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University Racial Composition and Self-esteem of Minority Students: Commitment, Self Views and Reflected Appraisals

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Identity and Symbolic Interaction

Abstract

A common finding in the research literature indicates that minority students tend to have higher levels of self-esteem when they attend schools with more individuals of their own racial and ethnic background. However, few studies to date have sought to explain this association. Using identity theory, this chapter develops and tests a serial mediation model to explain this well-established association. Specifically, this chapter proposes that universities represent intermediate social structures that provide the context in which social relationships develop. We argue that students in more racially consonant environments are more likely to develop satisfying social relationships with both faculty and students and in turn have more positive reflected appraisals of their abilities as a student and more positive self-evaluations. These positive self-evaluations are theorized to lead to higher levels of self-esteem. This chapter tests this serial mediation model using a sample of 863 minority students from universities across the US. Findings are supportive of our theoretical model and underscore both the importance of social structure for understanding the self-concept and the need to improve the racial climate of US universities.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, 48202, USA

    David M. Merolla & Erin Baker

Authors
  1. David M. Merolla
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  2. Erin Baker
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David M. Merolla .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA

    Richard T. Serpe

  2. Department of Sociology, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, USA

    Robin Stryker

  3. Department of Sociology, Indiana University Bloomington, Bloomington, IN, USA

    Brian Powell

Appendices

Appendix 1: Metric Coefficients for Mediation Model for Faculty Racial Consonance and Self Esteem

 

DV: commitment

DV: reflected appraisals

DV: self views

DV: self-esteem

Faculty racial consonance

0.462*

(0.217)

0.230

(0.292)

0.028

(0.256)

0.136

(0.077)

Faculty commitment

 

0.301***

(0.038)

0.249***

(0.050)

0.007

(0.18)

Reflected appraisals

  

0.718***

(0.035)

0.076***

(0.015)

Self views

   

0.105***

(0.015)

Black

0.111

(0.131)

0.026

(0.173)

0.101

(0.135)

0.144*

(0.063)

Hispanic

−0.044

(0.129)

0.137

(0.113)

0.105

(0.118)

0.098

(0.053)

GPA

0.330***

(0.079)

0.904***

(0.112)

0.518***

(0.112)

−0.043

(0.035)

Graduate student

−0.013

(0.090)

0.904**

(0.109)

−0.170

(0.118)

−0.002

(0.041)

Male

0.096

(0.070)

−0.375***

(0.112)

0.225*

(0.106)

0.031

(0.040)

R2

0.047

0.176

0.476

0.289

  1. Notes Numbers in parentheses are standard errors
  2. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001
  3. N = 863; Source The Science Study

Appendix 2: Metric Coefficients for Mediation Model for Student Racial Consonance and Self Esteem

 

DV: commitment

DV: reflected appraisals

DV: self views

DV: self-esteem

Student racial consonance

0.328**

(0.127)

0.117

(0.162)

0.175

(0.157)

0.053

(0.049)

Student commitment

 

0.349***

(0.037)

0.161***

(0.046)

0.027

(0.016)

Reflected appraisals

  

0.721***

(0.032)

0.073***

(0.015)

Self views

   

0.103***

(0.015)

Black

0.069

(0.149)

−0.033

(0.174)

0.061

(0.150)

0.152*

(0.058)

Hispanic

−0.072

(0.146)

0.084

(0.127)

0.043

(0.145)

0.089

(0.068)

GPA

0.409***

(0.090)

0.861***

(0.108)

0.522***

(0.114)

−0.044

(0.036)

Graduate student

−0.011

(0.102)

0.264*

(0.090)

−0.153

(0.124)

−0.001

(0.044)

Male

0.066

(0.072)

−0.373**

(0.108)

0.235

(0.108)

0.027

(0.040)

R2

0.047

0.200

0.467

0.290

  1. Notes Numbers in parentheses are standard errors
  2. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001
  3. N = 863; Source The Science Study

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Merolla, D.M., Baker, E. (2020). University Racial Composition and Self-esteem of Minority Students: Commitment, Self Views and Reflected Appraisals. In: Serpe, R.T., Stryker, R., Powell, B. (eds) Identity and Symbolic Interaction. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41231-9_13

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