Understanding how Black Racial Identity and Demographic, Psychological and Performance Variables Intervene and Relate to Academic Achievement

Book excerpt: Abstract: The examination of a student's racial identity beliefs along with the extent to which being Black is a central part of his or her self-concept provides a novel, insightful approach to explicating the relationship between ethnic identity and academic achievement (Chavous, et. al., 2003). The implications of one's ethnicity are of particular interest to those who seek to understand the academic underperformance of African American adolescents relative to that of other ethnic groups. In an effort to further clarify the role of Black racial identity with respect to academic achievement, this study investigated racial centrality, public regard and private regard beliefs in relation to the attitudes and behaviors that inform academic achievement and the grade point average of African American high school students. A total of 289 public school students completed the Multidimensional Model of Black Identity, School Strategies Scale and an instrument on which they provided demographic data, socioeconomic status, frequency of parental involvement, academic and career aspirations, and academic values. Cluster analyses conducted on the three subscales of the MMBI replicated the four racial identity profile groups previously identified by Chavous et. al. (2003). Additionally, among the ninth grade students in this sample, Alienated students achieved significantly higher grade point averages than did Idealized students. Differences in the achievement levels of racial identity profile groups remained consistent across grade levels. Further, Idealized students reported more frequent instances of parental involvement than did students of other racial identity profile groups. No significant differences were found between racial identity profile groups with regard to number of parents in the home, race of the parents, socioeconomic status, academic and career aspirations, student values and self-regulatory strategy utilization. These results empirically support Fordham and Ogbu's (1988) hypothesis that a strong ethnic association relates negatively to academic achievement among African American students.