A comparison of African-American athletes' nurturing experiences at historically black and historically white colleges/universities.

摘要

The belief that Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) nurture African-American students better than Historically White Colleges and Universities (HWCU) is widely held. This belief is likely grounded in the historical development of American higher education. Sellers and Kuperminc (1997) proposed that African-American athletes at HBCU will transition better than those at HWCU because they will not be goal discrepant. The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of nurturing experiences of African American athletes at HBCU versus HWCU by Processors, Student Affairs Staff, and Athletics Staff. The problem question was, "Are African-American athletes nurturing levels similar at HBCU and HWCU?";There were 30 students (11 female and 19 male) from the HCBU and 35 students (20 female and 15 male) from the HWCU. The respondents completed a 36-item Nurturing Experience scale developed from a pilot study. The MANOVA results for the institutional-type comparisons on all 12 dependent variables [3 staff types x 4 nurturing dimensions] suggests no statistically significant difference [F(12,52) = 1.40, p = .197] between institution types. Due to the exploratory nature of this study, follow-up univariate results were analyzed. The univariate results indicated that there were statistically significant differences between institution-types for Athletic Staff Career Development (F = 6.43, p = .014) and Athletic Staff Career Experiences (F = 4.85, p = .031). There were no significant differences between institution-types for the remaining 10 dependent variables.;These results revealed two key findings. First, there was no overall significant difference between HBCU and HWCU nurturing levels. Second, the univariate differences that did emerge were on the Career Development and Career Experiences dimensions; these indicated that HWCU had higher nurturing scores. The differences that were found may be explained by resource discrepancies that exist at HBCU (receiving fewer) versus HWCU (receiving more). The results suggest that in today's educational environment, both institution types may nurture African-American student-athletes similarly. This is contrary to Sellars and Kuperminc's assumption that HBCU would nurture better. Studies with larger samples are needed to develop a fuller picture of nurturing levels at HBCU and HWCU.