2009 - How African American is the Net Black Advantage? Differences in College Attendance Among Immigrant Blacks, Native Blacks, and Whites

Attribution: Bennett, Pamela R., & Lutz, Amy
Researchers: Amy LutzPamela R. Bennett
University Affiliation: Johns Hopkins University; Syracuse University
Email: pbennet@jhu.edu
Research Question:
Investigates the reason that black high school graduates are more likely to attend college than white high school graduates, looking specifically at whether this advantage is driven by immigrant blacks who come from more privileged socioeconomic backgrounds.
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Sociology of Education
Journal Entry: Vol. 82, Pp. 70-100
Year: 2009
Findings:
  • The net black advantage in college-going characterizes the educational experiences of both African Americans and black immigrants.
  • Both African Americans and black immigrants are more likely than similar whites to attend college after high school graduation, net of background factors.
  • African Americans display a net advantage over comparable whites across all types of colleges, while black immigrants evidence a net advantage only in attending selective colleges.
  • Differences between immigrant and native blacks in terms of two parents and private school education contribute to group differences in college going and destination; controlling for background differences between these groups led to reductions in immigrant-native gaps in college attendance across all levels of selectivity.
  • Proportionately fewer immigrants than native blacks enter higher education via HBCUs, while a larger percentage of immigrants than native blacks enter via selective colleges.
Keywords: African AmericanCollegeImmigrantsOppositional Culture TheoryRegions: NationalMethodologies: QuantitativeAnalysis Methods: Propensity Score Matching Sampling Frame:Black and white high school graduates in the U.S.
Sampling Types: RandomAnalysis Units: StudentData Types: Quantitative-Panel Data
Data Description:
  • Utilized NELS 1988 from the third follow-up wave which looks at the cohort two years after students have graduated from high school (in 1994).
  • Dataset includes over 1,000 schools and 24,599 students.
  • DV: Whether respondents attended college, and the selectivity of the colleges that the respondents attended
  • IV: Race; generational status (first and second generation versus third generation and later)
  • Control Variables: Socioeconomic background; academic performance; educational expectations
Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:
Archives: K-12 Integration, Desegregation, and Segregation Abstracts