Racial Congruence and Its Effects on Social Integration and School Involvement: A Multi-Level Model

Abstract

Several initiatives have been taken in order to diversify schools and communities in advance of scientific research investigating the effects of racial diversity on students. The present study used data from 41,639 students across 87 schools to answer the following research question: To what extent do students with high levels of racial congruence feel more socially integrated and experience higher levels of school participation than similar students who are racially incongruent in their school environments? Racial congruence is defined as attending a school with a high percentage of peers of the same race as oneself. This secondary data analysis used a nested-model (students within school social environments) and found a cross-level interaction between an individual's race and the percentage of same-race peers for certain racial groups. Findings support previous literature concerning the attenuation of individual-level racial group differences in social integration when Asian American students are in racially congruent schools.