Declining Optimism in Ethnic Minority Students: The Role of Attributions and Self-Esteem

Abstract

The academic under-achievement of African Americans is one of the most striking examples of inequality in the United States. The severity of the problem is illustrated by the illiteracy rate which runs as high as 40% among minority youth, compared with 13% among all 17-year-olds in the United States (see National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983). Most alarming is that the differences in achievement between African American students and White students increase with age. For example, while the math performance of African American students is 14% below the national average at age 9, by age 17, this gap has grown to 20% (data derived from Holmes, 1982).1 Similar differences between African American and White students are observed in higher education. For example, African American students graduate from college with a grade point average that is two-thirds of a letter grade below that of White students (Nettles, 1988). More disturbing evidence comes from findings that the majority of African American students who start college never obtain a bachelor degree (Billson & Terry, 1982; Bynum & Thompson, 1983; Fleming, 1984; McCauley, 1988; Suen, 1983). The national dropout rate for African Americans in college is 70%, compared to only 42% for all college students (Nettles, 1988).