This dissertation investigated the factors that influence persistence of minority students in community colleges. The population for this study consisted of minority students enrolled in diploma and degree programs in the fall semester of 1999 at two community colleges in Kansas City, Missouri. A total of 232 students (165 females and 67 males) from 4 minority ethnic backgrounds--American Indian, Asian Pacific Island, African American, and Hispanic/Mexican American. Various variables were examined, including age, gender, ethnicity, enrollment status, family income status, employment status, family responsibility, social integration, and academic integration. The study found that female students generally had a higher persistence rate than male students; however, environmental factors played a greater role in students' decisions to persist than did demographic factors. Employment and family responsibility were identified as the two most powerful environmental factors affecting minority student persistence. In addition, there were gender differences in the degree of influence of each environmental variable. For example, while academic integration was found to have a stronger influence on the persistence of female students, social integration and goal commitment had a stronger influence on male student persistence. (Contains 124 references.) (GC)