Relation between Ethnic Identity and Multicultural Attitudes for Latinao Students

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Relation between Ethnic Identity and
Multicultural Attitudes for Latina/o Students
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• Cristina M. Risco
• Elizabeth A. Klingaman
• Margaretha Lucas
• University of Maryland, College Park
• Counseling Center
• crisco1_at_umd.edu

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Abstract

• Multicultural attitudes facilitate positive
  intergroup relations, and both ethnic identity
  and exposure to diversity have been theorized to
  influence multicultural attitudes. The purpose of
  this study was to assess the relations between
  ethnic identity, pre-college diversity
  experiences and multicultural attitudes among 133
  Latina/o incoming first-year students at a large,
  mid-Atlantic, public university. Results revealed
  a positive relation between ethnic identity and
  multicultural attitudes, and revealed pre-college
  diversity experiences as a moderator of the
  relation between multicultural attitudes and
  ethnic identity. Findings support the
  multiculturalism view of intergroup attitudes and
  provide key implications for student counseling
  and educational programs.

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Introduction

• Intergroup relations among students from
  differing racial/ethnic backgrounds implicate
  complex interactions between developmental,
  social, and contextual factors.
• Importance of multicultural attitudes
• Previous research demonstrates that multicultural
  attitudes facilitate positive intergroup
  relations (Berry, 1984).

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Introduction cont

• Contextual variables such as ethnic identity and
  exposure to diversity have been shown to
  influence the development of multicultural
  attitudes (Helms, 1990 Phinney, 1993).
• Two approaches to understanding the relation
  between ethnic identity and multicultural
  attitudes include
• Multicultural Approach The multicultural view
  suggests that a positive and secure sense of
  ones own cultural group sets the mindset for
  positive views toward other cultural groups
  (Berry, 1984 Multiculturalism Hypothesis).
• Developmental Approach The developmental view
  posits that a more secure ethnic or racial
  identity is associated with greater acceptance of
  other groups. As individuals become more
  confident in their own group membership, they
  develop more positive attitudes toward other
  groups (Helms, 1990 Phinney, 1993).

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Current Study

• Purpose
• Examine the relation between pre-college
  experiences with diversity, ethnic identity, and
  multicultural attitudes.
• Examine the moderating role of pre-college
  experiences with diversity on the relation
  between ethnic identity and multicultural
  attitudes.
• Expected Relationships
• Both ethnic identity and pre-college experiences
  with diversity will correlate positively with
  multicultural attitudes.
• Pre-college experiences with diversity will
  moderate the relation between ethnic identity and
  multicultural attitudes.

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Why Latina/o Students?

• Previous research suggests that minority
  students, relative to their majority
  counterparts, have more favorable out-group views
  as well as more exposure to diversity (Engberg,
  Meader, Hurtado, 2003).
• Much of the literature on intergroup attitudes
  focuses on Black-White relations (Phinney et al.,
  1997), while the steadily growing (Fry, 2002)
  Latina/o college student population has received
  relatively little attention.
• As a cultural group, Latina/os have been
  described as culturally interdependent and
  group-oriented thus are likely to be higher on
  ethnic identity (Phinney et al., 1997).

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Method

• Participants
• 133 Latina/o incoming first-year students at a
  large, mid-Atlantic, public university.
• Mean Age 18 years (range 17-19)
• Gender 51 men, 49 women
• Nationality
• 66 other Hispanic/Spanish, Latina/o
• 16 Puerto Rican
• 9 Mexican American/Chicano
• 9 Cuban
• Parental Income 47 middle income, 23 high
  income, 17 low income, 13 did not report
• Procedure
• The data were collected from the 2007 University
  New Student Census, a 230-item survey addressing
  incoming first-year students attitudinal,
  behavioral and demographic characteristics. The
  survey contains both psychometrically developed
  scales and a variety of demographic items.
  Approximately ninety-three percent of all
  incoming first-year students completed the
  survey.

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Method

• Instruments
• Pre-college Experiences with Diversity Composite
  of two subscales selected from the Diverse
  Democracy Questionnaire (DDQ Hurtado,
  Engberg, Ponjuan, Landreman, 2002)
• Diversity of High School
• Discrimination/Racial Conflict of High School
• Ethnic Identity Affirmation and Belonging
  subscale of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity
  Measure (Phinney, 1992).
• Multicultural Attitudes Other-Group Orientation
  scale of the Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure
  (Phinney, 1992).

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Table 1.Summary Statistics and Intercorrelations
among Ethnic Identity, Pre-College Diversity
Experiences, and Multicultural Attitudes
Results
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Table 2.Hierarchical Multiple Regression
Analysis of Pre-College Diversity Experiences and
Ethnic Identity on Multicultural Attitudes
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Figure 1.Relationship between Ethnic Identity
and Multicultural Attitudes for students LOW on
Pre-College Diversity Experiences
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Figure 2.Relationship between Ethnic Identity
and Multicultural Attitudes for Students HIGH on
Pre-College Diversity Experiences
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Summary of Findings

• Positive relation between ethnic identity and
  multicultural attitudes.
• Pre-college diversity experiences moderated this
  relation such that for students
• Low on pre-college diversity experiences there
  was a positive relation between ethnic identity
  and multicultural attitudes.
• High on pre-college diversity experiences there
  was no relation between ethnic identity and
  multicultural attitudes.

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Discussion

• The current study extends the literature by
  supporting the moderating effect of exposure to
  diversity on the relation between ethnic identity
  and multicultural attitudes.
• Current findings provide evidence for the
  multiculturalism view of intergroup attitudes.
• This is important as this view provides the basis
  for many student counseling and educational
  programs.
• Exposure to diversity is key in the relation
  between ethnic identity and multicultural
  attitudes, particularly for students who have had
  little exposure to racial/ethnic diversity.
• Counselors may want to promote ethnic identity
  development for students with little diversity
  exposure.

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Limitations

• Restricted range on cultural variables.
• Drawback Effect size coefficient may
  underestimate the true relation between
  multicultural attitudes and ethnic identity for
  the HIGH pre-college diversity experiences
  subgroup.
• Future studies may want to assess multicultural
  attitudes toward specific ethnic groups.

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References

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  societies Alternatives to segregation and their
  sociopsychological implications. In N. Miller
  M. Brewer (Eds.), Groups in contact The
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• Fry, R. (2002). Latinos in higer education  Many
  enroll, too few graduate. Washington, DC  Pew
  Hispanic Center.
• Helms, J. (1990). Black and White racial
  identity  Theory, research, and practice. New
  York  Greenwood.
• Hurtado, S., Engberg, M.E., Ponjuan,
  L., Landreman, L. (2002). Students' precollege
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• Phinney, J. (1992). The Multigroup Ethnic
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• Phinney, J. (1993). A three-stage model of ethnic
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