Black and Hispanic Immigrants' Resilience to Stereotype Threat at Selective Colleges and Universities in the United States

Jayanti Owens, Princeton University

Stereotype threat is a widely-supported theory for understanding the achievement gap in the college grade performance of black and Hispanic students compared to equally-qualified whites. However, today’s minority college students are increasingly of immigrant origins, and it is unclear whether stereotype threat theory is applicable to immigrant minorities. This paper uses data on 1,865 first generation, second generation, and (third generation or higher) domestic minority students at 28 selective colleges in the U.S. to examine whether and how stereotype threat affects the college performance of immigrant blacks and Hispanics. Structural equation model results show that first generation immigrants are highly-resistant to stereotype threat. Second generation immigrants experience only certain elements of stereotype threat. Domestic minorities experience stereotype threat in accordance with the mechanisms posited by the theory. Drawing on literature from social psychology, education, and immigration, we suggest that immigrants resist stereotype threat due to their adherence to immigrant identities.