Adults In The US Who Attended HBCUs Instead Of PWIs Have Better Cognition, Study Finds – AfroTech

A study has shown that there are different health outcomes for Black adults in the U.S. who attended Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) versus predominantly white institutions (PWIs).

The study, co-authored by researchers from Rutgers University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Columbia University, Boston University, and Harvard University, examined the relationship between cognitive health outcomes among 1,978 Black individuals in the U.S. who attended HBCUs versus PWIs between 1940 and 1980,  according to The Guardian.

Between 1940 and 1980, a few important educational policy shifts took place: Brown v Board of Education ruled racial segregation in schools as unconstitutional, and the 1964 Civil Rights Act barred racial discrimination in schools. The study assessed differences between Black students who attended college after segregation was ruled illegal and Black students who attended college during a time when they were prevented from attending white colleges.

The study found that those who attended an HBCU had better memory and cognitive function than those who attended a PWI.

“HBCU attendees had better cognition across all three of those different time periods,” Dr. Marilyn Thomas, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said, according to The Guardian.

Black adults aged 62 who attended HBCUs reported greater memory and cognition than their peers who attended PWIs, the study found. Furthermore, HBCU graduates reported different early-life experiences.

“Participants who attended HBCUs were more likely, for example, to have mothers or female caregivers that had a college education,” Dr. Thomas told The Guardian.

Although the study explores the impact of decades-old policies on health outcomes, Dr. Thomas hopes its findings can be applied to contemporary issues. She highlighted shifting attitudes around DEI, which have had a ripple effect on education, per the Guardian. She believes the study counters negative stances and points to the benefits of environments such as HBCUs for marginalized individuals.

“There’s an attack right now on DEI programs, promoting diversity, bringing people in from different backgrounds and different ideologies—all that is under scrutiny right now,” she expressed, according to The Guardian. “But what this [study] does is it shows us actually when you do create environments where socially marginalized people feel more welcome or feel more affirmed, they live healthier lives.”