The Role of Racial Identity, Academic Self-Concept, and Self-Esteem in the Prediction of Academic Outcomes for African American Students

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine the extent to which racial identity, academic self-concept, and self-esteem predict two types of academic outcomes, grade point average (GPA), and verbal Graduate Record Examination scores. Although grades and standardized test performance are often collapsed under the category of academic performance, no studies have examined both of these variables' relations with racial identity, academic self-concept, and self-esteem together in the same study. A total of 313 African American students derived from two separate samples participated in the current study. The results indicated that academic self-concept significantly predicted students' GPA but not their test scores. Furthermore, racial identity did not predict either grades or test performance. The strongest predictor of test performance was the age of the student. Implications of the study findings are discussed.