The Color of Expectations: The Role of Skin Tone in Latinos’ College Attainment Process

• In Event: 30420 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 11: Race and Higher Education

Abstract

This paper analyzes the direct and indirect effects of skin tone in the college completion outcomes of Latinos. Educational aspirations and expectations have been widely analyzed in the study of educational outcomes of Latinos. However, the link between aspirations, expectations, and actual educational outcomes has been often overlooked. Additionally, educational aspirations and expectations have been treated as interchangeable constructs. I draw from theories in educational psychology to conceptualize the difference between aspirations, expectations, and self perception in the college attainment process, as well as their mediating role between skin tone and college completion. Preliminary results show that Latino youth of darker skin tones have significantly lower college completion rates in young adulthood. However, these skin tone effects are mediated by college expectations and self-rated intelligence measured in adolescence. Latino youth of darker skin tones, in turn, report lower college expectations and self-rated intelligence. This pattern suggests that Latino youth develop negative self-perceptions and perceived barriers to their education based on their skin tone, internalizing widely held beliefs about the lower academic competence of Latinos. Nonetheless, skin tone has no significant effects on college aspirations, which highlights the normative aspirations of Latino youth.

Author

• Ruy Manrique, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill