Stereotype Threat: Undermining the Persistence of Racial Minority Freshmen in the Sciences

This longitudinal survey study examined whether possessing the combined attributes of having experienced high frequency of negative racial interactions and having a high degree of identification with one’s domain or field of study puts underrepresented racial minority (URM) students at greater risk of changing their major by the end of the first year of college. According to the theory of stereotype threat, possessing both attributes increases URM students’ vulnerability to stereotype threat, which in turn may negatively affect their academic performance. Of particular interest was the extent to which the combination of those two attributes affected first-year URM students in biomedical and behavioral science (BBS) majors. The results show that URM freshmen who reported high levels of both negative racial experiences and science domain identification were significantly less likely to persist in their intended major during the first year of college. The educational implications of the findings are discussed.