College Students' Attitudes Toward Cultural Diversity

The purpose of the researcher was to investigate college students’ attitudes toward cultural diversity. The five independent variables investigated were gender, college classification, race, mother’s education, and father’s education. The five dependent variables were Interest in Cultural Diversity, Ethnocentrism, Cross-Cultural Beliefs and Values, Racism, and Total Score. The total sample size was 139 college students which included 66 male and 73 female subjects. Five composite null hypotheses were tested at the .05 level of significance employing a three-way analysis of variance (general linear model). Ninety comparisons made, 25 were for main effects and 65 were for interactions. Of the 25 main effects, 11 were statistically significant at the .05 level. Of the 65 interactions, 7 were statistically significant at the .05 level. The results of the present study appeared to support the following generalizations: 1. Classification is associated with Ethnocentrism, 2. Classification is associated with sensitivity to cultural diversity, 3. Race is associated with Interest in Cultural Diversity, 4. Race is associated with Cross-Cultural Beliefs and Values, 5. Race is associated with sensitivity to cultural diversity, 6. Significant interactions between gender and mother’s education for Interest in Cultural Diversity; between classification and mother’s education for Interest in Cultural Diversity; between gender and mother’s education for Ethnocentrism; between gender and mother’s education for Cross-Cultural Beliefs and Values; between classification and mother’s education for Cross-Cultural Beliefs and Values; between gender and mother’s education for sensitivity to cultural diversity (Total Score); and between gender and mother’s education for Racism.