Relationship of setting and internal attitudes on the positive and negative interactions between different race college students

Abstract

This thesis investigated how the quality of cross-racial interactions vary across situations in a campus environment and also examined the influence of internal attitudes toward diversity on the quality of these interactions. The influence of race, gender and cohort on cross racial interactions was also examined. The stratified, random sample of 1,000 students included 250 students each from four racial/ethnic categories - White, African American/Black, Asian Pacific American, and Hispanic/Latino. Respondents completed the Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity Scale-Short, excerpts from the Cultural Attitudes and Climate Questionnaire, and the author developed Cross Racial Interaction Scale to measure the quality of cross racial interactions in 13 situations on a college campus. This study found that the quality of cross racial interactions did vary by situation and that students clustered in identifiable ways related to the similarity of their cross racial experiences. Evidence was also found in support of previous research that Black students continue to perceive their cross racial experiences less positive than their White counterparts.