White College Students’ Racial Prejudice and Perceptions of Racial Hate Crime

This study investigated how racial prejudice influences White college students’ perceptions of hate crime. We also examined the moderating effects of the race of the victim of hate crimes and the absence of hate crime laws. Our sample included 581 White students in a predominantly White university located in a state that does not have a hate crime law. The study was set up in a 2 (race of the victim and the perpetrator) × 3 (level of assault) factorial design. Participants rated their perceptions of three scenarios (i.e., non-racially biased simple assault, racially biased simple assault, and racially biased aggravated assault). The dependent variables were perceptions of hate crime and willingness to report. The key independent variable was participants’ level of racial prejudice. The moderators included race of the victim in each scenario and whether participants’ state of origin has a hate crime law. Results suggest that higher levels of modern racism were associated with lower perceptions of hate crime and lower willingness to report racially biased simple and aggravated hate crime. When the victim was White, participants with higher levels of racial prejudice were more likely to perceive a hate crime and more willing to report it. The opposite was true when the victim was Black. The absence of state hate crime laws and race of victim were significant moderators. Our study suggests that racial prejudice is associated with lower perceptions of hate crime and willingness to report. Furthermore, the moderating effect of the race of victims provides insights on how racial prejudice can lead to a differential perception of hate crime, depending on whether one’s racial in-group is targeted. Our findings also highlight the importance of having state-level hate crime laws to mitigate the linkage between modern racism and perceptions of hate crime.

The Interplay of Race/Ethnicity and Education in Fertility Patterns

This study examines the racial/ethnic and educational disparities in fertility for U.S. women born during 1960–80. Using data from the National Survey of Family Growth from 2006 to 2017, we apply a regression-based approach to estimate 1) cohort total fertility rates, 2) parity progression ratios, and 3) parity-specific probability of having a birth by age, for non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks, and Hispanics by educational attainments. We find that compared to their White counterparts, Black and Hispanic women with less than a high school education have higher fertility. However, among college educated women, Blacks have the lowest fertility levels, whereas Hispanics have the highest. The difference in fertility between Black and White college educated women is mainly driven by the smaller proportion of Black mothers having second births. We find little evidence that the observed racial disparities in fertility levels across educational levels are driven by differences in fertility timing.

Division I College Athletes’ Self-Perception: Investigating the Impact of Race and Discrimination

Self-perception is the level of competency at which individuals evaluate themselves in certain areas or domains (Marsh & Shavelson, 1985). An individual’s self-perceptions contribute to their global self-worth and even predicts performance (Cuellar, 2014; Harter & Neemann, 2012). This study measures self-perception scores, as well as experiences with racial discrimination, of 306 NCAA Division I college athletes using the Self-Perception Profile for College Students (Harter & Neemann, 2012). Scores are compared across race. Findings suggest that White college athletes have significantly higher self-perception scores than college athletes of color - with recent discrimination (within the last year) as a significant predictor of multiple areas of self-perception. The implications of this study suggest that faculty and other campus stakeholders should pursue positive relationships with the college athletes they encounter. Positive relationships between college athletes and faculty may help raise college athlete self-perceptions, and in turn, performance in a variety of areas.