“Hi Future Roommate”: The Effect of a University’s Diversity Frame on Interracial Roommate Encounters

Abstract

The ideologies that universities use to justify valuing diversity can be broken down into two frames—one that values diversity for its practical benefits and one that values diversity for its intrinsic values or principles, referred to as instrumental and moral diversity frames, respectively. In the present study, we explored how a university’s diversity frame as well as the race of participants affect participants’ reactions after receiving a letter written by a hypothetical roommate, a participant from a previous study (Fein, 2020). Specifically, we predicted that Black participants who were presented with a moral frame would rate a hypothetical White roommate as less warm and authentic, would report greater predicted anxiousness if they were to have to interact with this roommate, would report greater predicted belonging at the hypothetical university, and would rate their race as less central to their identity compared to Black participants who were presented with an instrumental frame. We also predicted that White participants who were presented with a moral diversity frame would rate a hypothetical White roommate as equally warm and authentic, would report the same predicted anxiousness if they were to have to interact with this roommate, would report less predicted belonging at the hypothetical university, and would rate their race as less central to their identity compared to White participants who were presented with an instrumental frame. We found only significant main effects for diversity frame condition on warmth—participants in the instrumental condition rated the roommate as warmer than participants in the moral condition—and race on racial centrality—Black participants rated their race as more central to their identity than White participants. Finally, the public health implications for racial minority students’ health and well-being with respect to these diversity frames are discussed.