Graduate School Racial Climates and Academic Self-Concept among Minority Graduate Students in the 1970s

Longitudinal data on African American and Chicano students attending graduate school in the 1970s is used to test a model reflecting the influence of parental socioeconomic status (SES), gender, precollege assessments, and the graduate school's racial climate on academic self-concept. The study establishes that early influences and the components of academic self-concept change as students move into adulthood. Minority females consistently lag behind males in views of their academic self-concept. Higher academic self-concept was reported in graduate racial climates characterized by low trust and interaction among groups. These findings raise important questions regarding the development of academic self-concept among minorities in graduate school.