Exploring the Divergent Academic Outcomes of U.S.-Origin and Immigrant-Origin Black Undergraduates

To explore the divergent academic experiences and outcomes of U.S.-origin and immigrant-origin Black Americans, we drew on Tinto's (1993) model of persistence to test a 3-wave longitudinal model of college persistence using path analysis. Our sample comprised 101 ethnically diverse Black students who were randomly selected from 9 public high schools in the metropolitan Boston area and went on to matriculate at 32 different, predominantly White colleges and universities. Specifically, we compared U.S.-origin and immigrant-origin Black undergraduates' reported college social support/social integration and academic integration and measured the influence of these factors (as well as high school grades and socioeconomic status [SES]) on college persistence 2 years later. As predicted, and consistent with previous studies, immigrant-origin Black students academically outperformed their U.S.-origin Black counterparts, earning significantly higher high school grades and demonstrating greater persistence in college. However, when the effects of high school grades and SES on college persistence were included in a multivariate path model together with immigration status and college social and academic integration, immigration status no longer predicted college persistence. Neither social nor academic integration predicted college persistence, within the path model, as hypothesized, but social integration did predict academic integration as expected. In separate correlational analyses, academic integration and SES were associated with college persistence for U.S.-origin Black students, but this was not the case for immigrant-origin Black students. We discuss the implications of these findings for fostering greater success among diverse Black undergraduates.