In recent years, the United States population has become more racially, ethnically and culturally diverse simultaneously increasing the number of students of color matriculating at predominantly White colleges and universities. Given the increase in ethnic and cultural diversity present within the college student population at predominantly White universities (PWU's), it is imperative that psychologists and educators gain a comprehensive understanding of the socialization experiences, mental health needs and help-seeking patterns of college students of color. The purpose of this study was two-fold: (1) to assess the construct validity of the College Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) an instrument designed for this study to assess feelings of cultural alienation among college students of color (2) to determine whether there are differences among college students of African, Asian and Latino descent (N = 120) who attend predominantly White universities in the northeast section of the United States in terms of their psychological well-being, help-seeking attitudes, social desirability and experiences of cultural alienation.

Participants were recruited from student cultural groups affiliated with Multicultural Affairs offices at three predominantly White universities located in the northeast section of the United States. Participants completed the College Experience Questionnaire, Short-Form of the Marlowe-Crowne Social Desirability Scale, Unconditional Self-Regard Scale, The Beck Depression Inventory and the Attitudes Toward Seeking Professional Psychological Help Scale. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) were utilized to evaluate the construct validity of the College Experience Questionnaire. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) examined whether differences existed among the three groups of students on the dependent measures.

Confirmatory Factor Analysis supported the construct validity of the College Experience Questionnaire. Research results indicated that Black, Latino and Asian college students felt culturally alienated while attending their PWU. Findings also revealed that the student group with the highest score for depressive feelings while attending a PWU were students of Latino descent but the Black and Asian student groups were more likely to feel culturally alienated than their Latino counterparts. In all, Black, Latino and Asian college students indicated that they had a strong desire to be perceived by others as socially desirable and overall they had poor attitudes toward seeking professional psychological help. Limitations of this study as well as implications with regard to campus climate dynamics, providing culturally sensitive services and recommendations for future research are discussed.