The Effects of Parents Educational Attainment on the Rentension of African American Students at Predominately White Institutions

This study assesses whether parents' educational background positively affects the retention and graduation of African-American students who attend Predominately White Institutions (PWI). Studies that have compared successful African-American students to unsuccessful African-American college students at PWI (Allen, 1985) have suggested that an important factor in understanding these differences in outcome is parents' educational background. College-educated parents may have clearer expectations for their children's college experience and may have instilled different cultural or socialization messages in their children. Those messages could include Historical/Cultural, Black Identity/Self-Concept, Maladaptive, and Residual messages. These children may enter college with clearer ideas of college norms and expectations, and may have fewer adjustment and transition problems than first generation black peers (Pounds, 1987). The population of this study will consist of African-American respondents in the National Survey of Black Americans.