Validating racism and cultural respect: testing the psychometric properties and educational impact of perceived discrimination and multiculturation for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students

Abstract

Within the field of quantitative research, the diverse and negative effects of racial discrimination have become increasingly documented across a number of outcome variables (including physical, mental, and social wellbeing); however, research on the direct effects of racism is less evident within educational settings. The present investigation explored the negative impact of perceived racial discrimination, in addition to perceptions of cultural respect (Multiculturation) on both objective (e.g., student grades) and subjective (e.g., importance of school) schooling outcomes for a sample of Indigenous Australian and non-Indigenous Australian high school students. Perceived racial discrimination was found to be one of the strongest negative predictors of a number of outcomes for Indigenous Australian students, and Multiculturation was also found to have substantial positive relations with the subjective schooling outcomes for the same group of students. That the results were also generalisable to the non-Indigenous students suggests that attempts to combat racism and promote respect may benefit all members of society.

Keywords:

• perceived discrimination
• racism
• Indigenous Australians
• culture
• disengagement

Acknowledgements

This investigation was funded by the Australian Research Council under an Indigenous Fellowship scheme, with contributions of funding, resources, and valued advice from the D'harawal Traditional Descendants' and Knowledge Holders' Council and the Centre for Educational Research, University of Western Sydney.