First-Year Latinas’ Acculturation Experiences While Enrolled in a Predominantly White Institution: Four Narratives

Abstract

ABSTRACT The authors explored the influence of family background and students’ perceived socioeconomic status with minoritized students’ acculturation and transition experiences during their first-year, first-time enrollment at a predominantly White institution in the southeastern United States. Narrative interviews and a priori codes from the Model of Hispanic Identity Development (MHID, Torres, 2003) were implemented to construct case studies of first-year Latina students. Although Latina students’ positive and negative acculturation experiences aligned with the MHID, each participant had a unique profile and distinctly different transition experience. The authors discuss expansion of the MHID, engagement and retention implications of early extracurricular involvement, belongingness uncertainty, and student advisement for minoritized first-year students at predominantly White higher education institutions.