The purpose of this study was to determine the racial awareness of majority group member students at East Tennessee State University (ETSU) and factors related to racial awareness. Seven research questions and five hypotheses were examined. The Oklahoma Racial Attitudes Survey-Preliminary Form (ORAS-P) was used to identify the racial awareness of White students enrolled at ETSU during the fall of 1999. Forty-six classes were surveyed obtaining a sample totaling 395 students. In addition to completing the ORAS-P, students in the sample were asked the following demographic questions: gender, age, city and state of birth, name and location of high school from which they graduated, race, parents occupation and highest level of education, annual family income, college classification, number of core classes that have a diversity component completed at ETSU, and the nature of contact they have had with someone of a different race. Once the students' racial awareness levels were determined, t-tests and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to test for differences between subgroups on the ORAS-P. Results showed that annual family income and contact with minorities were significantly related to racial awareness while the percentage of minorities in the high school the respondent graduated from and the number of core classes having a diversity component completed at ETSU were not related to racial awareness. Hierarchical multiple regression was used to determine how effectively the independent variables could predict one's level of racial awareness. Analysis showed that the variables of age, gender, annual family income, and contact (with minorities) were the most significant predictors of racial awareness.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ETSU/oai:dc.etsu.edu:etd-5811 |
| Date | 01 May 2000 |
| Creators | Terrell, Lavern |
| Publisher | Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University |
| Source Sets | East Tennessee State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Electronic Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright by the authors. |
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