Results

The results presented in this chapter are divided into five sections. The first section begins with a discussion of differences in APA students’ racial attitudes in comparison to their racial/ethnic peers. It continues with a description of the background characteristics of the Asian Pacific American students in the study. Section one concludes with the results of the first of several discrete analyses on the relationship between APA students’ background characteristics and their racial attitudes in 1994. Section two portrays the self-interests and dominant ideology beliefs of APA students and their racial/ethnic peers at college entry in 1990 (T₁), and section three outlines Asian Pacific American students’ conceptions of their racial/ethnic identity as compared to their racial/ethnic peers at college entry in 1990 (T₁). The fourth section opens with a comparison of the college experiences of Asian Pacific American students in relation to their racial/ethnic peers. Section four continues with a description of the interplay between key APA background characteristics and APA students’ college experiences, and closes with analyses of the influences of APA students’ college experiences on their racial attitudes. Section five revisits Asian Pacific American students’ dominant ideology beliefs and racial/ethnic identification in their fourth year of college, in 1994 (T₄), and examines the changes in their beliefs and identities during their college careers from 1990 to 1994. Section five continues with a consideration of the potential impact of APA students’ background characteristics and the college environment in shaping their dominant ideology beliefs and racial/ethnic identities, and this section closes with analyses on how APA students’ beliefs and identities—both at college entry and four years later—affect their racial attitudes. This chapter concludes in section six with a brief summary of the analyses from the first five sections of this chapter.