Race Discrimination, Racial Socialization, and Offending Trends Among African American College Students

Abstract

The present study tests several key concepts of the theory of African American offending. It uses intra-racial correlational and regression analyses to explore the relationship between perceptions of discrimination, racial socialization (RS), and offending among African American college students. The findings indicate perceptions of discrimination have a significant impact on offending. Students who were more likely to perceive situations as discriminatory were more likely to report offending behavior. Racial Socialization did not buffer the deleterious impact of discrimination and reduce offending. Directions for future research also are discussed.