Academic disidentification in Black college students: The role of teacher trust and gender.

OBJECTIVES: Research has identified academic disidentification as a phenomenon that appears to uniquely impact Black male students. However, few empirical studies examine what underlies such gender differences. This study examined whether students' teacher trust is a factor underlying academic disidentification in Black college students and whether this is moderated by gender. Academic disidentification was investigated by examining the strength of the relation between a student's view of his or her academic abilities in comparison to peers (i.e., academic self-concept [ASC]) and the student's academic outcomes (i.e., grade point average [GPA]). Attribution theory was used as a lens to test a hypothesized multigroup path model that linked age to teacher trust and ASC, and ASC to GPA through teacher trust. Alternative models were also tested.

METHOD: Participants were 319 Black students (120 males and 199 females) recruited from a large, southwestern, predominantly White university.

RESULTS: Results revealed the hypothesized model fit the data reasonably well, whereas the alternative models resulted in a poorer fit. The final model supported our hypothesis that the relation between ASC and GPA is partially mediated by teacher trust and this relation was moderated by gender, such that the indirect effect was significantly stronger for males than females. Several significant differences were also found across gender for direct paths.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest college students' trust of faculty may be particularly important for Black males and is likely a contributing factor to academic disidentification. Practical implications for university professionals' facilitation of Black college students' academic development are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record