Influence of Racial Identity Attitudes on African American College Students' Vocational Identity and Hope

Although there have been numerous appeals for such research in the professional literature, this study was the first to empirically investigate individual difference variables influencing vocational identity and hope in setting and achieving goals in African American college students. One-hundred twenty-two African American college students attending a predominantly White university completed measures assessing students' racial identity attitudes, vocational identity, and sense of hope to achieve goals. Results from a series of multiple linear regressions indicated that both racial identity attitudes and demographic variables significantly accounted for variability in one's sense of hope. Specifically, internalization of one's racial identity, academic classification, and highest level of parental educational attainment significantly related to hope. Similarly, internalization of one's racial identity accounted for a significant amount of vocational identity variance for women. Conversely, for men, racial identity attitudes did not account for a significant amount of variance in vocational identity scores; however, demographic variables collectively accounted for a significant amount of vocational identity scores for men, but not for women. Findings suggest that racial identity attitudes accounted for additional variance in hope over and above demographic variables for both men and women and in vocational identity for women only. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.