Self-affirmation facilitates minority middle schoolers’ progress along college trajectories

Abstract

Small but timely experiences can have long-term benefits when their psychological effects interact with institutional processes. In a followup of two randomized field experiments, a brief values affirmation intervention designed to buffer minority middle schoolers against the threat of negative stereotypes had long-term benefits on college-relevant outcomes. In study 1, conducted in the Mountain West, the intervention increased Latino Americans’ probability of entering a college readiness track rather than a remedial one near the transition to high school 2 y later. In study 2, conducted in the Northeast, the intervention increased African Americans’ probability of college enrollment 7–9 y later. Among those who enrolled in college, affirmed African Americans attended relatively more selective colleges. Lifting a psychological barrier at a key transition can facilitate students’ access to positive institutional channels, giving rise to accumulative benefits.