TITLE:
Effects of Perceived Racism, Cultural Intelligence, and Personality: Student Characteristics and Views at an Evangelical Christian University
AUTHORS:
David M. Compton
KEYWORDS:
Perceived Discrimination, Race, Resilience, Personality, Cultural Intelligence, Diversity
JOURNAL NAME:
Psychology,
Vol.12 No.10,
October
28,
2021
ABSTRACT: Perceived racism has been characterized as the individual subjective experiences with racial discrimination that may include attributions and intentions of others. The present study was designed to ascertain the racial experiences at a mid-sized Christian university located in an urban area of the southeast, examining what factors may drive differences in perception and experiences. Perceived racism was measured using a brief version of the Perceived Ethnic Discrimination Questionnaire (PEDQ-CVB). Given our multi-ethnic community and a hypothesized role in perception, cultural intelligence was measured using the Cultural Intelligence Scale. Personality variables were considered using the HEXAC0-60, and participant resilience was measured using the Brief Resilience Scale. As expected, racial differences in perceived racism emerged with individuals identifying as Black scoring higher on the scales of the PEDQ-CVB than White individuals. On some scales Asian/Pacific Islander respondents reporting lower levels of perceived discrimination than White individuals. Hierarchical regression analysis indicated that cultural intelligence and some but not all personality factors accounted for a sizable proportion of race-associated variance in PEDQ-CVB full and subscale scores. Resilience was not associated with perceived ethnic discrimination. However, higher levels of resilience were associated three personality characteristics—Agree-ableness and Extraversion, and inversely related to Emotionality. The implications of the results for contemporary discussions on race-related issues are discussed.