‘d like to be better Self-esteem

198 I often feel satisﬁed with myself the way I am Self-esteem

200 My life has purpose Sense of
purpose

141 I see the humor in life even when things are not going well Positive view -
future

139 I feel I can bounce back quickly from bad experiences Positive view —
future

201 I am optimistic about my future Positive view -
future

 

 

 

221

 

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

tilllllllllllllljllltill)ll

930