Factors Influencing Academic Success Among African American College Women: The Impact of African American Acculturation and Religiosity

Abstract

African Americans are historically an underresearched, underrepresented, and underserved population. Furthermore, academic success research has primarily focused on White students, thus creating questions as to the appropriateness of generalizing results to students of color. This study explored factors that influence academic success in African American college women, specifically examining the impact of African American acculturation and religiosity. A total of 129 self-identified Black/African American college women completed an online survey assessing level of acculturation, religious commitment, and academic college success as determined by GPA and a college student academic success inventory. Simple regression analysis revealed that the relationship between acculturation and GPA was found to be statistically indiscernible, as was the relationship between GPA and religiosity. Significant relationships were found between the independent variables, African American acculturation and religiosity, and certain domains of the success inventory utilized in this study. The results of this study add

Religious Socialization and Self-Definition Among Black Undergraduate Women Attending Predominantly White Institutions

“…For Black students who attend PWIs, this may be especially true, because they also must contend with their experiences as racially minoritized students on campus (e.g., McGuire et al, 2016). Yet, fewer scholars have considered how Black female students reflect on their religious beliefs and develop a more mature understanding of themselves, others, and their place in the world (Johnson & Reynolds, 2018; Patton & McClure, 2009). In the current study, we explored how Black undergraduate women understood, internalized, and negotiated their prior religious socialization messages from family, religious, and community contexts.…”

Development and Validation of the Spiritual Impact Rating Scale for Women (SIRSW): A Tool for Assessing College Women's Spirituality

“…The notion of gender differences has been reported on different aspects of human development implicitly or explicitly, whether it be in terms of women's distinctive forms of moral reasoning (Gatens-Robinson, 1986;Ryan, David, & Reynolds, 2004;Ward & King, 2018), ways of knowing (Belenky et al, 1986), emotionality (Miller, 1976), styles of relational attachment or identity formation (Josselson, 1987), and religiosity (Bryant, 2007;Johnson & Reynolds, 2018). Differences in all of these facets of human development lead to the beliefs that gender differences in spirituality may exist as well.…”