Sororities are 'family' to black women on a white campus.

How do young black women get beyond the limits that society sets for them or they set for themselves?

While growing up, most black female adolescents are either denigrated or excluded in print and electronic media, which can lead to a negative self-identity and disruptive or abusive behaviors that restrict their personal development.

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Creating a racial identity offers a young woman a sense of collective identity based upon a perception that she shares a common heritage with a racial or ethnic group. This identity helps people shape their attitudes about themselves, about others in their minority group and about those in the majority.

Racial identity is developmental. Women attending predominantly white schools may find themselves without role models and experiences to reinforce their racial identities. The results? Feelings of rejection, isolation and alienation from their white peers. Seeking a comfortable place with others of the same ethnic group, many gravitate toward one of the traditionally black sororities.

In research for her master's thesis, Davida Haywood, a PhD student at Ohio State University, explored the influence of educational and social experiences on the racial identity development of black undergraduate sorority women at a predominantly white school. She presented findings at the 18th annual Women in Educational Leadership conference sponsored by the University of Nebraska in Lincoln in September.

Haywood's study had two purposes: