Exploring the Relations Between Religious Orientation and Racial Identity Attitudes in African College Students

Abstract

As the Black African college student population increases across U.S. college campuses, helping professionals are encouraged to more clearly understand the unique identity developmental needs of these students in order to fortify their academic endeavors and contribute to their success. Both religion and race are powerful forces that shape identity, providing an overall sense of purpose, a feeling of connection with others, and a sense of community. Yet, both of these aspects of identity are rarely studied in Black African college student populations. This study examined the relations between religious orientation and racial identity attitudes in 49 Black African college students, whose diverse racial, ethnic, and religious experiences have been understudied. The results from multiple regression analyses indicated that religious orientation was significantly related to racial identity status. Specifically, intrinsic religious orientation was positively related to preencounter (i.e., pro-White, anti-Black beliefs about one’s own racial group) racial identity attitudes, quest religious orientation was positively related to immersion-emersion (i.e., anti-White, pro-Black attitudes about one’s own racial-cultural group) racial identity attitudes, and the relations between intrinsic religious orientation and internalization (i.e., internalized positive self-acceptance) racial identity attitudes approached significance. Recommendations for future research and implications for diversity in higher education are discussed.

Keywords

racial identity religious orientation Black African college students

The number of Black African students on college campuses throughout the United States is steadily growing (Bennett & Lutz, 2009). This is due to both increasing numbers of Black African international students (Institute of International Education [IIE], 2010) and the expanding African immigrant population in the United States (Logan & Deane, 2003). In the 2009-2010 academic year, U.S. college campuses experienced a 3% increase in African international students (IIE, 2010); of the 37,062 African students studying in United States that year, the majority (32,121) were Black Africans from the sub-Saharan region of the continent (IIE, 2010). In addition, first- or second-generation Black African immigrant students residing in the United States now comprise nearly a third (27%) of Black students at selective U.S. colleges (Massey, Mooney, Torres, & Charles, 2007). In this article, the authors refer to Black African college students as those who are Black African international students or African immigrant students who were born in continental Africa but now reside in the United States or are first- or second-generation students with African-born parents and were either born in the United States or moved to the United States with their families at an early age.

Despite the increasing number of Black African college students in higher education settings, there is a dearth of research that explores their religious/spiritual and racial identity attitudes. These are two important aspects of identity development explored during the self-examination period of adolescence and young adulthood, particularly among racial minority college students (Cross, 1971; Erikson, 1968; Sciarra & Gushue, 2003). The establishment of one’s personal identity has been identified as a major developmental task during the period of adolescence, with the greatest gains in identity development usually occurring during the college/university years (Torres, 2009). The college context serves as a primary site where students examine the ways in which their worldviews have been shaped by their community and family upbringing. Their personal identity is further shaped and constructed via participation in classes where they are exposed to various occupational, political, philosophical, cultural, and religious ideologies and interpersonal relationships with peers in the broader social college context (i.e., dormitories, work study, student organizations, etc.; Torres, Jones, & Renn, 2009). Overall, the college environment and personal experiences within the environment can directly influence an individual’s beliefs around religion and race via an interactive process by which an examination of such topics also influences their identity. For these reasons, the study of religion and race is both timely and necessary (Lee, 2002).

Although the majority of research identifies the significant role of religion/spirituality and race in the lives of many African Americans (U.S. born Blacks of African descent brought involuntary to the United States during slavery; Taylor & Chatters, 2010), the experiences of Black African college student populations have been understudied. The conflation of race and ethnicity in research contributes to the monolithic ethnic grouping of all Black Africans as the same with assumptions of broad homogeneous cultures and religious backgrounds (Hall & Carter, 2006; Phelps, Taylor, & Gerard, 2001). These assumptions persist despite the vast diversity among this group in terms of nationality and country of origin (e.g., Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, etc.) and varying religious ideologies (e.g., Muslim, Christian, traditional African religion) or whether they are immigrants or were born in the United States (De Walt, 2011; Stebleton, 2007). Furthermore, unidimensional measures such as church attendance and religious affiliation are often used to measure their religious/spiritual attitudes. However, these measures do not account for the complexity of religious/spiritual attitudes among Black African college students (Stanfield, 1993), along with their simultaneous exploration of identity related to race within a White majority culture in the United States. Therefore, this study seeks to explore the complex relations between religion, spirituality, and race among Black African college students using two models that explore within-group religious and racial identification differences, namely, religious orientation and racial identity.

Defining Religion and Spirituality

Religion and spirituality are exceedingly complex; classifying distinguishable definitions between religion and spirituality has often been a challenge for researchers (Smith & Richards, 2005; Vieten et al., 2013). The term religion often refers to an institutionalized system of attitudes, beliefs, and practices expressed in such world religions as Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism through which people manifest their faith and devotion to an ultimate reality or deity (Kelly, 1995). Terms such as religiosity and religiousness by extension refer to one’s degree of adherence to the beliefs, doctrines, and practices of a particular religion (Mattis & Jagers, 2001). Spirituality has been defined as an individual’s personal relationship with a God or acknowledgment of a higher power (George, Larson, Koenig, & McCullough, 2000) and may or may not encompass membership in a particular religious organization (Taylor & Chatters, 2010). For the purpose of this study, the term religion/spirituality will be used to refer to an individual’s religious or spiritual beliefs and practices (or both).

Religion and Spirituality Among Black African College Students

African religions have received little recognition in the Western world (Chidili, 2007). This is reflected in the dearth of empirical research on the religious/spiritual experiences of Black African individuals in the psychological literature. Thus far, the majority of research in this area with Black college student populations focuses on the significant role that religion/spirituality and race play in the lives of African Americans (Bartlett, 2005; Sanchez & Carter, 2005; Taylor & Chatters, 2010). Specifically, the extant research shows that African American students are more likely than other students to believe in God, pray, and attend religious services frequently (Bartlett, 2005). Moreover, they are more likely than White students to indicate that both religion (i.e., one’s degree of adherence to the beliefs, doctrines, and practices of a particular religion—such as, Christianity, Islam, Judaism) and spirituality (i.e., an individual’s personal relationship with a God or a “higher power,” which may or may not encompass membership in a particular religious organization) are important and are less likely to indicate that “only spirituality” or “neither” as important (Taylor & Chatters, 2010). To address the religious and spiritual needs of all Black students on U.S. campuses, we need to understand how Black African students are unique in their religious and spiritual conceptualizations and avoid assumptions that their experiences are the same as those of African Americans or other international or immigrant students on college campuses.

To begin, we can note that religious and spiritual practices of Black Africans are linked to their particular country’s beliefs and practices, with some overlapping similarities. For instance, among certain groups in Rwanda, God determines the destiny of the individual. The belief in fate and predestination is also present in East and South African Bantu religions as well as eastern and southern religions in such groups as the Tswana (Botswana), Yao (Mozambique), Barundi (Barundi), and others (Gyekye, 1995; Mbiti, 1992). Some groups, such as the Akan peoples of Ghana, rely on paranormal cognition or extrasensory perception (ESP) as a mode of knowing, including the acknowledgment of witchcraft, traditional healers, shamans, and spirit mediums (Constantine, Myers, Kindaichi, & Moore, 2004; Gyekye, 1995).

Thus, Black African students may hold particular religious/spiritual values based on the importance of religion/spirituality in their respective country or religious culture (Booker, 2010). For example, Black African students, with first- or second-generation roots from West Africa, are likely to be influenced by Christianity or Islam, the primary religions in West Africa (Ter Haar & Ellis, 2006). In a study conducted with Nigerian students on campuses in Nigeria (Oluyinka, 2009), religiosity was found to play a major role in undergraduate students’ premarital sex beliefs. Patel, Ramgoon, and Paruk (2009) found that Black and Indian South African college students reported higher religiosity levels than their White counterparts. Moreover, their level of religiosity was significantly correlated with life satisfaction and religious well-being (Patel et al., 2009). Gender has also been found to play an important role in the level of religiosity and the psychological well-being of African college students. For example, in a convenience sample of 508 subjects from the North West Province of South Africa, Vosloo, Wissing, and Temane (2009) found that gender moderated the relationship between spirituality and psychological well-being among students, with females showing significantly higher levels of religiosity and psychological well-being compared with their male counterparts.

Religious Orientation

Given the importance of religion/spirituality in the lives of many Black Africans, the religious orientation framework was used to explore Black African college students’ attitudes toward their religious/spiritual beliefs and to further explore if and how their religious orientation correlated with racial identity attitudes. The religious orientation paradigm is the most widely used framework in the empirical study of religion, particularly with college students (Cannon, 2001; Earnshaw, 2000). The religious orientation paradigm, originally pioneered by the work of Allport (1966), suggests that individuals are motivated to be religious in different ways irrespective of religious affiliation. Religious orientation is said to be expressed along the following three dimensions: extrinsic, intrinsic, and quest (Batson et al., 1993). Individuals with an extrinsic religious orientation may use their beliefs for their own utilitarian means and are not necessarily religious because of deep spiritual faith. They may join a religious organization in order to promote their business, to promote a particular cause or activity, to make friends, or to meet a spouse. The actual religious teachings and beliefs is lightly held or else selectively shaped to fit more self-serving needs (Allport, 1966). On the other hand, individuals with an intrinsic religious orientation are influenced primarily by their religious beliefs. They are not religious for personal gain or for social reasons but have embraced a spiritual belief, internalized it, and follow it “fully” (Allport & Ross, 1967). An intrinsic religious orientation is defined as a more private and expressive way of being religious. An individual demonstrating a quest religious orientation may be doubtful and tentative about their religion or spiritual tradition and may see religion in very complex terms. A quest religious orientation involves exploring existential questions about spiritual beliefs, but not committing to a particular religious ideology or faith (Batson & Ventis, 1982).

Although the religious orientation paradigm has been the dominant paradigm in the psychological study of religion, one drawback is that it has been normed among mostly Western, White American protestant populations (Flere & Lavric, 2008). In response to this limitation, there have been several cross-cultural studies that have examined the religious orientation paradigm with culturally and religiously diverse college student populations, including Thai Buddhists (Tapanya, Nicki, & Jarusawad, 1997), Iranian Muslims (Ghorbani, Watson, Ghramaleki, Morris, & Hood, 2002), and Palestinians (Elbedour, ten Bensel, & Maruyama, 1993). Overall, findings from these studies supporting the validity of the religious orientation paradigm for use with cross-cultural populations, however, highlight the important distinctions in patterns of endorsement of the religious orientation pillars compared with White protestant college student samples (Cohen, Hall, Koenig, & Meador, 2005). In particular, Cohen et al. (2005) found that compared with White American Protestant students, where the extrinsic and intrinsic orientation reflect two distinct religious motivations (i.e., extrinsic reflecting more utilitarian purposes, and intrinsic reflecting a more “authentic” religious motivation), among ethnically diverse non-Protestant college students, there was a significant overlap in the endorsement of the extrinsic and intrinsic orientation pillars. Cohen et al. suggest that in cultures where collective, institutional, social (community), and ritual forms of religiousness dominate, both the extrinsic and intrinsic religious motivation may each reflect authentic motivations for religiousness versus cultures where individual and voluntary faith is more pronounced (e.g., Western cultures). That is, the extrinsic religious orientation may not necessarily reflect utilitarian means, but a genuine manifestation of deep religious faith. Thus, given these nuances in religious orientation, the examination of one’s ethnicity and religious background should be considered when being used among diverse college populations.

African Racial Identity

Like religion/spirituality, the role that race and culture play in one’s personal and social beliefs about identity is multifaceted. Black Africans may differ from African Americans in how they identify with their race and minority group status due to differences in language, immigration history, and varying nationalities and ethnic group ideologies (Stebleton, 2007). However, once in the United States, race will begin to play a particularly salient role in the lives of Black African college students (Constantine, Anderson, Berkel, Caldwell, & Utsey, 2005). The shift from the primarily racially homogeneous environments in their respective countries to racially diverse or predominantly White college settings may result in increased exposure to, and experiences with, race and racism (Reynolds & Constantine, 2007). Based on their phenotype, Black African college students are often cast into the same stereotypes, generalizations, and limiting roles as their African American peers. These occurrences have the potential to affect their racial identity, resulting in their efforts to assimilate, acculturate, and/or resist these prescribed notions of identity (De Walt, 2011). In fact, researchers have found that Black African college students who came to the United States for higher education experienced prejudice, discrimination, and adjustment difficulties based on race (Constantine et al., 2005).

Responses to experiences of discrimination among Black African college students are varied and include increased anger and psychological distress, increased individual and social awareness of race, efforts to educate others, and ignoring negative messages (Constantine et al., 2005). Some researchers have found that perceptions of racial discrimination and responses to these prejudicial experiences are dependent on one’s individual and social racial awareness (Jefferson & Caldwell, 2002; Major et al., 2002; Shelton & Sellers, 2000). That is, depending on one’s individual and social awareness of race, some Black individuals may not perceive racial discrimination as easily as others, and/or may minimize its effects (Shelton & Sellers, 2000) or provide justification of the race-based discrimination (Khan & Lambert, 2001).

Racial identity theory and racial identity measurement have been useful frameworks to address the identity development needs of an increasingly racially diverse college student population (Cross, 1971; Helms, 1990; Phinney & Onwughalu, 1996; Torres, 2009). Central to racial identity theories is an examination of the role that race and culture play in one’s personal and social beliefs about identity in a racially constructed society in which White privilege prevails. Helms’s (1990) model of Black racial identity describes one’s thoughts, perceptions, and level of investment in one’s racial groups’ cultural patterns along four statuses. The preencounter status is described as the deliberate idealization of White culture and denigration of Black/African American culture through behaviors as well as attitudes. The encounter status is characterized by racially salient experience(s) that provoke awareness of one’s racial identity. These experiences can be positive or negative. The immersion-emersion status is characterized by a strong endorsement of Black/African American attitudes along with the psychological and physical withdrawal from White culture into a Black/African American world. When an individual begins to internalize and integrate one’s new Black/African American identity into their personality, the emersion status becomes more salient (Carter, 1995). The internalization status reflects an acceptance and satisfaction with one’s Black/African American identity within the larger context of the human race (Helms, 1990; Settles, Cooke, Morgan, & Sellers, 2004). The racially internalized individual becomes socially flexible and able to move comfortably in varied racial contexts (Carter, 1995). In sum, individuals do not necessarily experience all the racial identity statuses or progress through them sequentially; however, they may express aspects of each status at one point or many points in time.

Empirical research using Helms’s Black racial identity model has shown preencounter, encounter, and immersion-emersion statuses to be correlated with decreased mental health and self-esteem (Carter, 1991; Franklin-Jackson & Carter, 2007; Parham & Helms, 1985a), racism-related stress (Pieterse & Carter, 2010), and perceived discrimination (Johnson & Arbona, 2006). In contrast, the internalization attitudes have been positively associated with self-esteem (Munford, 1994; Phelps et al., 2001), self-actualization tendencies (Parham & Helms, 1985b), and healthy psychological functioning (Pillay, 2005). Internalized racial identity attitudes have also been found to serve as a buffer against racial discrimination (Banks & Kohn-Wood, 2007).

Current Study

To the authors’ knowledge, there are no studies to date that directly explore the relations between religious orientation and racial identity among Black African college students. Given the rapidly growing Black African immigrant population in the United States and on U.S. college campuses, understanding the intersection of religious orientation and racial identity attitudes may be helpful in identifying the unique religious/spiritual and racial/cultural needs of this understudied minority college student population. This may help chief diversity officers and higher education professionals develop culturally relevant outreach intervention programs that account for the unique religious, spiritual, and racial identity needs of diverse Black African college student populations. In addition, it may inform cultural competency training of diversity professionals (chief diversity officers, professors in higher education settings) working with this specific college student population. Given the powerful implications of both religion/spirituality and race for personal identity development, understanding the relations between religious orientation and racial identity may offer a unique and significant contribution to the research as it pertains to building a more complex view of identity development among Black African college students.

As this study represents a preliminary examination of the association between religious orientation and racial identity attitudes among Black African college students, the following research questions were proposed:

Research Question 1: Is an extrinsic religious orientation associated with preencounter and immersion-emersion racial identity attitudes?

Research Question 2: Is an intrinsic religious orientation associated with internalization racial identity attitudes?

Research Question 3: Is a quest religious orientation associated with encounter racial identity attitudes?

Method

Participants

Participants were 49 racially self-identified Black adults of continental African descent from 2- and 4-year colleges in the Northeast United States (31 women and 18 men). Of participants, 61.2% (n = 30) self-identified as African (without reference to country), 18.4% (n = 9) as Nigerian, 12.2% (n = 6) as Ghanaian, 6.1% (n = 3) as Ethiopian, and 2.0% (n = 1) as Sierra Leonean. The majority of participants, 59.2% (n = 29) were first-generation Black African (i.e., born in their respective country) and 40.8% (n = 20) were second-generation (i.e., born in the United States but had at least one parent born in their home country). The participants ranged in age from 18 to 45 years (M = 23.9 years, SD = 5.61 years). The education level of participants ranged between 28.6% freshman (n = 14), 26.5% sophomore (n = 13), 26.5% junior (n = 13), and 18.3% senior (n = 9). The majority of the participants self-identified as “working class” (51%, n = 25), whereas 49% self-identified as “middle class” (n = 24). The religious denomination of participants ranged from 59.2% as Christian (n = 29), 12.2% as Muslim (n = 6), 12.2% as spiritual (n = 6), 10.2% as none (n = 5), and 6.1% as other (n = 3). Participants’ religious attendance ranged from frequent (3 or more times a month; 51%; n = 25) to less frequent (once a month or less; 49%; n = 24). Of participants, 44.9% were from 2-year community colleges (n = 22), and 55.1% were from 4-year colleges (n = 27).

Measures

Three instruments were used in this study: (a) a personal data sheet, (b) the Three Dimensional Measure of Religious Orientation–Simplified Procedure (ROS; Batson & Ventis, 1982), and (c) the Black Racial Identity Attitude Scale–Long Form (BRIAS-L).

The personal data sheet

The personal data sheet requested the participants to indicate their age, gender, race, ethnicity, social class, level of education, generational status in the United States, religious denomination, and religious attendance. For race and ethnicity, participants were provided a blank space to specify their particular group identification. Those respondents who identified themselves as Black and of continental African descent were included in the analysis.

The ROS

The ROS (Batson & Ventis, 1982) is a 32-item scale that measures attitudes reflective of three dimensions of religious motivation as conceptualized by Batson and Ventis (1982). The three subscales comprising the measure are Extrinsic, which measures the external social environment dimension of religious orientation, the degree to which an individual is influenced by others; Intrinsic, which measures an individual’s personal beliefs; and Quest, which measures the degree to which an individual’s personal religion/spiritual beliefs involve an open-minded exploration.

Participants were asked to answer questions using a 9-point Likert-type scale, ranging from strongly agree (1) to strongly disagree (9), to indicate the extent to which each item is descriptive of them. Respondents could obtain a score on each of the three religious orientation scales. The scores were calculated by adding together the scale values chosen by subjects and dividing by the number of items to maintain the scale metric (i.e., strongly disagree to strongly agree). Internal consistency reliability scores for the ROS for the study participants were .73 for Extrinsic, .79 for Intrinsic, and .64 for Quest.

The BRIAS-L

The BRIAS-L (Parham & Helms, 1985) is a 50-item scale that measures attitudes reflective of four of the five statuses of racial identity as conceptualized by Cross (1971). The four subscales comprising the measure are Preencounter, Encounter, Immersion-Emersion, and Internalization. Participants were asked to answer questions using a 5-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree), to indicate the extent to which each item was descriptive of them. Respondents could obtain a score on each of the four racial identity subscales. These scores were calculated by adding the scale values chosen by participants, for appropriately keyed items and dividing by the number of items to maintain the scale metric. Internal consistency reliability alpha coefficients for the study participants were .79 for Preencounter, .34 for Encounter, .72 for Immersion-Emersion, and .70 for Internalization subscales. Although these coefficients are consistent with other studies using the Parham and Helms (1985) Racial Identity Attitudes Scale, the encounter status was not used in subsequent analyses because of its particularly low internal consistency (see Tokar & Fischer, 1998, for a more detailed description of the psychometric properties of the BRIAS-L).

Results

Means and standard deviations for Religious Orientation subscales and Black Racial Identity Attitude subscales are presented in Table 1.

Table 1.

Intercorrelations, Means, and Standard Deviations Among Religious Orientation Scale and Black Racial Identity Attitude Scale–Long Form (N = 49).

Measure	EXT	INTR	QUES	PRE	IMM	INT	M	SD
EXT	—						27.45	7.66
INTR	−.06	—					21.45	5.63
QUES	−.16	.26	—				42.81	6.36
PRE	−.03	.78**	.15	—			49.18	11.67
IMM	−.17	.16	.74**	.01	—		20.34	4.67
INT	−.19	−.20	.22	−.60**	.20	—	30.44	5.63

Note. EXT = Extrinsic; INTR = Intrinsic; QUES = Quest; PRE = Preencounter; IMM = Immersion-Emersion; INT = Internalization.

Significant at the < .05 level (two-tailed). ** Significant at the < .01 level (two-tailed).

Preliminary analyses were conducted to determine if there were differences on the mean scores of religious orientation and racial identity attitudes by select demographic variables. MANOVAs were conducted for gender, social class, education level, generational status in the United States, religious denomination, and religious attendance for the BRIAS-L subscales (Preencounter, Immersion-Emersion, Internalization) and the ROS subscales (Extrinsic, Intrinsic, Quest), respectively. The analyses revealed no significant effects for any of the demographic variables.

Three simultaneous multiple regression analyses (one for each Religious Orientation subscale) were used to explore the relationship between religious orientation and racial identity status, and Religious Orientation (Extrinsic, Intrinsic, Quest) was used as predictor variables for each of the three Racial Identity Attitude subscale variables. The results of the analyses are presented in Table 2.

Table 2.

Summary of Simultaneous Regression Analyses for Religious Orientation Subscale Predicting Variables on Racial Identity Preencounter, Immersion-Emersion, and Internalization (N = 49).

	Racial identity status
	Preencounter			Immersion-Emersion			Internalization
Predictor	B	SE	β	B	SE	β	B	SE	β
Extrinsic	0.00	.06	.00	−0.02	.04	−.04	−0.09	.07	−.17
Intrinsic	1.30	.15	.79**	−0.04	.12	.03	−0.39	.19	−.28
Quest	−0.07	.13	−.05	0.74	.10	.74**	0.30	.16	.26
R ²	.63			.55			.15
F	23.76			18.39			2.68

Significant at the < .05 level (two-tailed). ** Significant at the < .01 level (two-tailed).

Findings showed that ROS significantly predicted scores on the BRIAS Preencounter Status subscale, R² = .61, F(3, 45) = 23.76, p < .00, and the BRIAS Immersion-Emersion subscale, R² = .55, F(3, 45) = 18.39, p < .00. An analysis of the beta weights in the regression analyses show a significant positive relationship between intrinsic religious orientation and preencounter racial identity attitudes (β = 1.30, t = 8.28, p < .00; Table 2). A significant positive relationship was also found between quest religious orientation and immersion-emersion racial identity attitudes (β = 0.74, t = 7.07, p = .00; Table 2). The relation between intrinsic religious orientation and internalization racial identity attitudes approached significance (β = 1.39, t = −2.01, p < .06; Table 2).

Discussion

This study explored the relations between religious orientation and racial identity attitudes among Black African college students in an urban college setting in the Northeast United States. Overall, religious orientation was significantly related to racial identity attitudes. Results revealed that intrinsic, or private internal religious attitudes, were associated with the endorsement of White culture and standards and a minimization of one’s race (preencounter racial identity status). This suggests that Black African college students may maintain private, devout religious beliefs while attempting to define themselves around more “mainstream” racial attitudes. Moreover, an intrinsic religious orientation may also be associated with a rejection of a U.S.-imposed Black “racial” group identity (internalization racial identity status). Nyang (2011) noted that a major struggle for Black Africans in the United States is simultaneously navigating the dominant White culture and the Westernized Christian society. The acceptance of White majority culture while downplaying the salience of race may indicate Black African college students’ desire to progress, thrive, and acculturate in the United States (Benson, 2006; Phelps et al., 2001; Thomas, Caldwell, Faison, & Jackson, 2009).

For the current sample of Black African college students, an intrinsic religious orientation may also be inextricably tied to their African culture. Mbiti’s (1992) seminal work on religion and Africans contends that for Africans, religion and culture are inseparable. While most Black Africans will identify with Christianity or Islam, they may experience these two world religions as intertwined with African culture and often practiced alongside traditional African religion and spiritual beliefs (Riggs, 2006). Thus, the expression of a deeply embraced religious belief orientation may be a separate aspect of their cultural identity, aside from the issues of race and racial identity within a U.S. racial paradigm.

Findings also showed that a quest religious orientation was significantly related to immersion-emersion (anti-White, pro-Black) racial identity attitudes. A more complex questioning of one’s religious/spiritual faith may be associated with immersion into one’s race. Identification with a U.S.-defined Black “racial” group might present a relatively new reality for Black Africans who previously identified solely based on their country of origin (e.g., Nigerian, Ghanaian, Ethiopian) where ideologies and hierarchy may have been aligned along ethnicity, but not “race.” However, once in the United States, race may play a particularly salient role in their lives as they encounter negative stereotypes and discrimination based on their assumed racial group membership (Constantine et al., 2005). Thus, during religious quest, Black African college students may feel the need to reevaluate their religious and racial beliefs in the search for new beliefs that are more consonant with their newly emerging Black identity in the context of a racially defined society where Christianity and other religions are practiced from a “Western” perspective.

Furthermore, a quest religious orientation and immersion-emersion racial identity status may signify Black Africans’ desires to find a way to fully express their African traditional beliefs, such as pouring of libations (Mbiti, 1992; Riggs, 2006), alongside religious expression in the United States. Many African-oriented religious organizations have recognized this population’s need to authentically integrate both religion and African traditional practices, and, in response, country-specific churches are now established in many U.S. regions, such as the Ethiopian Coptic Church, Nigerian, Ghanaian, Sierra Leon and Liberian churches, and African Islamic mosques (Nyang, 2011). Black African international or immigrant students may have the opportunity to seek out such services where they may be allowed to integrate their ethnic/racial identity with religious/spiritual practices in linguistically congruent religious environments such as Nigerian Catholic services in the native tongue of Igbo, East African Catholic services in Swahili, or Apostolic services in Yoruba. Both Islamic and Christian African-oriented organizations embrace the work of assisting Black Africans with the challenges and stress of U.S. society, offering them “security and meaning in their new environment” (Nyang, 2011, p. 162).

Overall, these findings suggest that both religious orientation and racial identity are significantly related for Black African college students and may change depending on the social context (United States vs. African countries). Moreover, the interwoven relationship between world religions (e.g., Islam or Christianity) and traditional African religions and African culture may contribute to the variety of religious orientations and racial identity attitudes expressed by participants in the current study (Mbiti, 1992; Riggs, 2006). Although the majority of Black African college students in the current sample indicated that they were Christian (followed by Muslim and Spiritual), they may practice traditional African religion and hold other intrinsic spiritual beliefs alongside Christianity and Islam. In sum, the immigrant experience and varying racial, religious, and spiritual ideologies of Black Africans, all of which are stigmatized in U.S. culture, need to be accounted for in understanding identity development (Benson, 2006). This study highlights their experiences in negotiating both a religious/spiritual and racial identity.

Limitations and Future Research

As one of the first studies to investigate religious orientation and racial identity among Black African college students, the results of this exploratory study should be interpreted with caution, particularly given the limitation of the small sample size (N = 49). Future research should use larger samples, with geographically, demographically, and religiously (i.e., Muslim) diverse Black African college students. Second, the Three Dimensional Religious Orientation Scale was validated on a predominantly White, Judeo-Christian population (Hyland, 2000; Sciarra & Gushue, 2003). Although the ROS has been used to explore religious orientation among African American college students and other racial and religious minority populations (Thai Buddhists, Palestinians, Iranians; Mattis & Jagers, 2001; Sanchez & Carter, 2005), there is a dearth of studies that use the measure to explore religious orientation among Black African college students. Thus, it is possible that Black African students in the current sample may interpret the items on the religious orientation measure in a different way than the normalization sample, resulting in elevated levels of some orientations and deflated levels on other orientations. Future research, including qualitative methodologies, is needed to uncover the meaning of religious orientation among Black African students. For this group, religion/spirituality is a complex product of thinking and expression embedded in traditional and ancestral history (Mbiti, 1992).

Similarly, whereas the internal alpha reliability coefficients for three of the four racial identity attitudes subscales were adequate for research purposes in the current study, ranging from .70 to .79, the reliability coefficient for the Encounter subscale was particularly low (.34) and was subsequently omitted from our analyses. Moreover, although a large body of research on racial identity has used the Parham and Helms (1985) Racial Identity Attitude Scale, the psychometric properties have been validated on predominantly African American populations (Ponterotto & Wise, 1987). Black Africans, a Black immigrant group, may interpret the items on the racial identity in a different way than the normalization samples. Further research should also include measures to illuminate the nuances in racial identity attitudes specific to Black Africans, such as Acculturation, Ethnic Identity, or Cultural Values scales (Cokley & Awad, 2007). Such measures can help inform the meaning of idealization or denigration of White American and/or Black African culture and further explicate participants’ different attitudes toward their religious and spiritual expressions.

Future Research and Implications

As the Black African college student population continues to grow across U.S. college campuses, educators and mental health professionals, particularly those working in college counseling centers, student affairs, academic advising, and the international student office are central to supporting the identity development of Black African college students. They can promote culturally relevant institutional programs and practices (African Leadership Program, Christian or Muslim student association) that engage Black African students’ ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds and may help support their academic endeavors and contribute to their success (Museus, 2011). In addition, through consultation and outreach, they may develop strong ties with, and refer, students to faith-based institutions in the general public that offer culturally and linguistically congruent religious programming for Black African worshipers. Furthermore, racial/ethnic student organizations such as the African Student Association can nurture a positive racial and religious identity in Black Africans by providing them with support and a sense of belonging with respect to their racial-cultural histories and traditions, validating their existence on campus (Negy & Lunt, 2008).

In conclusion, the current study has attempted to highlight religious/spirituality and racial identity development processes among an understudied college student population, namely, Black African college students. Among Black African populations, there are differences in culture, ethnicity, race, traditions, economic viability, and sociocultural factors that may have a significant impact on their racial and religious identity needs in the United States. Black African college students may hold different meanings about race, religion, and spiritual orientation. Their varying religious/spiritual and racial ideologies should be accounted for in understanding their identity development. In this preliminary study, religious orientation and racial identity models provided useful frameworks for beginning to understand the complexity of identity development process among Black Africans and offers a platform for future research.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Author Biographies

Delida Sanchez, PhD is assistant professor in the Educational Psychology Department at the University of Texas at Austin. Her teaching and research focuses and ethnic and racial identity development and how discrimination and health disparities affect mental and behavioral health outcomes among adolescents of color.

Dorie Gilbert, PhD is associate professor in Social Work and African & African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Her teaching, research and community service center around her focus on Africentric interventions, culturally congruent models that utilize traditional African-centered philosophies in health and mental health promotion.

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