Are We Satisfied with Diversity Now? A Replication and Extension of Park’s (2009) DDS Study

• In Event: Impact of power and politics in higher education

Abstract

This study replicates and extends Park’s (2009) study on students' demographic diversity satisfaction (DDS) by analyzing data from the 2019 College Senior Survey (CSS). Drawing on the Multicontextual Model for Diverse Learning Environments (MMDLE), we examine how structural diversity, diversity-related experiences, and student attitudes predict satisfaction with the racial/ethnic diversity of the student body and faculty. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analyses were used to compare patterns of satisfaction across five racial/ethnic groups and to identify significant predictors of DDS. Findings indicate that while overall DDS has improved since Park’s study using 1998 CSS data, differences in satisfaction across race/ethnicity persist. Additional findings and implications are discussed.

Authors

• John Yang, UCLA

• Gabriel Lê Espiritu, University of California - Los Angeles