The Influence of Diversity on Learning Outcomes among African American College Students: Measuring Sex Differences

National survey data from 594 African American college students were analyzed using descriptive and multivariate statistical techniques to measure the impact of diversity on educational outcomes. Two research questions guided the present study: (a) How do interactional diversity experiences affect learning and development outcomes for African American undergraduates attending 4-year institutions? (b) Does this relationship vary between Black men and women? Results suggest that interactional diversity experiences are positively associated with perceived student learning across all six domains; interactional diversity is one of the strongest, consistent predictors of perceived learning included in the statistical models. Models explain different proportions of the variance in dependent variables, ranging from 16% to 23%. Implications for future policy, practice, and research are discussed.