Openness to Different Types of Diversity: An Applied Latent Class Analysis

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Understanding Self and Others Within Institutional Contexts

Abstract

There is a growing body of research on college students’ interactions across race/ethnicity, and how they impact on student outcomes. However, less is known about the effects of student interactions with diverse others across other aspects of difference (e.g., religion, political beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, social class), and how this may impact on their awareness and understanding of diverse others. We used latent class analysis to illustrate how college students can be classified into groups, and to assess the associations of these latent classes to students’ awareness and understanding of diverse others. The four-class model consisted of Class 1 (Global Openness), Class 2 (Openness to Gender and Sexuality), Class 3 (Openness to Different Cultures), and Class 4 (Low Openness).

Authors

• Nida Denson, University of Western Sydney

• Marsha M. Ing, University of California - Riverside

• Karen L. Nylund-Gibson, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Adam Garber, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Maggie Chan, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Delwin Carter, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Dina Naji Arch, University of California - Santa Barbara