Some Socio-Behavioral Correlates of African Self-Consciousness in African-American College Students

Two stepwise multiple regression analyses were performed on the African self-consciousness (ASC) Scale scores of 219 African-American male and female college students utilizing 36 background and 20 Africentric activity factors as the predictor variables. The results revealed that only a very small number of the two sets of predictors were significantly related to the ASC scores. The background factors of parental membership in predominantly Black organizations, exposure to Black studies courses, and prior experiences with racism/racial prejudice significantly predicted ASC scores and accounted for some 34% of the total variance. The activity factors of attending African cultural activities, reading books about Blacks/ African culture, and giving aid/assistance to other Blacks all during the preceding year predicted ASC scores. This latter group of findings, however, accounted for such a nominal portion of the total variance that they must be considered inconclusive. It was concluded that these findings point toward a potentially promising area of African self-consciousness research, but more rigorous and systematic approaches to measurement development in particular, as well as sampling are needed to enhance this general area of prediction.