The Development of the College Students' Emotional and Academic Responses to Racist Political Rhetoric and Police Brutality Scales

Amidst the current unprecedented climate, characterized by events such as COVID-19, overt acts of racism, insurrection, the emergence of White supremacist groups, high-profile murders of Black and Brown individuals by the police, increased political activism, and unapologetic racist political rhetoric, this research aimed to examine how external contexts impacted undergraduate students' wellbeing and academic experiences. The study utilized the Multicontextual Model for Diverse Learning Environments (DLE). Albeit a widely used model in campus racial climate research, it is a model that could use explicit recognition of the contemporary sociocultural and sociopolitical influences on racism experienced by Black, Indigenous, and Brown students. Therefore, this study addresses this gap by investigating the impact of sociocultural and sociopolitical events from 2020 on undergraduate students. This study employed the DLE as the underlying framework and utilized Culturally Responsive Evaluation, QuantCrit, and Scale Development Theory. Through collaboration with undergraduate students, the College Students' Emotional & Academic Responses to Racist Political Rhetoric and Police Brutality scales were cocreated. A survey was administered to 237 undergraduate students from various colleges and universities in an urban center in the Rocky Mountain West region, followed by an exploratory factor analysis to identify the underlying variables and assess their conceptual consistency with the theoretical model. The analysis revealed that four of the six measures successfully captured the intended variables, aligning with the theoretical framework. [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.]