Internalized Racial Oppression and Higher Education Values: The Mediational Role of Academic Locus of Control Among College African American Men and Women

A plethora of research underscores the deleterious effects that racial discrimination can have on the higher education pursuits and experiences of African Americans. The current study investigated the relationship between internalized racial oppression, higher education values, academic locus of control, and gender among a sample of African Americans. Participants were 156 African Americans currently attending college. All participants completed measures of internalized racial oppression, perceived value of higher education, and academic locus of control. Results indicated that greater internalized racial oppression correlated with a lower valuing of higher education and a more external academic locus of control. Subsequent mediational analyses showed that academic locus of control was an intervening variable in the relationship between internalized racial oppression and the value placed on higher education for men, but not women. For African American men, greater experiences of internalized racial oppression predicted a more external locus of control, which subsequently predicted a lower valuing of higher education. Implications for mental health providers and educators were discussed herein.