College can serve as a transition point that encourages exploration and development of one's ethnic identity (Syed & Azmitia, 2009). This may be especially critical for Native American (NA) college students given the turbulent history between the U.S. government, institutions of higher education, and Tribal Nations. Thus, it is important to examine how NA ethnic identity interacts with the climate of universities. This study examines changes in NA students' ethnic identity over the course of their college careers. Results reveal three distinct, stable ethnic identity trajectories with low, moderate, and high intercepts. Those with high ethnic identity trajectories demonstrate higher levels of campus comfort and better experiences with faculty than those low in ethnic identity. However, those with high ethnic identity levels also reported poorer race-based interactions on campus and reported higher levels of discrimination and stress.
Keywords: Ethnic Identity Development; Latent Class Growth Analysis; MEIM; Native American Undergraduate Students; campus climate.