The Importance of Identity Development, Principled Moral Reasoning, and Empathy as Predictors of Openness to Diversity in Emerging Adults

Programs that attempt to increase tolerance and openness to diverse cultures, religions, and ethnicities through education and exposure are popular and often successful in higher education, but at times backfire, leading instead to an increase in prejudice. The present study considered several intrapersonal and developmental factors that may be important to consider. Identity development (Measures of Psychosocial Development, based on Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development), moral reasoning (Defining Issues Test, based on Kohlberg’s theory of moral development), and empathy (a subscale of the California Personality Inventory) were tested as predictors of openness to diversity (Miville-Guzman Universality-Diversity Scale) with entering first-year university students (n = 282) at a small, private comprehensive university. As hypothesized, identity development, principled moral reasoning, and empathy each significantly and positively predicted openness to diversity, and the combination of predictors accounted for a moderately large portion of the criterion’s variance. Implications are discussed for developing effective programs to facilitate openness to diversity in emerging adulthood