Abstract
The purpose of this study was to examine whether differences existed between historically vulnerable students (ethnic minorities, low-income, and first-generation) and students who are traditionally in the majority in higher education (White, continuing-generation, higher income). It divided groups into students with no minority status, one, or two or more minority statuses, to additionally determine if having more minority statuses increased one's risk factors and resiliency. The study also sought to examine protective/risk factors impacting resiliency outcomes for historically vulnerable students. The study used archival data obtained from the 2012 College Senior Survey, created by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) at the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA. The sample consisted of 294 participants, with ages ranging from 2169, from the 2012 graduating class at a Hispanic-serving private university in Southern California. Results found no significant differences between groups for GPA, involvement, or emotional health, the factors that defined resiliency. Significant differences were found for sense of belonging but not for positive and negative cross-racial interactions. Students who held at least one minority status reported feeling a greater sense of belonging than students with no minority status. These results could be due to this university being Hispanic-serving, an important implication for practice and future research. Furthermore, the study found that personal characteristics, faculty mentor support, and positive cross-racial interactions positively predicted involvement. Additionally, personal characteristics helped predict emotional health in the same way. Lastly, personal characteristics and faculty mentor support helped positively predict one's GPA.