An Analysis Of Stereotype Threat In African American Engineering Students At Predominantly White, Ethnically Diverse, And Historically Black Colleges And Universities
Abstract
**Please note that the full text is embargoed** ABSTRACT: The purpose of this research was to distinguish the similarities and differences in coping
strategies of African American engineering students by analyzing their perceptions of stereotype
threat at three academic institution types: Predominantly White Institutions (PWI), ethnically
diverse, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The researcher collected
demographic and survey data using the Stereotype Vulnerability Scale (SVS). The study was
offered to the entire population of African American engineering students at each college using
an online survey. Results were analyzed using MANOVA and Pearson‟s correlational statistical
analyses to test the hypotheses.
Findings revealed that few differences exist between students‟ scores on an assessment of
stereotype vulnerability, with a few areas showing that HBCUs and ethnically diverse
universities are doing a similar job in addressing perceptions of their African American engineering students.
Finding also revealed that the percentage of African American students at
a university did not correlate with the scores on the SVS accept on questions related to the
personal feelings students have about their race. The strongest findings related to the differences
in male and female students across the universities. African American female engineering
students appeared to perceive more stereotype threat than did their male counterparts although
this fining was not statistically significant. Overall, no statistically significant differences were
found between students‟ perceptions of stereotype threat at the three types of universities. Future
research should expand the number of survey participants at the current universities, add more
HBCUs to the study population, run similar experiments in different parts of the country,
compare stereotype threat in private and elite universities, use ethnically diverse universities as
models for minority student development, and use new or improved survey instruments that
delineate race and gender stereotype threat as perceived by African American female STEM
students