Validating the Theoretical Community Cultural Wealth Paradigm

The landmark theoretical model of Community Cultural Wealth (CCW) was developed almost twenty years ago as a critique of American meritocracy and the deficit views of Students of Color (Yosso, 2005). Most research on CCW since that point has been qualitative in nature, specifically in-depth interviews to understand how Students of Color exact their aspirational, familial, linguistic, navigational, resistant, and social capital as they persist through education. The current study aimed to quantify and validate CCW as a six-factor model and examine the effects of CCW on academic self-efficacy, sense of belonging, grade point average, and mental health in a sample of Black and Latino/a college students. 567 college students from colleges across the United States participated in an online survey with CCW, student outcomes, and demographic items. Results indicated that all six cultural capital confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) exhibited good model fit and converged into a second-order Community Cultural Wealth latent construct, consistent with theory. CFA indicated good model fit for first-order factors for academic self-efficacy, sense of belonging, and mental health. Community Cultural Wealth significantly positively predicted all student outcomes, including explaining 62% of the variance in Academic Self-Efficacy, 25% of the variance in Sense of Belonging, and 14% of the variance in Mental Health. Grade point average was significant but was a weak outcome variable, and participation in college readiness programs did not mediate any relationships as predicted. The quantification of CCW as a six-factor model consistent with theory is a key finding, as it is the first time it has ever been done. Future research should involve buy-in from participants to solidify items used to measure CCW and how CCW affects student outcomes in different student populations. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]