Predicting Asian American college student social change behaviors from individual- and campus-level variables

Yi, Jacqueline

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/102402 Copy

Description

Title

Predicting Asian American college student social change behaviors from individual- and campus-level variables

Author(s)

Yi, Jacqueline

Issue Date

2018-09-14

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Todd, Nathan

Committee Member(s)

Hunter, Carla

Department of Study

Psychology

Discipline

Psychology

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• Asian Americans
• social change
• racial identity
• campus climate
• perceptions of discrimination

Abstract

Objectives: This study examined individual-level predictors (e.g., racial and ethnic group membership, racial identity salience) and campus-level predictors (e.g., identity-based organizations, discriminatory campus climate) of social change behaviors for Asian American college students. We contribute to the field’s knowledge of inter-group differences between Asian Americans, White Americans, and students from other racial minority backgrounds that are commonly excluded in research, as well as intra-group differences between South, Southeast, and East Asian American ethnic groups. Method: We used a sample of 37,692 students from various racial backgrounds and a subsample of 3,707 Asian American students from 88 campuses who participated the 2015 Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership. We examined our hypotheses using multilevel modeling, which allowed us to take into account the nested structure of the data (students nested within campuses). Results: Findings showed that higher racial identity salience, higher participation in racial/ethnic identity-based organizations on campus, and lower individual- and campus-level perceptions of discriminatory climate predicted more social change behaviors. In general, we found the effects of our predictors on social change behaviors were stronger for other racial minority groups, such as African Americans and Latinx Americans, and weaker for White Americans, compared to Asian Americans. Moreover, the effect of campus-level discriminatory climate on social change behaviors was stronger for South Asian, compared to East Asian American students. Conclusions: Our findings have implications for future research to disaggregate data on Asian Americans and for campus programming to support Asian American students working for social change in the college context.

Graduation Semester

2018-12

Type of Resource

text

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http://hdl.handle.net/2142/102402

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2018 Jacqueline Yi

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