Department of Educational Administration

 

Date of this Version

Spring 4-19-2012

Comments

A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts, Major: Educational Administration, Under the Supervision of Professor James Griesen. Lincoln, NE: May 2012

Copyright (c) 2012 Jerry L. Washington

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the similarities and differences between the psychological development of African American and Hispanic undergraduate students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Data were collected to compare, contrast, and identify common trends in the development of African American and Hispanic students. The Nigrescence Model first introduced by William E. Cross in 1971 was administered to a sample of both populations in an effort to determine if the model is applicable to the Hispanic student population. African American and Hispanic undergraduate students identified by the Office of Admissions were surveyed with a response of 144 students. The responses were kept completely confidential and participants were identified by a specific participant number. Chronbach alpha scores indicated that the Cross Racial Identity Scale (CRIS) between African Americans as well as Hispanics show only minor differences in instrument reliability across the five Nigrescence stages. The data derived from the CRIS demonstrated that there are significant differences between African American and Hispanic students in the stages of Miseducation, Self-Hatred, and Ethnocentricity while there were no significant differences between the ethnicities in Assimilation and Antidominance stages. Discussion of the research and implications for practice are presented, along with suggestions for future research.

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