What Matters for Black Students? A Question of Sense of Belonging, Campus Climate, Perceived Discrimination, Gender, and Institutional Satisfaction

Abstract

In an effort to understand what matters for Black students attending predominately White educational institutions, the purpose of this study was to predict relationships among psychosocial factors, person factors, and environmental factors, and institutional satisfaction within this population. I hypothesized that Black students' sense of belonging, perceptions of campus climate for diversity and diverse perceptions, witnessed discrimination, experienced discrimination, and gender would be predictive of their institutional satisfaction. Additionally, I hypothesized there would be significant differences in Black students' sense of belonging, perceptions of campus climate, witnessed discrimination, experienced discrimination, and institutional satisfaction as a function of gender. Participants in this study were comprised of 228 Black undergraduate students who were representative of students at various stages of their undergraduate careers ranging from 1st semester (incoming) first year to 2nd semester (graduating) senior, from a Midwestern public research university. Of the participants, 43.8% (n = 74) were male, and 56.2% (n = 95) were female, with ages ranging from 18-54, and with a mean age of 21.22. Data consisted of a secondary analysis of an archival dataset. Procedures used to collect the data that were analyzed are described in this section. Data regarding social belonging, perceptions of campus climate, students' witnessed discrimination, students' experience of discrimination, and students' institutional satisfaction were measured by scales from the Diverse Learning Environments (DLE) Core Survey created by the Higher Education Research Institute (HERI; http://www.heri.ucla.edu/dleoverview.php) at the University of California, Los Angeles (Hurtado & Guillermo-Wann, 2013). Results of a standard multiple regression suggested that 55% of the variance in institutional satisfaction was predicted by sense of belonging, perceptions of campus climate, witnessed discrimination, experienced discrimination, and gender; with campus climate shown to have the strongest relationship to institutional satisfaction. Results of a one-way multivariate analysis of variance revealed no significant differences in sense of belonging, perceptions of campus climate, witnessed discrimination, experienced discrimination, and institutional satisfaction by gender. In discussing and describing needed interventions, critical race theory was utilized to highlight the role race and racism plays in the experiences and perceptions of Black college students within the educational system. Limitations, implications, and recommendations for future research and practice are also outlined.