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Abstract
This study examined the relationship between world view, African Self-consciousness, and adjustment, using a causal-comparative (ex post facto) design and a survey method to collect the data. Differences between African students and African American students were explored with respect to world view, African self-consciousness, and adjustment. Additionally, these two groups were compared to a group of Caucasian students on the same variables.
There were 75 African students, 61 African American students, and 84 Caucasian students all attending the University of Nebraska campuses. The participants completed the Scale to Assess World View (SAWV), a Demographic Data Sheet, and the Student Adaptation to College Questionnaire (SACQ). African students and African American students also completed the African Self Consciousness Scale (ASC).
A multivariate analysis of Variance (MANOVA) using the SAWV showed that there were significant differences between the three cultural groups. More African American students and African students, compared to Caucasian students, perceived human nature as bad, social relations as collateral-mutual, and had a time focus that is both in the past and in the future. African students, compared to African American students and Caucasian students, also more readily saw human nature as good and bad and social relations as lineal-hierarchical.
Additionally, there were significant differences between women and men. To a greater extent women perceived social relations as collateral-mutual and believed in an activity orientation that was being-in-becoming. The men compared to the women preferred social relations that were lineal-hierarchical.
In terms of adjustment, a MANOVA analysis revealed that African American students and Caucasian students reported better academic adjustment than African students. Furthermore, African American students and African students, compared to Caucasian students, reported better social adjustment and a higher institutional attachment. A multiple regression analysis revealed that the world view orientations that best predicted adjustment were: (a) human nature as bad orientation, (b) social relations that are individualistic, and (c) less future time orientation. Furthermore, African students and African American students who reported a higher level of African self-consciousness were better adjusted than those students who reported a lower level of African self-consciousness. And finally, African students reported a higher African self-consciousness compared to African American students.
