Willingness to participate in organ donation among black Seventh-Day Adventist college students.

Objective And Participants: The authors studied a group of black and white Seventh-Day Adventist (SDA) college students (N = 334) to compare the power of religious socialization with racial socialization.

Methods: The authors compared the levels of willingness to donate organs between black and nonblack students in an availability sample.

Results: Black SDA college students were significantly more likely than white SDA students or SDA students of other races to perceive racism in the healthcare system and to believe that doctors would not make heroic efforts to save their lives if they knew they were organ donors; they were 66.9% less likely to donate organs than were white SDA students or SDA students of other races.

Conclusions: Despite a common religion with a purposive indoctrination, the racial socialization of black SDA students exerted a stronger influence on willingness to participate in organ donation than did that of white students and students of other races within this religion.