Recent studies suggest minority students do better in school if they have complex and positive beliefs about their ethnic identities.

Lead author of the studies Daphna Oyserman, associate professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, examined the racial self-schemas of minority students in the American Midwest and of Arab students in Israel.

The studies, which were presented at this year’s annual meeting of the American Psychological Society, found groups with positive feelings about their ethnicity performed the best academically.

Grif Kolberg, program assistant for Minority Student Affairs, said Oyserman’s study makes sense to him. “Individuals very confident in their ethnic background have more educated minds,” he said. “They also have more curiosity for other ethnic backgrounds.”

Kolberg said he believes a person’s ethnic identity is based on his or her personal characteristics.

“If you are not comfortable with your racial identity, you may not accept other ethnicities,” he said. “Conversations with peers, committees and non-minority friends will lead to being more comfortable.”

David Edoh-Bedi, a computer engineering student from Togo, Africa, said he does not have any difficulty fitting in at Iowa State.

“I have African friends that I hang out with, but we’re not confined to our own exclusive fellowship,” Edoh-Bedi said. “We do our best to spend time around people from other areas of the globe, including the states. The way I see it, we are in America and for that reason we sort of have the obligation to learn about American culture,” he said.

Cindy Vo, graduate student in human development and family sciences, said she thinks different ethnic groups typically react differently when put into a majority society.

“Each ethnic group has different attitudes toward ethnicity,” Vo, who is originally from Vietnam, said.

Vo said she feels good about her ethnicity and the larger society as well. “Asian people feel that being educated is a way to succeed in life, therefore, my parents are very supportive of my education,” she said. “For that reason, I am serious about my academics. I do it for myself.”

Edoh-Bedi said he strives for high marks for different reasons.

“I don’t think my ethnicity has too much effect on my schoolwork,” he said. “The only possible relation between the two is that being an international student, I try harder to get good grades in hopes of getting scholarships or aid to offset the costs of an ever-increasing tuition.”

Kolber said when minority students are engaged in the community, they learn more.

“Students must stimulate the mind like they would the body and be active in understanding diversity, racism and discrimination,” Kolber said.